The Bishops of Rome, the Popes;
the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Armenia, and the East; Archbishops of Canterbury and Prince Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, Cologne, and Salzburg

On the map we have the Roman Empire as it was partially restored at the death of Justinian I. The capital, of course, is Constantinople, with the recovered western areas ruled from Ravenna (Italy, the Exarchate of Ravenna) and Carthage (Africa and Spain, the Exarchate of Carthage). The Roman Catholic Church is governed through the Emperor and the Patriarchs, namely the Patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, in that order of precedence. The role of the Emperor in governing the Church is now called "caesaro-papism," i.e. an Emperor acting like a Pope. However, the Emperor had exercised his powers since Constantine I, while the familiar powers of the Pope were much later claims and inventions. It is thus much less anarchonistic to characterize the claims of later Popes, not the Emperors, as the "caesaro-papism," i.e. the Pope trying to act like an Emperor. Chief among the powers of the Emperor -- the "Equal of the Apostles," always portrayed with a halo, -- was that of calling Church Councils, as Constantine had called the Council of Nicaea in 325. The first Council called by a Pope was the Lateran Council I in 1123. To resolve the Great Schism, the Council of Constance, 1414-1418, was called by the Emperor Sigismund; but once a single line of Popes was secure in Rome again, they denied that the Emperor had any authority to call Councils. The last Emperor in any position, and with any need, to call a Council, Charles V, deferred to the Pope -- who then was the one to call the Council of Trent, 1545-1563. At the time of Justinian, the Pope was regarded as primus inter pares, first among equals of the Patriarchs, but that was all. The Patriarch of Constantinople was made second in rank, although this was a bit resented by the other, older Patriarchates.

The diagram at right gives some impression of how the Una Sancta Romana Catholica et Apostolica Ecclesia, the "One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church" has broken up -- setting aside the Protestant fragmention of the See of Rome in the West, which of course would require a complex diagram in its own right. While the Coptic and Syrian Churches broke away over Chalcedon, there remained a continuous line of Greek Patriarchs in Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, even as the Patriarch of Constantinople proselytized Bulgaria, Russia, and other states in the Balkans. Beginning with the Crusades, the Church of Rome sought converts over the same territory; and so we see Catholic churches and counter-churches swarming around the older, Orthodox ones. The counter-churches double up with the existing Orthodox churches, but sometimes a Catholic church exists, e.g. in the Ukraine or Ruthenia, where a separate Orthodox one doesn't. The Popes claim doctrinal authority, while the doctrine of Constantinople is based on the Church Councils.

Just how people can be confused about the history of the Church we see in a statement by film maker Francis Ford Coppola in the director's commentary on his movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula [1991, 2007]:

The Orthodox religions, Greek Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, is [sic] in fact the original Christianity and, for my part, I think the most beautiful expression of Christianity -- that Roman Catholicism is Christianity having been fused with the Roman Empire and really I think has more to do with the Roman Empire than it does with Christianity. [transcribed from audio track]

Coppola is apparently unaware that the Orthodox Churches he mentions, Churches in doctrinal agreement with the Patriarch of Constantinople, are the actual direct descendants of the State Religion of the Roman Empire, founded under the authority of the Patriarch and the Emperor in Constantinople (starting with Constantine), while modern Roman Catholicism, far from being Chrisitanity "fused with the Roman Empire," is the religion of the Bishops of Rome who repudiated the authority of the Roman Emperor and excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople. The religion of the City of Rome detached itself from the religion of the Roman Empire, i.e. Mediaeval Romania, centered in Constantinople. Few people, indeed, remember that Mediaeval "Romans" meant the Greek, Albanian, Vlach, Armenian, and other inhabitants of the so-called "Byzantine" Empire.

