GREGORY IV, POPE

Pontificate: Sept. 827 to Jan. 25, 844. A native Roman, he was cardinal priest of St. Mark's at the time of his election. His consecration (March 29, 828?) was

delayed until a missus of louis the pious had reviewed the election in accord with the Constitutio Romana of 824 (see eugene ii, pope).

Subsequent to the revolt of Louis's older sons, lothair i, Pepin, and louis the german (830), and the veiling of the Empress Judith at a convent in Poitiers, a diet at Aachen (Feb. 2, 831) restored Judith to her husband on the mandate of the pope and other bishops (Thegan: Vita Ludov. 37; Patrologia latina 106:419). Two years later, during another uprising of the imperial sons, Gregory was present in the camp of Lothair [Ann. Xantenses 833; R. Rau, ed., Quellen z. karoling. Reichsgesch., 2 (1958) 340], whence at Easter 833 he appealed to Abp. agobard of lyons and Abbot wala of corbie for aid in bringing concord to the royal family. To the reluctance of the imperial bishops to meet with him, Gregory replied by strongly justifying his intervention (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae 5:228–232). A conference of pope and emperor near Colmar (June 24, 833) was followed closely by Lothair's perfidious seizure of power and Gregory's acquiescence in Louis the Pious's deposition (Vita Walae 2.18; Patrologia latina 120:1640). After Louis's restoration as Emperor (Mar. 1, 834) and Lothair's harassment of church property in Italy, Louis censured his son and in 837 sent Abbot Adrebald to Rome to consult with the ailing pope. A papal embassy of gratitude to Louis was turned back by Lothair at Bologna, though Gregory's letters secretly reached the emperor (Astronomer: Vita Ludov. 55–56; Patrologia Latina 104:970). After Louis's death Gregory tried in vain to keep peace among the sons by dispatching Abp. George of Ravenna as his legate (Ann. Bertiniani 841; Rau, ed., Quellen 2:54; but cf. Agnellus. Liber pontificalis episc. Raven.; Patrologia latina 106:747–750).

He endowed Roman churches and fortified Ostia (called Gregoriopolis in his honor) against Saracen pirates from Africa. amalarius of metz [De ordine antiphonarii, prol. (J. M. Hanssens, ed., 1948)] notes that in 831, on his visit to Rome, Gregory assigned an archdeacon to instruct him in Roman liturgical usages. Four years later, at the pope's urging, Louis the Pious extended the Feast of All Saints (November 1) to the Frankish domains (Chron. Sigeberti 835; Patrologia latina 160:159). In 831–832 this pope bestowed the pallium upon (St.) ansgar and named him papal legate to Scandinavia [Jaffé E 2574; F. Curschmann, Die ältesten Papsturkunden d. Erzb. Hamburg (1909) 13–15].

Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. l. duchesne (Paris 1886–92; 1958) 2:73–85; 3:122–123. p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum 1198, ed. s. lÖenfeld et. al. (2d ed. Leipzig 1881–88; repr. Graz 1956) 1:323–327. h. k. mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages from 590 to 1304 (London 1902–32) 2.1:187–231. a. hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands (9th ed. Berlin-Leipzig 1958) 2:513–521. p. brezzi, Roma e l'Impero medioevale (Bologna 1947). l. halphen, Charlemagne et l'empire carolingien (Paris 1947). f. x. seppelt, Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 20. Jh. (2d ed. Munich 1955) 2: 214–221. h. x. arquilliÈre, L'Augustinisme politique (2d ed. Paris 1955). r. benericetti, La cronologia dei Papi dei secoli IX–XI secondo le carte di Ravenna (1999) 23–24. p. johanek, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 3 (3d ed. Freiburg 1995). j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 102–103.

[h. g. j. beck]