Editing Pope Leo III

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 795 to 816}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
| name = Leo III
| image = Pope Leo III portrait – Triclinium Leoninum.jpg
| caption = Mosaic at [[Triclinium Leoninum]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 27 December 795
| term_end = 12 June 816
| predecessor = [[Adrian I]]
| successor = [[Pope Stephen IV|Stephen IV]]
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Exarchate of Ravenna]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]
| death_date = 12 June 816
| death_place = Rome, [[Papal States]]
| parents = Atzuppius or Asupius<br/>Elizabeth
| previous_post = Cardinal-Priest of [[Santa Susanna]]
| other = Leo
| feast_day = 12 June
| venerated = {{plainlist|
*[[Roman Catholic Church]]
|canonized_date=1669
|canonized_by=[[Clement X]]
}}
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
}}
'''Pope Leo III''' ({{langx|la|Leo III}}; died 12 June 816) was [[bishop of Rome]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 26 December 795 to his death. Protected by [[Charlemagne]] from the supporters of his predecessor, [[Adrian I]], Leo subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him [[Carolingian Empire|emperor]]. The coronation was not approved by most people in [[Constantinople]], although the Byzantines, occupied with their own defenses, were in no position to offer much opposition to it.

==Rise==
According to the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'', Leo was "of the [[Roman people|Roman nation]], the son of Atzuppius" (''natione romanus ex patre Atzuppio''). The ''[[Chronicon Anianense]]'' says, more specifically, that he was "born in Rome to Asupius and Elizabeth" (''natus rome ex patre asupio matre helisabeth'').<ref>Philipp Winterhager, [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110678932 ''Migranten und Stadtgesellschaft im frühmittelalterlichen Rom: Griechischsprachige Einwanderer und ihre Nachkommen im diachronen Vergleich''] (De Gruyter, 2020), p. 261.</ref> Usually considered to be of [[Greeks|Greek]] origin, his father's name may suggest an [[Arab]] background.<ref name=TFXN>T. F. X. Noble (1985), The Declining Knowledge of Greek in Eighth- and Ninth-Century Papal Rome", ''Byzantinische Zeitschrift'', '''78'''(1): 59. {{doi|10.1515/byzs.1985.78.1.56}}</ref><ref>Hans-Georg Beck, "Die Herkunft des Papstes Leo III", ''Frühmittelalterliche Studien: Jahrbuch des Instituts fur Frühmittelalterforschung der Universität Münster'', '''3''' (1969): 131–137.</ref> An earlier person of the same name or nickname, Atzypios, was an [[Byzantine iconoclasm|iconoclast]] adversary of [[John of Damascus]].<ref>[[John R. Martindale]] (ed.), ''[[Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire]]'', Vol. 1 (641–867) (Online ed., 2014), s.v. [http://www.pbe.kcl.ac.uk/data/D15/F74.htm Atzuppius 1] (which presumes that Leo III's father was also a native of Rome) and [http://www.pbe.kcl.ac.uk/data/D15/F75.htm Atzypios 1].</ref>

Leo seems to have known Greek.<ref name=TFXN/> He was made [[cardinal-priest of Santa Susanna]] by [[Pope Adrian I]], and seemingly also [[vestiarius]], or chief of the pontifical treasury, or wardrobe.<ref name=mann/><ref name="Miranda">{{Cite web |url=https://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/biosunknowndate772-795.htm |title=Leone (?–816) |last=Miranda |first=Salvador |website=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church – Biographical Dictionary |publisher=[[Florida International University]] |access-date=2018-04-24 |archive-date=25 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425114536/https://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/biosunknowndate772-795.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He was [[Papal selection before 1059|elected]] on 26 December 795, the day Adrian I was buried, and [[episcopal consecration|consecrated]] on the following day. It is quite possible that this haste may have been due to a desire on the part of the Romans to prevent any interference by the [[Franks]]. With the letter informing the Frankish ruler [[Charlemagne]] that he had been unanimously elected [[Pope]], Leo sent him the keys of the confession of St. Peter, and the standard of the city, and requested an envoy. This he did to show that he regarded the Frankish king as the protector of the Holy See.<ref name=mann>{{Catholic Encyclopedia|prescript=|wstitle=Pope St. Leo III|first=Horace Kinder |last=Mann |volume=9}}</ref> In return, Charlemagne sent letters of congratulation and a great part of the treasure which the king had captured from the Avars.<ref name=shahan/>