In this period there were five significant centers of Christianity outside what had ever been in the Roman Empire:  in the Caucasus, in Mesopotamia, in India, in Ethiopia, and in Ireland. In the Caucasus were the Churches of Georgia and Armenia. Georgia was doctrinally in union with Rome, but Armenia had not accepted the decision of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. The Patriarchate of Armenia was thus regarded by the Roman Church as heterodox. Similarly heterodox was the Patriarchate of the East, seated at the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, which had not accepted the decision of the Third Ecumenical Council. The authority of the Patriarch of the East already extended to Christians in India, and subsequently would reach all the way to China. Ethiopia was under the authority of the Patriarch of Alexandria and so, until the Fourth Ecumenical Council, was doctrinally in union with Rome -- later it would continue to follow the lead of the Coptic Church. Ethiopia has had its own autonomous Patriarchate just since 1959. That leaves Ireland, which traditionally was converted by St. Patrick after 432 AD. As communication between Ireland and the Empire became more tenuous, the Irish Church preserved literacy, as Britain itself fell out of history, and developed some of its own traditions -- though these never came to serious heterodoxy and any differences were later fixed up. As Irish nationalism later became identified with the Catholic Church, over and against the Protestant Church of England and British rule in Ireland, Ireland became one of the most staunchly Catholic states in Europe.

Philosophy of History

Philosophy of Religion

Patriarchal Index

• Introduction
• Bishops of Rome and Popes
  • Patriarchs of Aquileia, Grado, and Venice
  • Archbishops of Canterbury
  • Archbishops of Milan
  • Archbishop-Electors of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne
  • Archbishops of Salzburg
• Patriarchs of Constantinople
  • Primates of Russia, Metropolitans & Patriarchs of Kiev & Moscow
  • Latin Patriarchs of Constantinople
  • Armenian Patriarchs of Constantinople
• Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria
  • Melkite Patriarchs of Alexandria
  • Latin Patriarchs of Alexandria
  • Patriarchs of Ethiopia
• Patriarchs of Antioch
  • Syrian Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch
  • Maronite Patriarchs of Lebanon
  • Latin Patriarchs of Antioch
  • Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch
• Patriarchs of Jerusalem
  • Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem
  • Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem
• Patriarchs of Armenia
  • Patriarchs of the Great House of Cilicia
• Patriarchs of the East

