Editing Pope Sergius IV

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1009 to 1012}}
{{redirect|Sergius IV|the Duke of Naples from 1002 to 1036|Sergius IV of Naples}}
{{Infobox Christian leader | type = Pope
|honorific-prefix=[[List of popes|Pope]]
|name=Sergius IV
|title= [[Bishop of Rome]]
|church= [[Catholic Church]]
|birth_name=Pietro Martino Buccaporci
|term_start=31 July 1009
|term_end=12 May 1012
|predecessor=[[John XVIII]]
|successor=[[Benedict VIII]]
|consecration=1004
|cardinal=1004
|created_cardinal_by=John XVIII
|birth_date=
|birth_place=[[Rome]], [[Papal States]], {{awrap|Holy Roman Empire}}
|death_date=12 May 1012
|death_place=Rome, Papal States, {{awrap|Holy Roman Empire}}
|previous_post={{unbulleted list|[[Cardinal-Bishop of Albano]] (1004–1009)}}
|other=Sergius}}

'''Pope Sergius IV''' (died 12 May 1012) was the [[bishop of Rome]] and nominal ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 31 July 1009 to his death. His [[temporal power (papal)|temporal power]] was eclipsed by the patrician [[John Crescentius]]. Sergius IV may have called for the expulsion of Muslims from the [[Holy Land]], but this is disputed. Since his time, the practice that the person who has been elected to the office of pope takes on a new name became a tradition.<ref name="Goez">{{cite journal |last1=Goez |first1=Werner |title=PAPA QUI ET EPISCOPUS: ZUM SELBSTVERSTÄNDNIS DES REFORMPAPSTTUMS IM 11. JAHRHUNDERT |journal=Archivum Historiae Pontificiae |date=1970 |volume=8 |pages=27–59 |jstor=23563726 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23563726}}</ref>

==Early life==
Pietro Martino Buccaporci was born in [[Rome]] in the "Pina" district, at an unknown date, the son of Peter the Shoemaker and Stephania.<ref>Duchesne, p. 267.</ref> ''Buccaporci'' ("Pig's snout") was neither his birth name nor the name of his family, but apparently a nickname given to him because of his personal habits.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alphonsus Ciaconius (Alfonso Chacón)|editor=Agostinus Olduinus|title=Vitae et res gestae pontificum romanorum: et S.R.E. cardinalium|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RdFAAAAcAAJ|volume=Tomus primus|year=1677|publisher=P. et A. De Rubeis|location=Roma|language=Latin|page=765}}</ref>

In 1004, he became the [[bishop of Albano]].<ref>His epitaph, quoted by Duchesne, p. 264, states, ''Albanum regimen lustro venerabilis uno rexit''. A ''lustrum'' is a five-year period.</ref><ref name=Mann>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13729b.htm Mann, Horace. "Pope Sergius IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 8 November 2017</ref> He was elected [[pope]] after the [[papal abdication|abdication]] of [[John XVIII]] in 1009, and adopted the name Sergius IV.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en/holy-father/sergio-iv.html| title = "Sergius IV", The Holy See}}</ref>

==Pontificate==
The power held by Sergius IV was small and often overshadowed by the patrician, [[John Crescentius]], the ruler of the city of Rome at the time. With the help of Crescentius, Sergius resisted the attempts of [[Emperor Otto III]] to establish control over Rome. Sergius IV acted to relieve famine in the city, and he exempted several monasteries from episcopal rule.<ref name=Mann/>

A [[papal bull]] calling for [[Muslims]] to be driven from the [[Holy Land]] after the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] was destroyed in 1009 by the [[Fatimid]] [[caliph]] [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]] has been attributed to Sergius IV, although its authenticity has long been a matter of debate.<ref name="Lair1899">{{cite book|author=Jules Auguste Lair|title=Bulle du pape Sergius IV.: Lettres de Gerbert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFVGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47|year=1899|publisher=A. Picard et fils|location=Paris|language=French, Latin|pages=1–88}}</ref> [[Carl Erdmann]] considered it genuine,<ref name="Erdmann1965">{{cite book|author=Carl Erdmann|title=Die Entstehung des Kreuzzugsgedankens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n52NxgEACAAJ|year=1965|publisher=[[W. Kohlhammer]]|location=Stuttgart|language=German}}</ref> but it was rejected at length by Aleksander Gieysztor, who suggested that it was actually invented around the time of the [[First Crusade]] in order to help justify that expedition to [[Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Aleksander Gieysztor|title=The Genesis of the Crusades: The Encyclical of Sergius IV (1009–1012)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P98ISQAACAAJ|year=1950}}</ref> Subsequently, Hans Martin Schaller has argued for the document's authenticity.<ref>Hans Martin Schaller (1991), 'Zur Kreuzzugensyklika Papst Sergius' IV.', in: ''Papsttum, Kirche und Recht im Mittelalter. Festschrift für Horst Fuhrmann zum 65. Geburtstag'', ed. Hubert Mordek (Tubingen 1991), 135–153 (in German).</ref>

==Death and legacy==
[[File:San giovanni in laterano, interno, navata interna dx, sepolcro settecentesco di sergio IV, m. 1012.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Sergius IV in [[St John Lateran]] (18th&nbsp;century)]]
Sergius died on 12 May 1012 and was buried in the [[Basilica of St. John Lateran]].<ref name=Mann/> Although not canonized, Sergius is sometimes venerated as a saint by the [[Benedictine]]s of which he was a member.<ref>Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI'', (HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 168.</ref> There was some suspicion that he was murdered, as he died within a week of Crescentius, considered by many to have been his patron.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=904| title = Catholic Online}}</ref> Sergius was followed in the papacy by [[Benedict VIII]].<ref name=Mann2>{{Catholic |last=Mann |first=Horace |wstitle=Pope Benedict VIII |volume=2 |inline=1 |prescript=}}</ref>

==References==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|editor=Duchesne Louis|title=Le Liber Pontificalis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MfXRQpBhQc0C&pg=PA636|year=1892|publisher=E. De Boccard|location=Paris|language=Latin, French|page=267}}

::{{catholic|title=Pope Sergius IV}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[John XVIII]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=1009–12}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Benedict VIII]]}}
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{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Albano]]
[[Category:11th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:1012 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:11th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]]