The Council of Piacenza was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, which took place from March 1 to March 7, 1095, at
Piacenza
Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
.
The Council was held at the end of
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...
's tour of Italy and France, which he made to reassert his authority after the
investiture controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monast ...
with
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son ...
. Two hundred bishops attended, as well as 4000 other church officials, and 30,000 laymen. The large number of people present required that the council had to be held outside of the city.
Attendants
Among the lay attendees was
Eupraxia of Kiev
Eupraxia may refer to:
* Eupraxia (mythology)
* Eupraxia - the art of performing a function correctly as discussed in the Memorabilia (Xenophon)
* Eupraxia or Euphrasia of Constantinople
* Eupraxia of Kiev, Holy Roman Empress.
See also
* Praxis ...
, a daughter of
Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev
Vsevolod I Yaroslavich (Russian language, Russian: Всеволод I Ярославич, Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Всеволод I Ярославич, Old Norse: Vissivald) (c. 1030 – 13 April 1093), ruled as Grand Prince of Kiev ...
.
[J. Gordon Melton, ''Faiths Across Time: 5,000 Years of Religious History'', (ABC-CLIO, 2014), 716.] She met with Urban II, and on his urgings Eupraxia made a public confession before the church council.
Henry, she claimed, held her against her will, forced her into orgies, offered her to his son
Conrad, and attempted to use her in a
black mass.
These accusations were confirmed in turn by Conrad, who stated that this was the reason he turned against his father.
Also in attendance were ambassadors from
Philip I of France
Philip I (23 May 1052 – 29 July 1108), called the Amorous, was King of the Franks from 1060 to 1108. His reign, like that of most of the early Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time. The monarchy began a modest recovery from the low i ...
, who came to appeal Philip's recent
excommunication
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
over his illegal divorce and remarriage to
Bertrade de Montfort
Bertrade de Montfort (c. 1070 – 14 February 1117) was Queen of France by her marriage to Philip I of France. Initially married to Fulk IV, Count of Anjou, she left him and married Philip. Later she founded a daughter house of Fontevraud Abbey at ...
: Philip was given until
Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...
to rectify his situation. The rest of the business of the council expressed fairly typical church concerns: there were at least 15
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
s published during the council, including a condemnation of the Berengarian heresy; a condemnation of the Nicolaitan heresy; an affirmation of the presence of
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
in the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
; denunciations of the
Antipope Clement III
Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna ( 10298 September 1100) was an Italian prelate, archbishop of Ravenna, who was elected pope in 1080 in opposition to Pope Gregory VII and took the name Clement III. Gregory was the leader of the movement in the chur ...
and his supporters; and a prohibition of payment to priests for baptisms, burials, or confirmations.
Condemnation of simony
One of Urban II's greatest achievements at Piacenza was the depth of detail of his Canons, in particular Canons 1 through 7 legislating universal condemnation of 'simony': the practice of building to acquire, and acquiring via purchasing, position, or ordination, within the Church. Ecclesiastical appointments stained by simony were decreed to be invalid and powerless. However, a temperate attitude was shown to those ordained by simoniacs who were not simoniacs themselves, and had no prior knowledge that the person ordaining them had no actual ecclesiastical authority to do so. Likewise, churches purchased by parents for their children were allowed to remain within the order; as were children so-ordained, but with ''benefices'' (official financial support from Rome) removed.
Byzantine request
In hindsight, the most important attendees were the ambassadors sent by
Byzantine emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...
Alexius I Comnenus
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
. Alexius had been excommunicated by Gregory VII, and been through a series of reinstatements in the Church, but Urban had ultimately lifted the excommunication when he became pope in 1088, and relations between the east and west were at least temporarily friendly. The Byzantine Empire had lost much of its territory in Asia Minor to the
Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
in the aftermath of the
Battle of Manzikert
The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and th ...
in 1071, and Alexius hoped western knights could help him restore it. Upon hearing the Byzantine ambassadors' plea, Urban asked those present to lend aid to the Byzantine Emperor. However it is likely that Urban may have had some idea of an expedition to the East before Alexius's request, as Gregory VII had also called twice for one, but to no avail.
Chronicler
Most of the information about the Council of Piacenza comes from the chronicler
Bernold of Constance Bernold of Constance (c. 1054–Schaffhausen, September 16, 1100) was a chronicler and writer of tracts, and a defender of the Church reforms of Pope Gregory VII.
Life
He was educated at Constance under the renowned teacher Bernard of Const ...
, who may or may not have been present. No extant contemporary Byzantine sources felt the ambassadors were important enough to mention, although many Byzantine sources from this time no longer exist. For example, the council is mentioned by the 13th century chronicler
Theodore Skoutariotes
Theodore Skoutariotes ( el, Θεόδωρος Σκουταριώτης; born ) was a Byzantine cleric and official during the reign of Michael VIII Palaiologos ().
Skoutariotes was born about 1230. As a deacon, he served as '' epi ton deeseon'' (re ...
,
[Jonathan Harris, ''Byzantium and the Crusades'', (Hambledon Continuum, 2006), 48.] who quotes now-lost contemporary works.
References
{{reflist
Piacenza
Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
Piacenza
Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
1095 in Europe
11th century in Italy