The Bishops of Rome, the Popes,
42 AD-present

BISHOPS OF ROME
1 St. Peter	c.42-c.64
2 St. Linus	c.66-c.78
3 St. Anacletus	c.79-c.91
4 St. Clement I	c.91-c.101
5 St. Evaristus	c.100-c.109
6 St. Alexander I	c.109-c.116
7 St. Sixtus I	c.116-c.125
8 St. Telesphorus	c.125-c.136
9 St. Hyginus	c.138-c.142
10 St. Pius I	c.142-c.155
11 St. Anicetus	c.155-c.166
12 St. Soterus	c.166-c.174
13 St. Eleutherius	c.174-189
14 St. Victor I	189-198
15 St. Zephirinus	198/9-217
16 St. Calixtus/ Callistus I	217-222
[St. Hippolytus]	217-235
17 St. Urban I	222-230
18 St. Pontianus	230-235
19 St. Anterius	235-236
20 St. Fabianus	236-250
killed in persecution of Decius, 250
21 St. Cornelius	251-253
[Novatianus]	251-258
22 St. Lucius I	253-254
23 St. Stephen I	254-257
24 St. Sixtus II	257-258
25 St. Dionysius	260-268
26 St. Felix I	269-274
27 St. Eutychianus	275-283
28 St. Caius/Gaius	283-296
29 St. Marcellinus	296-303/4
Persecution of Diocletian, 303; apostasy of Marcellinus
Sedê Vacantê	304-306/8
30 St. Marcellus I	306/8-308/9
31 St. Eusebius	309/10
32 St. Melchiades/ Miltiades	311-314
Toleration by Maxentius & Constantine, gift of Lateran Palace, 312
POPES
33 St. Sylvester I	314-335
325 Council I, Nicaea I, Arianism condemned; Nicene Creed
34 St. Marcus I	336
35 St. Julius I	337-352
36 Liberius	352-366
Meletian Schism, 361-401
[St. Felix II]	355-365
37 St. Damasus I	366-384
381 Council II, Constantinople I, Arianism condemned; regarded as definitively establishing Roman Catholic orthodoxy
[Ursinus]	366-367
38 St. Siricius	384-399
39 St. Anastasius I	399-401
40 St. Innocent I	401-417
41 St. Zosimus	417-418
[Eulalius]	418-419
42 St. Boniface I	418-422
43 St. Celestine I	422-432
431 Council III, Ephesus, Nestorianism condemned
44St. Sixtus/ Xystus III	432-440
45 St. Leo I the Great	440-461
449 "Robber" Council, Ephesus II, Monophysitism affirmed, still recognized by Monophysite Churches; 451 Council IV, Chalcedon, Monophysitism condemned; fatal disaffection of Syria & Egypt
46 St. Hilarus (Hilary)	461-468
47 St. Simplicius	468-483
48 St. Felix III (II)	483-492
49 St. Gelasius I	492-496
50 St. Anastasius II	496-498
51 St. Symmachus	498-514
[Laurentius]	498-499, 501-506, d.507/08
52 St. Hormisdas	514-523
53 St. John I	523-526
54 St. Felix IV (III)	526-530
[Dioscorus]	530
55 Boniface II	530-532
56 John II	533-535
57 St. Agapetus Agapitus I	535-536
58 St. Sylverius	536-537
59 Vigilius	537-555
553 Council V, Constantinople II, Monophysitism condemned again
60 Pelagius I	556-561
61 John III	561-574
62 Benedict I	575-579
63 Pelagius II	579-590
64 St. Gregory I the Great	590-604
65 Sabinianus	604-606
66 Boniface III	607
67 St. Boniface IV	608-615
68 St. Deusdedit/ Adeodatus I	615-618
69 Boniface V	619-625
70 Honorius I	625-638
condemned as Monothelete heretic by Council VI
Sedê Vacantê	638-640
71 Severinus	640
72 John IV	640-642
73 Theodore I	642-649
74 St. Martin I	649-653, d.655
arrested by Emperor Constans II and died in exile in Crimea
75 St. Eugenius I	654-657
76 St. Vitalianus	657-672
77 Adeodatus II	672-676
78 Domnus/Donus (I)	676-678
79 St. Agathon	678-681
680-681 Council VI, Constantinople III, Monotheletism condemned
80 St. Leo II	682-683
81 St. Benedict II	684-685
82 John V	685-686
83 Conon	686-687
[Theodorus]	687
[Paschal]	687, d.692
84 St. Sergius I	687-701
ordered arrested but Italian garrison refuses
85 John VI	701-705
86 John VII	705-707
87 Sisinnius	708
88 Constantine I	708-715
last Pope to visit Constantinople
89 St. Gregory II	715-731
90 St. Gregory III	731-741
appeals to Franks for help against Lombards
91 St. Zacharias	741-752
92 Stephen II ??	752
93 Stephen III (II)	752-757
754 Donation of Pepin, Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna becomes Papal States
94 St. Paul I	757-767
[Constantine II]	767-768
[Philip]	768
95 Stephen IV (III)	768-772
96 Hadrian/Adrian I	772-795
787 Council VII, Nicaea II, Iconoclasm condemned under guidance of Empress Irene; 794 Council of Frankfurt, Frankish Church rejects Council VII, contradicts Pope
97 St. Leo III	795-816
800 crowns Charlemagne Roman Emperor; gives Papacy basis for claiming sovereign rights over later Holy Roman Emperors
98 Stephen V (IV)	816-817
99 St. Paschal I	817-824
100 Eugenius II	824-827
101 Valentinus	827
102 Gregory IV	827-844
[John]	844
103 Sergius II	844-847
Sack of Ostia & Rome by the Aghlabids, 846
104 St. Leo IV	847-855
105 Benedict III	855-858
[Anastasius]	855
106 St. Nicholas I	858-867
107 Hadrian II	867-872
869-870 Council VIII, Constantinople IV, patched up filioque and other differences, later repudiated by East, last Oecumenical Council recognized by West which included Eastern Church
108 John VIII	872-882
109 Martin II/ Marinus I	882-884
110 St. Hadrian III	884-885
111 Stephen VI (V)	885-891
112 Fromosus	891-896
113 Boniface VI	896
114 Stephen VII (VI)	896-897
115 Romanus	897
116 Theodore II	897
117 John IX	898-900
118 Benedict IV	900-903
119 Leo V	903, d.904
[Christopher ??]	903-904
120 Sergius III	904-911
121 Anastasius III	911-913