==Pontificate==
Charlemagne's gift enabled Leo to be a great benefactor to the churches and charitable institutions of Rome. While Charlemagne's letter is respectful and even affectionate, it also exhibits his concept of the coordination of the spiritual and temporal powers, and he does not hesitate to remind the pope of his grave spiritual obligations.<ref name=shahan>{{Catholic Encyclopedia|prescript=|wstitle=Charlemagne|last=Shahan |first=Thomas |first2=Ewan |last2=Macpherson|volume=3}}</ref>

===Attack on Leo in 799===
Prompted by jealousy, ambition, or the thought that only someone of the nobility should hold the office of pope, a number of relatives of Adrian I formed a plot to render Leo unfit to hold his office. On the occasion of the procession of the [[Greater Litanies]], 25 April 799, when the pope was making his way towards the [[Flaminian Gate]], he was suddenly attacked by armed men. He was dashed to the ground, and an effort was made to root out his tongue and tear out his eyes which left him injured and unconscious. He was rescued by two of Charlemagne's ''[[missi dominici]]'', who came with a considerable force.<ref name=mann/> Duke [[Winiges of Spoleto]] sheltered the fugitive pope, who went later to [[Paderborn]], where Charlemagne's camp then was<ref name=shahan/> and where he was received by the Frankish king with the greatest honour.<ref name=mann/> This meeting forms the basis of the epic poem ''[[Karolus Magnus et Leo Papa]]''.

Leo was accused by his enemies of [[adultery]] and [[perjury]]. Charlemagne ordered them to Paderborn, but no decision could be made. He then had Leo escorted back to Rome. In November 800, Charlemagne himself went to Rome, and on 1 December held a council there with representatives of both sides. Leo, on 23 December, took an [[oath of purgation]] concerning the charges brought against him, and his opponents were exiled.<ref name=mann/>

===Coronation of Charlemagne===
[[File:Raphael - Coronation of Charlemagne (cropped).jpg|thumb|Detail from ''[[The Coronation of Charlemagne]]'' by [[Raphael]] (1517)]]
Charlemagne's father, [[Pepin the Short]], defended the papacy against the Lombards and issued the [[Donation of Pepin]], which granted the land around Rome to the pope as a fief. In 754 [[Pope Stephen II]] had conferred on Charlemagne's father the dignity of ''Patricius Romanus'', which implied primarily the protection of the Roman Church in all its rights and privileges; above all in its temporal authority which it had gradually acquired (notably in the former Byzantine [[Duchy of Rome]] and the [[Exarchate of Ravenna]]) by just titles in the course of the two preceding centuries.<ref name=shahan/>

Two days after his oath, on Christmas Day 800, Leo [[Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|crowned]] Charlemagne as [[Holy Roman Emperor|emperor]]. According to Charlemagne's biographer, [[Einhard]], Charlemagne had no suspicion of what was about to happen, and if informed would not have accepted the imperial crown.<ref>{{cite book |author=Einhard |author-link=Einhard |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/einhard.asp |title=The Life of Charlemagne |chapter=Charlemagne Crowned Emperor |chapter-url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/einhard.asp#Charlemagne%20Crowned%20Emperor |translator-first=Samuel Epes |translator-last=Turner |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1880}}</ref> There is, however, no reason to doubt that for some time previous the elevation of Charlemagne had been discussed, both at home and at Rome, especially since the imperial throne in [[Constantinople]] was controversially occupied by a woman, [[Irene of Athens]], and since the [[Carolingian dynasty]] had firmly established its power and prestige.<ref name=shahan/> The coronation offended Constantinople, which had seen itself still as the rightful defender of Rome, but Empress Irene, like many of her predecessors since [[Justinian I]], was too weak to offer protection to the city or its much reduced citizenry.

