Editing Pope Stephen IV

{{short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 816 to 817}}
{{Pope Stephen ToP Dab|IV}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}

{{Infobox Christian leader
|type=Pope
|honorific-prefix=[[List of popes|Pope]]
|title=[[Bishop of Rome]]
|name=Stephen IV
|birth_name=Stephanus
|church=[[Catholic Church]]
|term_start=22 June 816
|term_end=24 January 817
|predecessor=[[Pope Leo III|Leo III]]
|successor=[[Pope Paschal I|Paschal I]]
|birth_date=
|birth_place=[[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
|death_date=24 January 817
|death_place=Rome, Papal States
|other=Stephen
}}
'''Pope Stephen IV''' ({{langx|la|Stephanus IV}}; died January 817) was the [[bishop of Rome]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from June 816 to his death.<ref name="ce">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14289b.htm Mann, Horace. "Pope Stephen (IV) V." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 19 September 2017</ref> Stephen belonged to a noble Roman family. In October 816, he crowned [[Louis the Pious]] as emperor at [[Reims]], and persuaded him to release some Roman political prisoners he held in custody. He returned to [[Rome]], by way of Ravenna, sometime in November and died the following January.

==Rise==
The son of a [[Roman people|Roman]] noble called Marinus, Stephen belonged to the same family which also produced the Popes [[Pope Sergius II|Sergius II]] and [[Adrian II]].<ref>Mann, pgs. 111–112</ref> The ''[[Liber Censuum]]'' says that Stephen was from the Massimi branch of the [[Massimo family]], as was his successor, [[Pope Paschal I|Paschal I]].<ref name="g9n13">Goodson, 2010, p. 9 & n.13.</ref> At a young age he was raised at the [[Lateran Palace]] during the pontificate of [[Adrian I]], and it was under [[Pope Leo III|Leo III]] that he was [[ordained]] a [[subdeacon]] before he was subsequently made a [[deacon]]. Very popular among the Roman people,<ref name="Mann, pg. 112">Mann, pg. 112</ref> within ten days of Leo III's death, he was escorted to [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] and [[episcopal consecration|consecrated]] [[bishop of Rome]] on or about 22 June 816. It has been conjectured that his [[Papal selection before 1059|rapid election]] was an attempt by the Roman clergy to ensure that the Carolingian emperor [[Louis the Pious]] could not interfere.<ref name="Mann, pg. 112"/>

==Pontificate==
Immediately after his consecration Stephen ordered the Roman people to swear fidelity to Emperor Louis, after which Stephen sent envoys to the emperor notifying him of his election, and to arrange a meeting between the two at the emperor's convenience.<ref>Mann, pgs. 112–113</ref> With Louis' invitation, Stephen left Rome in August 816. Louis's nephew, King [[Bernard of Italy]], was ordered to accompany Stephen to the emperor and the two crossed the Alps together.<ref>Mann, pgs. 113–114</ref> In early October, the pope and the emperor met at [[Rheims]], where Louis prostrated himself three times before Stephen.<ref>Mann, pg. 114</ref> At Mass on Sunday, 5 October 816, Stephen [[anointed]] Louis as emperor, [[coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|placing a crown]] on his head that was claimed to belong to [[Constantine the Great]].<ref>Duffy, pg. 77</ref> At the same time he also crowned Louis' wife, [[Ermengarde of Hesbaye]], and saluted her as ''[[Augusta (honorific)|augusta]]''.<ref>Mann, pg. 115</ref> This event has been seen as an attempt by the papacy to establish a role in the creation of an emperor, which had been placed in doubt by Louis' self-coronation in 813.<ref>Duffy, pg. 78</ref>

Louis gave Stephen a number of presents, including an estate of land (most likely at [[Vendeuvre-sur-Barse]]) granted to the Roman church.<ref>Mann, pg. 117–118</ref> They also renewed the pact between the popes and the kings of the [[Franks]], confirming the privileges of the Roman church, and the continued existence of the recently emerged [[Papal States]].<ref>Mann, pg. 118</ref> Stephen also raised Bishop [[Theodulf of Orléans]] to the rank of [[archbishop]], and had Louis release from their exile all political prisoners originally from Rome who had been held by the emperor resulting from the conflict that plagued the early part of Pope Leo III's reign.<ref>Mann, pgs. 118–119</ref> It is also believed that Stephen asked Louis to enforce reforms for the clergy who lived under the [[Chrodegang of Metz|Rule of Chrodegang]]. This included ensuring that the men and women who lived there were to stay in separate convents, and that they were to hold the houses under a title of common property. He also regulated how much food and wine they could consume.<ref>Louis Marie DeCormenin; James L. Gihon, ''A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop to Pius the Ninth'', (1857) pg. 212</ref>

After visiting [[Ravenna]] on his way back from Rheims, Stephen returned to Rome before the end of November 816.<ref>Mann, pg. 119</ref> Here, he apparently discontinued Leo III's policies of favouring clergy over lay aristocracy. After holding the traditional ordination of priests and bishops in December and confirming [[Farfa Abbey]]'s possessions on condition that every day the monks would recite one hundred [[Kyrie]] eleison as well as a yearly payment to the Roman Church of ten golden [[Solidus (coin)|solidi]], Stephen died on 24 January 817.<ref>Mann, pgs. 119–120</ref> He was buried at St. Peter's, and was succeeded by [[Paschal I]].<ref>Artaud de Montor, ''The lives and times of the Roman Pontiffs, from St. Peter to Pius IX'' Volume 1 (1867), pg. 94</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
{{catholic|title=Pope Stephen (IV) V}}

==References==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
* Goodson, Caroline J. 2010. ''The Rome of Pope Paschal I: Papal Power, Urban Renovation, Church Rebuilding and Relic Translation, 817–824''.  Cambridge University Press.
* Duffy, Eamon, ''Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes'', Yale University Press (1997)
* Mann, Horace K., ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. II: The Popes During the Carolingian Empire, 795–858'' (1906)
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Stephen (Popes)}}

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{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Leo III|Leo III]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=816–817}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Paschal I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:817 deaths]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:9th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:9th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]