122 Lando	913-914
123 John X	914-928, d.929
124 Leo VI	928
125 Stephen VIII (VII)	928-931
126 John XI of Spoleto	931-935/6
127 Leo VII	936-939
128 Stephen IX (VIII)	939-942
129 Martin III/ Marinus II	942-946
130 Agapetus II	946-955
131 John XII Octavian of Spoleto	955-964
East Frankish Otto crowned Emperor after he defeats Magyars
132 Leo VIII ??	963, 964-965
133 Benedict V	964, d.966
134 John XIII	965-972
135 Benedict VI	973-974
[Boniface VII Franco]	974-985
{Domnus II}	c.974
136 Benedict VII	974-983
137 John XIV Peter Canepanova	983-984
138 John XV	985-996
139 Gregory V Bruno	996-999
[John XVI John Philagathos]	997-998, d.1001
140 Sylvester II Gerbert	999-1003
141 John XVII John Sicco	1003
142 John XVIII John Fasanus	1003-1009
143 Sergius IV Peter	1009-1012
144 Benedict VIII Theophylact of Tusculum	1012-1024
[Gregory (VI)]	1012
145 John XIX Romanus of Tusculum	1024-1032
146 Benedict IX !! Theophylact of Tusculum	1032-1044, 1045, & 1047-48, d.1055/56
147 Sylvester III ?? John of Sabina	1045, d.1063
148 Gregory VI John Gratian	1045-1046, d.1047
149 Clement II Suidger	1046-1047
150 Damasus II Poppo	1048
151 St. Leo IX Bruno	1049-1054
1054 Schism between Eastern and Western Churches, "Donation of Constantine" cited
152 Victor II Gerbhard	1055-1057
153 Stephen X (IX) Frederick of Lorraine	1057-1058
[Benedict X ?? John Mincius]	1058-1059, d.1073
154 Nicholas II Gerard	1058-1061
decree for election of Popes by a college of Cardinals; beginning of Papal heyday
155 Alexander II Anselm	1061-1073
[Honorius (II) Peter Cadalus]	1061-1064, d.1071/2
156 St. Gregory VII Hildebrand	1073-1085
1076-1122 Investiture Controversy
[Clement (III) Guibert]	1080, 1084-1100
Sedê Vacantê	1085-1086
157 Victor III Desiderius	1086, 1087
158 Urban II Odo/Eudes	1088-1099
1096-1099 First Crusade, defeats Seljuks, recaptures Jerusalem
159 Paschal II Rainerius	1099-1118
[Theodoric]	1100-1101, d.1102
[Albert]	1101
[Sylvester (IV) Maginulf]	1105-1111
160 Gelasius II John of Gaeta	1118-1119
[Gregory (VIII) Maurice Burdinus]	1118-1121, d.1140
161 Callistus II Guy/Guido of Burgundy	1119-1124
1123 Lateran Council I
162 Honorius II Lamberto	1124-1130
[Celestine (II) Teobaldo]	1124, d.1125/26
163 Innocent II Gregorio Papareschi	1130-1143
1139 Lateran Council II
[Anacletus II Pietro]	1130-1138
[Victor IV Gregorio Conti]	1138
164 Celestine II Guido of Città di Castello	1143-1144
165 Lucius II Gherardo Caccianemici	1144-1145
166 Eugenius III Bernardo Pignatelli	1145-1153
1147-1149 Second Crusade
167 Anastasius IV Corrado	1153-1154
168 Hadrian IV Nicholas Breakspear	1154-1159
only English Pope, confers Ireland on Henry II of England
169 Alexander III Orlando Bandinelli	1159-1181
1179 Lateran Council III
[Victor IV Ottaviano of Monticelli]	1159-1164
[Paschal III Rainald of Dassel]	1164-1168
[Callistus (III) Giovanni]	1168-1178, d.1183
[Innocent (III) Lando]	1179-1180
170 Lucius III Ubaldo Allucingoli	1181-1185
171 Urban III Umberto Crivelli	1185-1187
172 Gregory VIII Alberto de Morra	1187
173 Clement III Paolo Scolari	1187-1191
1189-1192 Third Crusade
174 Celestine III Giacinto Bobo	1191-1198
175 Innocent III Lotario	1198-1216
1202-1204 Fourth Crusade; Constantinople taken by Crusaders in employ of Venice, first break in line of Roman (Rhômaic/Byzantine) Emperors; 1215 Lateran Council IV; Albigensian Crusade, 1209-1229
176 Honorius III Cencio Savelli	1216-1227
1217-1221 Fifth Crusade #1
177 Gregory IX Ugo of Segni	1227-1241
1228-1229 Fifth Crusade #2, Frederick II excommunicated both for not going on Crusade and then for going on one and negotiating the possession of Jerusalem (until 1244)
178 Celestine IV Goffredo da Castiglione	1241
Sedê Vacantê	1241-1243
179 Innocent IV Sinibaldo Fieschi	1243-1254
1248-1254 Sixth Crusade, St. Louis IX of France; 1245 Council of Lyon I
180 Alexander IV Rinaldo of Segni	1254-1261
181 Urban IV Jacques Pantaléon	Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, 1255-1261
	1261-1264
182 Clement IV Guy Foulques	1265-1268
requests work from Roger Bacon, 1266
Sedê Vacantê	1268-1271
183 Gregory X Teobaldo Visconti	1271-1276
1270 Seventh Crusade, St. Louis IX of France, got no further than Tunisia; 1274 Council of Lyon II
184 Innocent V Pierre of Tarentaise	1276
185 Hadrian V Ottobono Fieschi	1276
186 John XXI !! Pedro Julião	1276-1277
187 Nicholas III Giovanni Gaetano	1277-1280
188 Martin IV Simon de Brie	1281-1285
189 Honorius IV Giacomo Savelli	1285-1287
190 Nicholas IV Girolamo Masci	1288-1292
Sedê Vacantê	1292-1294
191 St. Peter Celestine V Pietro del Morrone	1294-1294, d.1296
192 Boniface VIII Benedetto Caetani	1294-1303
most exaggerated claims for the mediaeval Papacy; humiliated by Philip the Fair of France
193 Benedict XI Niccolò Boccasino	1303-1304
A 194 Clement V Bertrand de Got	1305-1314
Templars arrested and suppressed, 1307-1312; Last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, tortured & burned by Philip IV of France, 1314
