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Bible Encyclopedias
Adrian I
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or Pope, elected in the room of Stephen III, Feb. 9th, 772. He was a man of large mental endowments and great perseverance. and all his powers were studiously devoted to the enlargement of the papal power. Charlemagne, after defeating Desiderius and destroying the rower of the Longobards in Italy in 774, went to Rome, where Adrian received him with high honors, acknowledging him king of Italy and patrician of Rome. Charlemagne, in turn, confirmed the grants made by Pepin to the Roman See, and added also Ancona and Benevento. In a letter to Charlemagne, Adrian flatters him with the title of novus Christianissimus Constantinus. Charlemagne visited Rome again in 787, when Adrian christened his son Pepin. In the same year, upon the invitation of the Empress Irene of Constantinople, Adrian sent legates to the Second Ecumenical Synod of Nice, by which image- worship was sanctioned. (See NICE).
In 794 he sent legates to the synod of Frankfort, which was presided over by Charlemagne, and condemned the Adoptianists (q.v.), but also image-worship, although Adrian, in a letter to the king (Mansi, 13, p. 795), had declared, "Si quis sanctas imagines Domini nostri Jesu Christi et ejus genetriads atque omnium sanctorum secundum St. Patrum doctrinam venerari noluerit, anathema sit." Adrian wrote against the theological opinions of Felix of Urgel, and through his endeavors the Gregorian chant and rite were introduced, first at Metz, and subsequently in other churches of the empire. His fame is tarnished (see Rudolph, De Codice Canonum quem Adrianus I Carolo Magno dedit. Erl. 1777) by the use which he made of the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals (q.v.). He died Dec. 25, 795,: having occupied the see twenty-three years. In spite of his dispute with Charlemagne about image-worship, and also of the fact that he attempted a reply to the "Caroline books" (q.v.) in his Libellus responsorius ad Carolum Magnum pro Synodo Nic. II, it is certain that Charlemagne was greatly distressed by his death. His Isagoge SS. Literarum may be found in the Critici Sacri, vol. 8. — Hoefer, Biographie Generale, s.v.; Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie, 5, 447.
II. Pope, a native of Rome, elected Dec. 14th, 867, at the age of seventy- five, having twice before refused the pontificate. His term of office was almost wholly occupied in disputes with Lothaire, Charles the Bald, and the Greek Church. In the war of Charles the Bald against Louis II, Adrian declared in favor of the latter, and threatened every one with the "censure of the apostolic vengeance" (apostolicae uttionis censure) who should dare to invade the country "contrary to the divine and the apostolical will." This papal interference in secular affairs was, however, sternly opposed by Archbishop Hincmar (q.v.) of Rheims. In letters to Charles the Bald and the synod of Duziacum (871), which had deposed Bishop Hincmar of Laon, notwithstanding his appeal to the pope, Adrian put forth the claim that bishops should be only deposed by the pope, not by particular synods. Charles the Bald remonstrated, however, so energetically against this claim, that Adrian endeavored to gain his object by flatteries instead of threats. Adrian was called upon to act as arbiter between the Patriarch Photius of Constantinople and his opponent Ignatius. Adrian deposed Photius in a synod at Rome, and he sent delegates to the synod of Constantinople (869), which repeated the sentence against Phocius. During the pontificate of Adrian a synod was held at Rome which prohibited the marriage of priests. He died Nov. 25, 872. — Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie, 5, 448.
III. Pope, a Roman, elected March 1, 884, and occupied the see only a year and four months. He was the first pope to change his name, having been called Agapetus before his elevation to the papal see. A decree is also attributed to him which provides that the emperor shall not meddle in the election of a pope. The Emperor Basilius urged him to admit the right of Photius to the see of Constantinople, and to admit him into communion, but Adrian steadily refused. He died July 8, 885.
IV. Pope, an Englishman named Nicholas Breakspeare, who raised himself from actual beggary and servitude to the highest place of dignity in the Church. He was a servant in the monastery of St. Rufus, near Avignon, and subsequently became its abbot in 1137. When the monks denounced him to Pope Eugene III for his severity, the pope, a disciple of Bernard of Clairvaux, made him a cardinal, and legate to Norway. He possessed learning, eloquence, and generosity, but, at the same time, an extreme attachment to the privileges of the papal chair. In the year 1154, December 4, he was elected pope, and received the felicitations of Henry II of England, whose ambassadors were accompanied by the monks of St. Alban’ s, whom he mildly rebuked for having rejected him from their society in his youth on account of his ignorance. In the following year he placed under an interdict the city of Rome, because the followers of Arnold of Brescia had wounded a cardinal. The Romans were compelled to expel Arnold, who fell into the hands of Frederic Barbarossa, and the latter was prevailed upon by the pope to deliver Arnold over to him. Adrian then met the emperor at Lutri, and compelled him to hold his stirrup. Frederic accompanied the pope to Rome, and was crowned emperor (1155). Adrian also excommunicated King William of Sicily as a usurper of church property, raised his subjects against him, and put himself at the head of an army against the king. The latter finally had to consent to receive his kingdom as a papal fief. A letter of Adrian’ s to the emperor and the German bishops, in which he stated that, he had conferred the crown upon the emperor, and that the emperor had received benefices from him, led to a new conflict between him and the emperor, in which the German bishops generally sided with the emperor. Adrian, on his part, complained of the exactions of the imperial commissioners who were sent to administer justice at Rome without his participation; he maintained that the patrimony of the Church should be exempt from paying foderum, or feudal tribute to the emperor; and, lastly, he claimed the restitution of the lands and revenues of Countess Matilda, of the duchy of Spoleti, and even of Corsica and Sardinia. Thus arose that spirit of bitter hostility between the popes and the house of Hohenstauffen, which lasted until the utter extinction of the latter. The pope was on the point of excommunicating the emperor when he died, September 1, 1159, so poor that he commended the support of his mother to the church of Canterbury. He transferred the pontifical see first to Orvieto, and afterward to Anagni, where he resided until his death. He was the founder of the penny tribute to the papal chair in Ireland. He was also the author of dispensations concerning the accumulation of ecclesiastical benefices, and the residence-duty of the beneficiate, and the originator of papal mandates. Adrian probably did as much to extend the papal power as any other pope except perhaps Gregory VII. — Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie, 5, 449; English Cyclopoedia: Raumer, Geschichte der Hohenstaufen.
