Callixtus III (also Calixtus III or Callistus III; died between 1180 and 1184) was an antipope from September 1168 until his resignation in August 1178. He was the third antipope elected in opposition to Pope Alexander III during the latter's struggle with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
Callixtus' baptismal name was John. He entered the Vallombrosan monastery of Struma near Arezzo as a boy. In November 1158, the emperor placed the Vallombrosan under imperial protection. By that time, John was the abbot of Struma and one of the most important supporters of the emperor in Tuscany. After the disputed papal election of 1159, he supported the imperial candidate Victor IV over Alexander III. He was rewarded by Victor with the cardinal-bishopric of Albano, but was not immediately consecrated, rather continuing on as abbot.[1]
After the death of Victor's successor, Paschal III, on 20 September 1168, his supporters gathered in Rome to elect a new (anti-)pope. John was chosen that same month. He took the name Callixtus and sent Umfredo, (pseudo-)cardinal of Santa Susanna, to Germany to inform Frederick of his election.[1] He found the emperor at an imperial diet in Bamberg in June 1169. Frederick, who was in negotiations with Alexander III to end the schism at the time, did not immediately recognize Callixtus' election.[2] According to Cardinal Boso of Santa Pudenziana, a partisan of Alexander III, Frederick was "inwardly deeply grieved" by the election of Callixtus, whom he had never met.[3] Nevertheless, Frederick expressed his intention to go with an army to Italy in 1170 to restore the unity of the Church. No such expedition took place, however.[1]
Late in 1169, Callixtus sent Umfredo and Sigewin, cardinal-bishop of Viterbo, as legates to Germany. They brought a pallium for Baldwin I, the new archbishop of Bremen. Frederick ordered a collection in Germany for Callixtus.[1] Frederick recognized Callixtus only after his negotiations with Alexander broke down. The antipope was primarily a bargaining chip with which the emperor could pressure Alexander, and had only limited geographical support in comparison to Victor IV and Paschal III. He held Rome itself, but was acknowledged only in part of the Papal States, in his native Tuscany and in the Rhineland.[2] He and his legates issued privileges for several monasteries in the Upper Rhineland.[1] He mainly resided in Viterbo.[2]
In 1173, Callixtus sent Martin, cardinal-bishop of Tusculum, to Germany as legate to help mediate an alliance between Frederick and King Louis VII of France. For the next three years nothing is known of Callixtus' activities. Frederick, when it became politically expedient, after the defeat of Legnano, switched his backing to Alexander. In November 1176, he signed the Pact of Anagni, which did, however, protect Callixtus by granting him an abbacy and restoring the cardinals he had created to their former offices. These terms were confirmed in the final Peace of Venice in July 1177.[1][2]
Callixtus did not immediately recognize the Peace of Venice, but in 1178 Archbishop Christian of Mainz, the imperial chancellor, marched an army into Italy to retake the Papal State and Rome for Alexander. This rendered Callixtus' position at Viterbo untenable, and he fled to Monte Albano. On 29 August 1178, Callixtus submitted to Alexander III at Tusculum and abjured the schism.[1] The pope entertained him with a feast.[2] Some of his obstinate partisans sought to substitute a new antipope, and chose one Lando di Sezze under the name of Innocent III.[4]
Alexander appointed Callixtus rector of Benevento. He still held that position in 1180, but by 1184 he was dead.[1]
Pope Alexander III, born Roland, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181.
Pope Callixtus II or Callistus II, born Guy of Burgundy, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 1119 to his death in 1124. His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controversy, which he was able to settle through the Concordat of Worms in 1122.
The Third Council of the Lateran met in Rome in March 1179. Pope Alexander III presided and 302 bishops attended. The Catholic Church regards it as the eleventh ecumenical council.
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Gregory VIII, born Mauritius Burdinus, was antipope from 10 March 1118 until 22 April 1121.
Victor IV was elected as a Ghibelline antipope in 1159, following the death of Pope Adrian IV and the election of Alexander III. His election was supported by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He took the name Victor IV, not accounting for Antipope Victor IV of 1138, whose holding of the papal office was deemed illegitimate.
Antipope Paschal III was a 12th-century clergyman who, from 1164 to 1168, was the second antipope to challenge the reign of Pope Alexander III. He had previously served as Cardinal of St. Maria.
Innocent III was an antipope from 29 September 1179 to January 1180. Innocent III was born in Sezze in the Papal States and died in La Cava, Apulia. He was the last of four antipopes during the pontificate of Alexander III.
Callistus, Calistus, Callixtus, and Calixtus and Kallistos may refer to:
Christian I (c. 1130 – 23 August 1183), sometimes Christian von Buch, was a German prelate and nobleman. He was Archbishop of Mainz and Archchancellor of Germany from 1165 until his death in 1183. He was originally elected archbishop in 1160 in a disputed election. He served the Emperor Frederick I as a diplomat in Italy on two occasions.
Dominium mundi is an idea of universal dominion developed in the Middle Ages. Inspired by the memory of the Roman Empire, dominium mundi implied the recognition of one supreme authority, which generated a prolonged political and spiritual struggle between imperial and ecclesiastical power. This struggle can be said to have begun with the Investiture Controversy, and was mainly embodied by the Holy Roman Empire and Catholic Church, which elevated the emperor and Pope, respectively, to the status of supreme ruler. The idea of universal dominion divided Italy into the warring faction of Guelphs and Ghibellines. Guelphs supported the Church, while the Ghibellines supported the Empire. After two hundred years of division during the 12th and 13th centuries, neither one of the powers had prevailed, due to their mutual dependency and the rise of the powerful and practically independent reigns of Church and the State. The idea of dominium mundi did not reappear in its original form, despite the fact that both universal powers subsisted.
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The 1181 papal election followed the death of Pope Alexander III and resulted in the election of Pope Lucius III. This was the first papal election celebrated in accordance with the decree Licet de evitanda discordia, promulgated in the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which established that the pope is elected by a majority of two thirds votes.
An incomplete list of events in 1179 in Italy:
With a long history as a vantage point for anti-popes forces threatening Rome, Viterbo became a papal city in 1243. During the later thirteenth century, the ancient Italian city of Viterbo was the site of five papal elections and the residence of seven popes and their Curias, and it remains the location of four papal tombs. These popes resided in the Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo alongside the Viterbo Cathedral intermittently for two decades, from 1257 to 1281; as a result, the papal palace in Viterbo, with that in Orvieto, are the most extensive thirteenth-century papal palaces to have survived.
The 1086 papal election ended with the election of Desiderius, abbot of Monte Cassino as Pope Gregory VII's successor after a year-long period of sede vacante.
Graziano da Pisa was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a native of Pisa, and the nephew of Pope Eugenius III (1145-1153). He had studied law in Bologna, and held the rank of Magister. He was a prominent official in the papal chancery, and an accomplished papal diplomat.
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