moves to Avignon, 1309; lines of Popes reside at Avignon (A), Rome (R), and Pisa (P) during the Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377) and the Great Schism (1378-1417); 1311-1312 Council of Vienne
Sedê Vacantê	1314-1316
A 195 John XXII Jacques Duèse	1316-1334
R [Nicholas (V) Pietro Rainalducci]	1328-1330, d.1333
A 196 Benedict XII Jacques Fournier	1334-1342
A 197 Clement VI Pierre	1342-1352
A 198 Innocent VI Étienne Aubert	1352-1362
A 199 Urban V Guillaume de Grimoard	1362-1370
R 200 Gregory XI Pierre Roger de Beaufort	1370-1378
leaves Avignon, 1376; returns to Rome, 1377
R 201 Urban VI Bartolomeo Prignano	1378-1389
resides at Rome, Anti-Pope elected at Avignon; Great Schism
R 202 Boniface IX Pietro Tomacelli	1389-1404
R 203 Innocent VII Cosimo Gentile de' Migliorati	1404-1406
R 204 Gregory XII Angelo Correr	1406-1415 d.1417
1414-1418 Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, Papal interregnum 1415-1417, resolves Great Schism, but principle of Council is threat to Papal authority
Sedê Vacantê	1415-1417
205 Martin V Oddo Colonna	1417-1431
206 Eugene (Eugenius) IV Gabriele Condulmaro	1431-1447
1431-1445 Council of Basil; Council at Ferrara & Florence, 1439-1440, attended by John VIII Palaeologus
[Felix (V), Amadeus VIII of Savoy]	1439-1449, d.1451
207 Nicholas V Tommaso Parentucelli	1447-1455
Renaissance begins
208 Callistus/ Calixtus III Alfonso de Borja/Borgia	1455-1458
209 Pius II Enea Silvio Piccolomini	1458-1464
last piece of Romania, the fortress of Monemvasia, ceded by the Despot Thomas, 1461
210 Paul II Pietro Barbo	1464-1471
211 Sixtus IV Francesco della Rovere	1471-1484
212 Innocent VIII Giovanni Battista Cibò	1484-1492
213 Alexander VI Rodrigo de Borja y Borja/Borgia	1492-1503
214 Pius III Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini	1503
215 Julius II Giuliano della Rovere	1503-1513
recovers by combat all of Papal States, 1512-1517; Lateran Council V
216 Leo X Giovanni de' Medici	1513-1521
1517 Reformation begins
217 Hadrian VI Adrian Florensz Dedal	1522-1523
218 Clement VII Giulio de' Medici	1523-1534
1527 Sack of Rome by Imperial/Spanish army
219 Paul III Alessandro Farnese	1534-1549
1545-1563 Council of Trent 19th Ecumenical Council
220 Julius III Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte	1550-1555
221 Marcellus II Marcello Cervini	1555
222 Paul IV Giampietro Carafa	1555-1559
223 Pius IV Giovanni Angelo Medici	1559-1565
224 St. Pius V Michele Ghislieri	1566-1572
225 Gregory XIII Ugo Boncompagni	1572-1585
5/15 October 1582, Gregorian Calendar instituted
226 Sixtus V Felice Peretti	1585-1590
227 Urban VII Giambattista Castagna	1590
228 Gregory XIV Niccolò Sfondrati	1590-1591
229 Innocent IX Giovanni Antonio Fachinetti	1591
230 Clement VIII Ippolito Aldobrandini	1592-1605
231 Leo XI Alessandro Ottaviano de'Medici	1605
232 Paul V Camillo Borghese	1605-1621
233 Gregory XV Alessandro Ludovisi	1621-1623
234 Urban VIII Maffeo Barberini	1623-1644
235 Innocent X Giambattista Pamfili	1644-1655
236 Alexander VII Fabio Chigi	1655-1667
237 Clement IX Giulio Rospigliosi	1667-1669
238 Clement X Emilio Altieri	1670-1676
239 Innocent XI Benedetto Odescalchi	1676-1689
240 Alexander VIII Petro Ottoboni	1689-1691
241 Innocent XII Antonio Pignatelli	1691-1700
242 Clement XI Giovanni Francesco Albani	1700-1721
Protests grant without Papal authority of the title "King in Prussia," 1701
243 Innocent XIII Michelangelo dei Conti	1721-1727
244 Benedict XIII Pietro Francesco Orsini	1724-1730
245 Clement XII Lorenzo Corsini	1730-1740
246 Benedict XIV Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini	1740-1758
247 Clement XIII Carlo della Torre Rezzonico	1758-1769
248 Clement XIV Lorenzo Giovanni Vicenzo Antonio Ganganelli	1769-1774
249 Pius VI Giovanni Angelo Braschi	1775-1799
250 Pius VII Luigi Barnabà Chiaramonte	1800-1823
Roman Republic, 1799; Concordat with Napoleon, 1801; Annexation by France, Napoleon excommunicated, Pope arrested, 1809-1814
251 Leo XII Annibale Sermattei della Genga	1823-1829
252 Pius VIII Francesco Saverio Castiglione	1829-1830
253 Gregory XVI Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari	1831-1846
254 Pius IX Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti	1846-1878
loss of Romagna, 1859; loss of the Marches & Umbria, 1860; occupation of Rome by Italy, 1870; 1869-1870 Vatican I Council
255 Leo XIII Gioacchino Vincenzo Pecci	1878-1903
256 St. Pius X Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto	1903-1914
257 Benedict XV Giacomo Della Chiesa	1914-1922
258 Pius XI Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti	1922-1939
Concordat with Mussolini, Independence of Vatican City, 1929
259 Pius XII Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli	1939-1958
260 John XXIII Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli	1958-1963
1962-1965 Vatican II Council
261 Paul VI Giovanni Battista Montini	1963-1978
262 John Paul I Albino Luciani	1978
263 John Paul II Karol Wojtyla	1978-2005
first Polish Pope
264 Benedict XVI Joseph Ratzinger	2005

