Editing Pope Eugene III (section)

==Papal election==
{{Main|Papal election, 1145}}
Bernardo was elected pope on 15 February 1145, the same day as the death of his predecessor [[Lucius II]]. Lucius had unwisely decided to take the offensive against the Roman Senate and was killed by a "heavy stone" thrown at him during an attack on the Capitol.<ref name=":12"/> Bernardo took the pontifical name Eugene III. He was "a simple character, gentle and retiring - not at all, men thought, the material of which Popes are made".<ref name=":12"/> He owed his elevation partly to the fact that no one was eager to accept an office the duties of which were at the time so difficult and dangerous and because the election was "held on safe [[Frangipani family|Frangipani]] territory".<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|title=The Popes: A History|date=2012|publisher=Vintage|isbn=9780099565871|location=London|language=English}}</ref>

Bernardo's election was assisted by his being a pupil and friend of [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], the most influential ecclesiastic of the Western Church and a strong promoter of the temporal authority of the popes. The choice did not have the approval of Bernard, however, who remonstrated against the election, writing to the entire [[Curia]]:<blockquote>"May God forgive you what you have done! ... What reason or counsel, when the Supreme Pontiff was dead, made you rush upon a mere rustic, lay hands on him in his refuge, wrest from his hands the axe, pick or hoe, and raise him to a throne?"<ref name=":12"/></blockquote>Bernard was equally forthright in his views directly to Eugene, writing:<blockquote>"Thus does the finger of God raise up the poor out of the dust and lift up the beggar from the dunghill that he may sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory."<ref name=":12"/></blockquote>Despite these criticisms, Eugene seems to have borne no resentment against Bernard<ref name=":12"/> and his initial reaction, once the choice had been made, it has been claimed that Bernard took advantage of the very qualities in Eugene III that he had criticised so as virtually to rule in the pope's name.

For their part, the cardinals resented Bernard's influence over the pope, stating "You should know that, having been elevated to the rule of entire church by us, around whom, like pivots [''cardines''] the axis of the church universal swings, and having been made by us from a private person into the father of the universal church, it is necessary from now on that you belong not just to yourself but to us; that you do not rank particular and recent friendships before those which are general and of ancient standing".<ref>The incident was reported in ''The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa by Otto of Freising'' trans. Charles Christopher Mierow, Records of Civilization Sources and Studies 49 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1953), quoted in Norman Zacour, "The Cardinals' View of the Papacy, 1150-1300" in ''The Religious Roles of the Papacy: Ideals and Realities 1150-1300'', ed. Christopher Ryan, Papers in Medieval Studies, 8 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1989), 416. Also quoted in "Reclaiming Rome: Cardinals in the Fifteenth Century" by Caron M, Richardson, Brill, Leiden/Boston, 2009, p.6.</ref>

Bernard reacted strongly to the cardinals' assertions, writing to Pope Eugenius that the cardinals had "no power except that which you grant them or permit them to exercise" and that their claims "make no sense... [are] derived from no tradition... [and] had the support of authority".<ref>Bernard of Clairvaux, ''De Considerationes'', 4.1.1. and 4.5.16; Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, ''Five Books on Consideration: Advice to a Pope'', trans. John D. Anderson and Elizabeth T. Kennan (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1976); discussed in Zacour, "The Cardinals' View of the Papacy, 1150-1300", 417 and quoted in "Reclaiming Rome: Cardinals in the Fifteenth Century" by Caron M, Richardson, Brill, Leiden/Boston, 2009, p. 7.</ref>

The issue remained unresolved for the whole of Eugenius' pontificate.