Leo III

Leo III
Birth name	Unknown
Papacy began	December 27, 795
Papacy ended	June 12, 816
Predecessor	Adrian I
Successor	Stephen IV
Born	Date of birth unknown Rome, Italy
Died	June 12 816 Place of death unknown
Other popes named Leo

Pope Leo III (died June 12, 816) was Pope from 795 to 816.

Leo announced his election to Charlemagne, sending him the keys of Saint Peter's tomb and the banner of Rome, requesting an envoy. Charlemagne in his reply stated that it was his function to defend the church and the popes' to pray for the realm and for victory of the army.

Biography

Leo was the son of Atyuppius and Elizabeth. Unlike many of the Cardinals and those who entered the papal household, he was not a member of the nobility. Little is known about his early life. He rose through the ranks of the papal clerical hierarchy to become a Cardinal Priest, and Treasurer. His election as Pope, howeveer, on the day that his predecesor, Adrian I died, was unanimous. However, he appears to have aroused the hostility of Rome's nobility, who saw the papal post as reserved for noble candidates. Possible, this hostility was aroused when, straight after his consecration, Leo sent the keys of Rome to Charlemagne, indicating that he recognized the Frankish king as Rome's protector. The Roman aristocrats would have resented placing Rome under the protection of a non-Roman. In April 799, Leo was attacked by a gang whose members included a nephew of his predecessor, who attempted to gouge out his eyes and cut off his tongue. He was accused of adultery and perjury. He was then formally deposed and sent to a monastery, but escaped and made his way to Charlemagne, who escorted him back to Rome under royal protection.

==Crowns Charlemagne On Christmas Day, Leo placed the imperial crown on Charlemagne's head, resurrecting the office of Emperor of the Roman Empire, which became known as the Holy Roman Empire.

Charlemagne went to Rome in November 800, and on December 1 held a council there with representatives of both sides. Leo, on December 23, took an oath of purgation concerning the charges brought against him, and his opponents were exiled. Two days later Leo crowned Charlemagne after the latter prayed at St. Peter's tomb.

The grounwork for the arrangement by which the Pope crowned the Emperor, and claimed by so doing ultimate temporal as well as spiritual authority as Christ's deputy, or subsititute (vicar) on earth had already been laid by Adrian I and by the document (later proved a forgery]] known as the Donation of Constantine. In this document, which purported to be the last will and testament of Constantine I, the Roman Emperor appointed the Bishop of Rome as his successor. The Declaration also entitled the Pope to wear the symbols of imperial office:

we by this present do give our imperial Lateran palace, then the diadem, that is, the crown of our head, and at the same time the tiara and also the shoulder-band,-that is, the strap that usually surrounds our imperial neck; and also the purple mantle and scarlet tunic, and all the imperial raiment; and also the same rank as those presiding over the imperial cavalry, conferring also even the imperial scepters, and at the same time all the standards, and banners, and the different ornaments, and all the pomp of our imperial eminence, and the glory of our power. .

Leo III's namesake, Leo I had also laid groundwork for this undetstanding of papal authority with his docrtine of the ecclesiastical superemacy while at the same time he effectively positioned the papacy to emerge as the only viable power in what had been the Western Roman Empire. Once the empire had collapsed, and former Roman provinces became independent, law and order was more or less a casualty of the general break-up of the former imeprial system. It was by asserting his moral authority, and the doctrine of the unity of the church and of Christian socety as a single entity, that Pope Leo I and his successors rescued some semblance of European unity. The empire may have crumbled but if the Pope's blessing was necessary for any king to be recognized as legitimate, even though power was vested in many and not in a single temporal ruler, there was one ultimate authority, the pope. This was also supported by much Roman Law, which was also generally recognized. There is little doubt that Charlemagne saw himself as superior to the Pope, since without his protection, the Pope would not survive. On the other hand, since there was no automatic right of succession in Frankish law, the church's blessing was understood as a necessary, sacramental seal of succession.

Leo helped restore King Eardwulf of Northumbria, and settled various matters of dispute between the Archbishops of York and Canterbury. He also reversed the decision of his predecessor in regards to the granting of the pallium to the bishop of Lichfield, Higbert. He believed that the English episcopate had been misrepresented before Hadrian and that therefore his act was invalid. In 803, Lichfield was a regular diocese again.

Leo forbade the adition of "filioque" to Nicene Creed which was added by Franks in Aachen in 809. He also ordered that the Nicene creed be engraved on silver tablets so that his conclusion might not be overturned in the future. He wrote «HAEC LEO POSUI AMORE ET CAUTELA ORTHODOXAE FIDEI» (I, Leo, put here for love and protection of orthodox faith)(VITA LEONIS, LIBER PONTIFICALIS (Ed.Duchene, TII, p.26)

The reasons for the coronation, the involvement beforehand of the Frankish court, and the relationship to the Byzantine Empire are all matters of debate among historians. An effective administrator of the papal territories, Leo contributed to the beautification of Rome.

Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by: Adrian I	Bishop of Rome 795–816	Succeeded by: Stephen IV

External links

• Translation of Einhard's Life of Charlemagne (c. 817-830, translated in 1880)

jv:Paus Leo III

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