The Papacy is one of the oldest institutions in the world, perhaps even the oldest. There are likely to be few neutral opinions about it. To Roman Catholics, the Pope may be the holiest man on earth, the heir and keeper of the deepest truths of religion. To others, the Papacy may only stand for ignorance and dogma, intolerance, torture, arrogance, and bigotry. Purely historical judgments, which cannot take into account religious truth or falsehood, may nevertheless leave a negative impression because of the factual nature of things like torture and intolerance. One would like, therefore, as a historian (or philosopher) to ask, "What good was the Papacy?"

There is one very good answer in that respect:  By claiming independent authority and resisting secular power, the Papacy paved the way for the later conception of the separation of Church and State. Not that the Church ever wanted to give up its authority over the conscience and morals of citizens, but it accustomed people to the idea that secular power was not the last word and that obedience to the same was not an unconditioned duty. Once the Church was divided by the Reformation, and Protestants found even their own sects multiplying, the easiest solution was, not only to keep secular authority separate, but to deny to churches any coercive function. Thus, while Catholic countries often still mix some religious authority into secular law, the separation of religion from the state, or the principle of liberty of conscience, is a far, far less secure proposition out of the Western world. When China prohibits an inoffensive religious sect, and various countries debate whether to institute Islâmic Law (or apply it in all its rigor), the long struggles between Popes and Emperors, or Popes and Kings, look positively remarkable.