In 808, Leo committed [[Corsica]] to Charlemagne for safe-keeping because of Muslim raids, originating from [[Al-Andalus]],<ref>{{cite book|author1=Raymond Davis|title=The Lives of the Ninth-century Popes (Liber Pontificalis): The Ancient Biographies of Ten Popes from A.D. 817–891|date= 1995|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=9780853234791|page=93|edition=illustrated}}</ref> on the island.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas F. X. |last=Noble|title=The Republic of St. Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680–825|date= 2011|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812200911|page=173}}</ref> Nonetheless, Corsica, along with [[Sardinia]], would still go on to be occupied by Muslim forces in 809 and 810.<ref>{{cite book|first=Henri |last=Pirenne|title=Mohammed and Charlemagne|date= 2013| publisher=Routledge| isbn=9781135030179| page=160}}</ref>

===Episcopal policy===

Leo helped restore King [[Eardwulf of Northumbria]] and settled various matters of dispute between the [[archbishops of York]] and [[Archbishop of Canterbury|Canterbury]].<ref name=mann/> He also reversed [[Pope Adrian I]]'s decision in the granting of the [[pallium]] to Bishop [[Hygeberht]] of Lichfield. He believed that the English episcopate had been misrepresented before Adrian and that therefore his act was invalid. In 803, Lichfield was a regular diocese again.<ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia |prescript= |wstitle=Councils of Clovesho |last=Moyes |first=James |volume=4}}</ref>

=== Theological policy ===
Pope Leo III unambiguously supported the current theological position in the West in his time: that [[Filioque|Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son]]; he stated on this position: "it is forbidden not to believe such a great [[Sacred mysteries|mystery]] of the faith". However, he refused to change the [[Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed|creed]] which he said was the product of the "divine illumination" of the [[Ecumenical council|council]] fathers, and considered not everything needed for [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] was in the creed. Leo III "placed two silver shields in Rome with the uninterpolated creed in both Greek and Latin."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Siecienski|first=A. Edward|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/344061951|title=The filioque : history of a doctrinal controversy|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-537204-5|location=New York|pages=96–100|oclc=344061951}}</ref> The ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' states Leo III put those shields at the top of [[St. Peter's Basilica|St. Peter]]'s entrance "in his love for and as a safeguard for the [[Orthodoxy|orthodox and catholic apostolic]] faith"<!--This anecdote of the LP is very famous within Christianity, and is sometimes wrongly turned into a direct quote. Siecienski (2010: 99) quotes this passage as a description and not a direct quote. Therefore, this anecdote must be kept.-->.<ref>{{Cite book |url= |title=The lives of the eighth-century popes (Liber pontificalis): the ancient biographies of nine popes from AD 715 to AD 817 |date=2007 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |others=Raymond Davis |isbn=978-1-84631-154-3 |edition=2nd rev. |location=Liverpool |pages=216 |chapter=Leo III |oclc=222145811}}</ref>

[[Anastasius Bibliothecarius]], chief archivist at Rome under several later Popes, stated that the Latins understood the Filioque to be in reference to the temporal mission (missio), and not an eternal procession.

==Death and legacy==
Leo III died in 816 after a reign of more than 20 years. He was originally buried in his own monument. However, some years after his death, his remains were put into a tomb that contained the first four [[Pope Leo (disambiguation)|popes named Leo]]. In the 18th century, the relics of [[Pope Leo I|Leo the Great]] were separated from his namesakes, and he was given his own chapel.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reardon|first=Wendy|title=The deaths of the Popes|year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvXeCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |page=41 |publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476602318}}</ref>

Leo III was [[canonized]] by [[Clement X]], who, in 1673, had Leo's name entered in the ''[[Roman Martyrology]]''.<ref name="Baring-Gould1874">{{cite book|last=Baring-Gould|first=Sabine|title=The Lives of the Saints|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hYZCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA156|access-date=24 April 2018|year=1874|publisher=J. Hodges|page=156}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of popes]]
*[[Donation of Constantine]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
*[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.html Translation of Einhard's ''Life of Charlemagne'' (c. 817–830, translated in 1880)]

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Adrian I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=795–816}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Stephen IV|Stephen IV]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}
{{Catholic saints}} 
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leo 03}}
[[Category:8th-century births]]
[[Category:816 deaths|Leo III]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:Filioque]]
[[Category:8th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:9th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:9th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:8th-century popes]]
[[Category:9th-century popes]]
[[Category:Canonizations by Pope Clement X]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]