Lentorama 2010: Two Millenia of Pointy Hats

Day 22: Benedict IX (1032-44; 1045-46)

Remember that list of the 10 worse popes I mentioned? We may have our chart-topper here.

Benedict was the son of the count of Tusculum and nephew to two other popes. He became pope (thanks to his father) by the time he was 20 (though some sources suggest he was in his pre-teens).

Benedict had few, if any, qualifications for being pope. His lifestyle certainly didn't suggest his suitability for the office, as noted by Pope Victor III when he wrote of Benedict, "his rapes, murders and other unspeakable acts. His life as a pope so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it."

This didn't go unnoticed, and Benedict was forced out of Rome twice during the first decade of his rule, leading to the appointment of Silvester III as pope. Benedict would depose him, but would later decide to marry and thus sold off the papacy to a relative, who became Gregory VI. Benedict, regretting this decision, returned to Rome and retook the throne - even though Gregory was still recognized as the pope. Silvester also took this opportunity to remind people of his claim to the papacy, which he had maintained since being deposed.

At this point Emperor Henry III intervened, calling a council that declared Benedict and Silvester deposed and sought the resignation of Gregory, which he gave. The new pope, Clement II, died in 1047, leading Benedict - who never accepted his deposition - to take one more stab at being pope. He was driven out by German forces, failed to appear before the new pope on charges of simony, and was excommunicated. He would fade away at that point, having had three separate runs as pope, all of them marked by chaos and dissolution.