Pope Adrian I
Encyclopedia
Pope Adrian was pope
from February 1, 772 to December 25, 795. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman
nobleman.
Shortly after Adrian's accession the territory ruled by the papacy was invaded by Desiderius
, king of the Lombards
, and Adrian was compelled to seek the assistance of the Frankish
king Charlemagne
, who entered Italy with a large army. Charlemagne besieged Desiderius in his capital of Pavia
; after taking the town he banished the Lombard king to the abbey of Corbie in France, and adopted the title "King of the Lombards" himself. The pope, whose expectations had been aroused, had to content himself with some additions to the duchy of Rome, and to the Exarchate of Ravenna
, and the Pentapolis in the Marches
, which consisted of the "five cities" on the Adriatic coast from Rimini
to Ancona
with the coastal plain as far as the mountains. He celebrated the occasion by striking the earliest papal coin, and in a mark of the direction the mediaeval papacy was to take, no longer dated his documents by the Emperor in the east, but by the reign of Charles, king of the Franks.
A mark of such newly settled conditions in the Duchy of Rome
is the Domusculta Capracorum, the central villa on the Roman plan
that Adrian assembled from a nucleus of his inherited estates and acquisitions from neighbors in the countryside north of Veii
. The villa is documented in Liber Pontificalis
but its site was not rediscovered until the 1960s, when excavations revealed the structures on a gently rounded hill that was only marginally capable of self-defense but fully self-sufficient, with its own grain mill, smithies and tile-kilns, for a mixed economy of grains and vineyards, olives, vegetable gardens and piggery. During the 10th century villages were carved out of Adrian's Capracorum estate: Campagnano mentioned first in 1076, Formello
mentioned in 1027, Mazzano
in 945, and Stabia (modern Faleria
) in 998.
, Adrian remained faithful to the Frankish alliance, and the friendly relations between pope and king were not disturbed by the difference which arose between them on the question of the veneration of images, to which Charlemagne and the bishops in France were strongly opposed, while Adrian favoured the views of the eastern bishops, and approved the decree of the second council of Nicaea (787), confirming the practice and excommunicating the iconoclasts
. It was in connection with this controversy that the Libri Carolini
were written, to which Adrian replied by letter, anathematizing all who refused to venerate the images of Jesus
, or the Virgin Mary, or saint
s. Notwithstanding this, a synod, held at Frankfurt
in 794, anew condemned the practice, and the dispute remained unsettled at Adrian's death.
In 787 he elevated the English diocese of Lichfield
to an archdiocese at the request of the English bishops and King Offa of Mercia
, to balance the ecclesiastic power in that land between Kent
and Mercia
. He gave the Lichfield
bishop Hygberht the pallium
in 788.
, decorated by Greek monks fleeing from the iconoclastal persecutions, and of San Marco in Rome. At the time of his death at the age of 95, his was the longest papacy until surpassed by the 24-year papacy of Pius VI
in the late 18th century. Only three other popes – Pius IX
, Leo XIII
, and John Paul II
– have reigned for longer since.
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
from February 1, 772 to December 25, 795. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
nobleman.
Shortly after Adrian's accession the territory ruled by the papacy was invaded by Desiderius
Desiderius
Desiderius was the last king of the Lombard Kingdom of northern Italy...
, king of the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
, and Adrian was compelled to seek the assistance of the Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
king Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, who entered Italy with a large army. Charlemagne besieged Desiderius in his capital of Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
; after taking the town he banished the Lombard king to the abbey of Corbie in France, and adopted the title "King of the Lombards" himself. The pope, whose expectations had been aroused, had to content himself with some additions to the duchy of Rome, and to the Exarchate of Ravenna
Exarchate of Ravenna
The Exarchate of Ravenna or of Italy was a centre of Byzantine power in Italy, from the end of the 6th century to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the Lombards.-Introduction:...
, and the Pentapolis in the Marches
Marches
A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....
, which consisted of the "five cities" on the Adriatic coast from Rimini
Rimini
Rimini is a medium-sized city of 142,579 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...
to Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
with the coastal plain as far as the mountains. He celebrated the occasion by striking the earliest papal coin, and in a mark of the direction the mediaeval papacy was to take, no longer dated his documents by the Emperor in the east, but by the reign of Charles, king of the Franks.