V. Pope, Othobon, of Fieschi. Was a native of Genoa, the son of Theodore of Fieschi, nephew of Pope Innocent IV. Having taken orders, he obtained, by the influence of his family, many valuable preferments, and was made a canon of Placenza, and archdeacon of Rheims, Parma, and Canterbury. In the latter capacity he held a synod in the church of St. Paul at London in 1268, where the Thirty-six Constitutions, known as those of Othobon, were published. On the 12th of July, 1276, he was elected pope, but was carried off by a sudden illness on the 18th of August in the same year, before his consecration. — Biog. Univ. vol. 1; Landon, Eccles. Dictionary, 1, 110.
VI. Pope, born at Utrecht, in 1459, of very humble parents, who could not afford to educate him. He was placed, however, in one of the charitable foundations at Louvain, and was soon distinguished for piety and diligence in study. He was professor of theology, and subsequently chancellor of the university of Louvain. In 1507 he was appointed tutor to Charles V, who was ever after his friend, and aided in raising him to the papal chair (Rosch, Jets over Paus Adriaan VI Utrecht, 1836; Hofler, Die deutschen Papste). He had, in 1517, been created cardinal by Leo X, and on his death Adrian was elected pope, January 9, 1522. at a time when all Germany was in the flame of the Lutheran Reformation. Adrian set himself to reform the clergy, and to put down the Reformation. In his letter to the Diet of Nuremberg, 1522, in which be urged that Luther should be cut off as Huss and Jerome had been, he still admitted that Luther’ s charges against the corruptions of the Church were just. "Confess," said he to the legate, "without disguise, that God hath permitted this schism and this persecution for the sins of mankind, and above all for those of the priests and prelates of the Church . . . .; for we know that many scandalous things have been done in this holy see, abuses of spiritual matters, and excesses in ordinances and decrees which have emanated from it," etc. He always refused to advance his own relations to any dignity in the Church. After filling the papal chair during twenty months, he died, September 14, 1523. He was greatly hated by the Romans, whom his dislike to all luxuries and vain expenses offended. In December, 1515, when the death of Ferdinand the Catholic was considered to be imminent, Adrian was sent by Charles to Castile, and authorized to take possession of the kingdom in the name of Charles as soon as Ferdinand should die. On the death of Ferdinand, January 23, 1516, Cardinal Ximenez, who, in the will of Ferdinand, had been appointed regent of Spain until the arrival of Charles, disputed the claims of Adrian, but finally compromised the matter by agreeing with him upon a joint administration until they should hear from Charles. Charles decided that Ximenez should remain regent, and that Adrian should be regarded as his ambassador. In the same year (1516) Adrian was made, through the influence of Ximenez, bishop of Tortosa, in Spain, and grand inquisitor of Aragon. The relations of Ximenez and Adrian were, however, not always friendly, Adrian striving to obtain a greater influence upon the administration of the kingdom than Ximenez permitted; and when, in 1517, Adrian was made a cardinal, Ximenez endeavored to make him quit Castile altogether. After the death of Ximenez, November 8, 1517, Adrian was appointed by Charles regent of Spain. On the death of Pope Leo X, Adrian, through the influence of Charles, was made his successor. Adrian greatly misunderstood the character of the Reformation, maintaining that no one seriously believed in the doctrines of the Reformers, and that a removal of the corruption in the Church would put an end to the reform agitation. He proposed to Erasmus to write against Luther. To please Duke George of Saxony, he canonized Bishop Benno of Misnia. Adrian was the author of Quoestiones Quodlibeticae, printed at Louvain (1515, Paris, 1516 and 1531), Epistolae, and Disputationes in lib. quartum Magistri Sententiarum, which last work, when pope, he caused to be reprinted, without making any alteration in the opinion he had originally expressed on the papal infallibility, viz., "The pope may err even in what belongs to the faith." A collection of historical papers relating to him may be found in Burmann, Hadrianus VI (Utrecht, 1727, 4to). Ranke gives a very favorable sketch of him (History of the Papacy, 1, 75 sq.). — Mosheim, Ch. Hist. cent. 16, § 1, ch. 2; Jovius, Vita Hadriani VI, in his Vitae Viror. Illustr. 2, 221; Danz, De Hadriano VI (Jen. 1813).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Adrian I'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/a/adrian-i.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