As with many people who look good out of power, for their resistance, but then prove as bad, or worse, as their tormentors once they are in power themselves, our appreciation of the Papacy has its limits. The Popes always looked better resisting than ruling. This has peristed into recent times, when the Church was the focus of undeniable opposition to communism in Poland, but then, again, sought to introduce Catholic moral teachings into the law of post-communist Poland. The irony of this dynamic is palpable when communism itself came to power in the name of the workers but then often slaughtered workers to stay in power.

Thus, one might well say, "OK, it was a worthy role to distinguish and limit the power of secular governments, but since then the Church has been more famous for its intolerance, for the Inquisition, for its authoritarianism. What has it done for us, outside of the Warsaw Pact, lately?" Indeed, if a Mediaeval or Cold War historical role is the best we can do, then perhaps the demise of the Church is long overdue. At the same time, the Church is no longer running any Inquisitions, and priests and nuns have often become activists in trendy political causes -- unfortunately sometimes poisonous leftist causes, as in "Liberation Theology." However, that kind of thing may be of less value than the continued conservative moral teaching of the Church. If the Catholic Church is not going to stand for conservative morality, who is? The principle lesson of traditional morality is self-control. If the Church argues that abortion and birth control are not necessary (apart from its moral objections) for economic success, this is actually true and an argument that should be made. Those who are so imprudent as to find themselves with illegitimate children, even if their fortunes can be retrieved by abortions, may not be prudent in any other areas of life either, to a great loss of fortune which cannot so easily be remedied. The proposition that people should be protected, usually by the government, from any adverse consequences of their own actions is the most destructive moral principle of the modern age, when relativism and nihilism have become the self-evident truths of the intelligentsia. Although the Church may err in the direction of moralism, this is no worse, and probably overall better, than the opposite popular trivializations of morality and prudence. The legendary, fortress-like chastity of Catholic girls, although often ridiculed as unhealthy inhibition, now, especially in the environment of herpes and AIDS, proves to have been the wisest of practical virtues.

On the other hand, the moral standing of the Church now stands gravely challenged by scandals over priests who take advantage of their positions to sexually prey on children. In the most scurrilous of anti-Catholic rumor and libel, Catholics were required to provide children to priests for sexual purposes. However innocent of this, the Church put itself in a very false, immoral, and illegal position by often simply transfering priests accused of sexual crimes instead of turning them over to the police. Why the Church would be reluctant to respond appropriately is understandable, since it has been harder and harder, especially outside of Ireland and Poland, to get men to commit to a life of celibacy to become priests. The Church invests a great deal in the education and training of priests and is going to be reluctant to lose them. Also, the priesthood might unfortunately tend to attract men who might otherwise be uninterested in marriage, i.e. homosexuals and those sexually attracted to children. In principle, homosexuals are going to be in no worse position than heterosexual priests in that the Church has no objection to anyone being a homosexual, as long as they don't engage in homosexual sex. Since priests are expected to avoid any kind of sex, homosexual priests face temptations in much the same way as heterosexual priests. A priest tempted into homosexual sex may be committing a greater sin than a heterosexual priest, but at least it is not illegal. Child molesting is something else. While homosexual priests as such may not be the problem, conservatives sometimes think it is, since much of the abuse really isn't of children, but of teenage boys. Either way, however, these particular priests don't seem to be able to observe either their vows of celibacy, the Church's teachings on sexuality, or the laws about the age of consent.

A reasonable solution to all this, since the fundamental problem is the scarcity of parish priests, could be married priests. While priestly celibacy is founded on the text, Matthew 19:12, "and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it," it may be that the emphasis on celibacy in the Latin Church developed mainly to prevent priestly offices from becoming hereditary -- a grave danger in the Middle Ages, as seen recently also in Japan, where a married Buddhist clergy has resulted precisely in hereditary succession to Buddhist temples. This not likely to become a danger in the modern Catholic Church, however, and the Church would do well to adopt a somewhat more relaxed policy, as in the Greek Orthodox Church, where married priests are simply disqualified from advancing in the hierarchy.