A mark of such newly settled conditions in the Duchy of Rome
Duchy of Rome
The Duchy of Rome was a Byzantine district in the Exarchate of Ravenna. Like other Byzantine states in Italy, it was ruled by an imperial functionary with the title dux...
is the Domusculta Capracorum, the central villa on the Roman plan
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
that Adrian assembled from a nucleus of his inherited estates and acquisitions from neighbors in the countryside north of Veii
Veii
Veii was, in ancient times, an important Etrurian city NNW of Rome, Italy; its site lies in Isola Farnese, a village of Municipio XX, an administrative subdivision of the comune of Rome in the Province of Rome...
. The villa is documented in Liber Pontificalis
Liber Pontificalis
The Liber Pontificalis is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V , but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and then Pope Pius II...
but its site was not rediscovered until the 1960s, when excavations revealed the structures on a gently rounded hill that was only marginally capable of self-defense but fully self-sufficient, with its own grain mill, smithies and tile-kilns, for a mixed economy of grains and vineyards, olives, vegetable gardens and piggery. During the 10th century villages were carved out of Adrian's Capracorum estate: Campagnano mentioned first in 1076, Formello
Formello
Formello is a town and comune in the province of Rome. It is located southwest of the Monti Sabatini, within the Regional Park of Veii. The communal territory is mostly composed by tuff, and is intensively cultivated. This town is known to be one of the few to have a football club in Serie A: S.S....
mentioned in 1027, Mazzano
Mazzano Romano
Mazzano Romano is a comune in the Province of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about 35 km north of Rome.Mazzano Romano borders the following municipalities: Calcata, Campagnano di Roma, Castel Sant'Elia, Faleria, Magliano Romano, Nepi.It was first mentioned in 945, one of the...
in 945, and Stabia (modern Faleria
Faleria
Faleria is a comune in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about 35 km north of Rome and about 35 km southeast of Viterbo...
) in 998.
Foreign relations
In his contest with the Eastern Roman Empire and the Lombard dukes of BeneventoBenevento
Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...
, Adrian remained faithful to the Frankish alliance, and the friendly relations between pope and king were not disturbed by the difference which arose between them on the question of the veneration of images, to which Charlemagne and the bishops in France were strongly opposed, while Adrian favoured the views of the eastern bishops, and approved the decree of the second council of Nicaea (787), confirming the practice and excommunicating the iconoclasts
Iconoclasm (Byzantine)
The Byzantine Iconoclasm encompasses two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when Emperors, backed by imperially-appointed leaders and councils of the Orthodox Church imposed a ban on religious images or icons. The "First Iconoclasm", as it is sometimes called, lasted between about 730...
. It was in connection with this controversy that the Libri Carolini
Libri Carolini
The Libri Carolini , Opus Caroli regis contra synodum , also called Charlemagne's Books or simply the Carolines, are the work in four books composed on the command of Charlemagne, around 790, to refute the supposed conclusions of the Byzantine Second Council of Nicaea , particularly as...
were written, to which Adrian replied by letter, anathematizing all who refused to venerate the images of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, or the Virgin Mary, or saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s. Notwithstanding this, a synod, held at Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
in 794, anew condemned the practice, and the dispute remained unsettled at Adrian's death.
In 787 he elevated the English diocese of Lichfield
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
to an archdiocese at the request of the English bishops and King Offa of Mercia
Offa of Mercia
Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald after defeating the other claimant Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign it is likely...
, to balance the ecclesiastic power in that land between Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
and Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
. He gave the Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
bishop Hygberht the pallium
Pallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...
in 788.
Legacy
An epitaph written by Charlemagne in verse, in which he styles Adrian "father", is still to be seen at the door of the Vatican basilica. Adrian restored some of the ancient aqueducts of Rome, and rebuilt the churches of Santa Maria in CosmedinSanta Maria in Cosmedin
The Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin is a minor basilica church in Rome, Italy. It is located in the rione of Ripa.- History :The church was built in the 8th century during the Byzantine Papacy over the remains of the Templum Herculis Pompeiani in the Forum Boarium and of the Statio annonae, one...
, decorated by Greek monks fleeing from the iconoclastal persecutions, and of San Marco in Rome. At the time of his death at the age of 95, his was the longest papacy until surpassed by the 24-year papacy of Pius VI
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
in the late 18th century. Only three other popes – Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
, Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
, and John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
– have reigned for longer since.