The mythic beginning of the Papacy with St. Peter may not be quite as mythic as Protestants like to suppose. St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican is built over a 1st century Christian cemetery. Rebuilt over time, ever since the first version built by Constantine, the altar turns out always to have been over a particular grave, with its own humble monument, of a man whose bones date from the correct era. This may or may not really be Peter, but the antiquity of bones and tomb rule out the kind of crude mediaeval fraud that the sceptic might suppose.

Since St. Peter's and the Papacy really are so old, the opposite temptation, from the one of priestly fictions, is that the Popes know far more about history than anyone suspects. One favorite notion, which may or may not have originated in the novel Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins, is that the Vatican possesses the actual body of Jesus Christ. Since Christ is supposed to have risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, his body would be, to say the least, an embarrassment. But when one wonders whether these few bones are actually St. Peter, the intact mummy of Jesus seems rather less credible. Another conceit, apparently taken seriously by the 1999 movie Stigmata, is that the Vatican possesses texts of the Gospels, even in Aramaic (surviving Gospels are in Greek), which contradict various points of Catholic doctrine, like the existence of the Church. Stigmata, however, very much, perhaps inadvertently, overstates its case, since the sayings of Jesus it treasures as directed against the (not yet existing) Catholic Church could, at the time, have had no possible object other than the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem. The viewer of the movie, taking into account the historical context in which Jesus spoke, might therefore take it as an anti-Semitic rather than just an anti-Catholic screed.

The antiquity of the Papacy is perhaps often forgotten when it comes to the monuments of Rome. The mediaeval Popes did not live in the Vatican, but in the Lateran Palace, which had been seized from its private owners by, of all people, the Emperor Nero. Constantine then donated it to the Bishop of Rome and built adjacent to it the church of San Giovanni in Laterno, which has remained ever since the actual episcopal church of Rome (not St. Peter's). Most of the mediaeval Church councils in Rome are thus "Lateran" Councils, held at the Pope's residence (as the last two Councils have been "Vatican" Councils). Later, while the Popes were in Avignon, the Palace burned twice, in 1307 and 1361. Although the Palace was rebuilt, when the Popes returned, they never lived there again, settling at Santa Maria in Trastevere, then at Santa Maria Maggiore (also ancient; built in 432), and finally, as we all know, at the Vatican. What was left of the ancient Lateran Palace was removed by Sixtus V, who then built the smaller existing building.

Anti-Popes are shown in brackets. Popes and Anti-Popes in the Great Schism at Avignon are shown with backgrounds in purple. Anti-Popes at Pisa are on a background in green. Sedê Vacantê is "with the Seat Vacant."

The Popes may be viewed in frames in conjunction with Roman-Romanian-Byzantine Emperors and Frankish-German-French-Austrian Emperors with this link. In a screen 640 pixels wide, the formatting suffers considerable distortions. In a wider screen, the window should be enlarged or maximized. To exit the frames, links from the "Popes" window must be used.

Although the Pope had been the de facto governor of Rome for a few years, the Donation of Pepin in 754 begins the formal history of the Papacy as a territorial power. This would last until 1870, giving the Papal States a run of 1116 years. The original terms of the grant were for the "Exarchate of Ravenna," i.e. the Roman Imperial territory that was preserved across central Italy after the invasion of Lombards in 568. The most important parts of this were, of course, Rome itself and the area of Romagna around Ravenna in the north, with a narrow salient connecting them.

The ability of the Popes to control the outlying territories, or even Rome itself, was, however, very uneven. Rome was often under the control of turbulent local aristocrats, and one reason for the Papal relocation to Avignon was to escape them. After the return of the Popes to Rome, it was some time before the territorial fortunes could be restored. The son of Alexander VI, Cesare Borgia, then conquered Romagna. This was for his own benefit; but the deaths of him and his father (who was perhaps trying to poison someone else) and the accession of the warrior Pope Julius II resulted in its being secured for the Papacy. Avignon was still a Papal possession, and there were some outlying holdings in Italy, like Benevento. This arrangement was then fairly stable until the French Revolution, when Avignon was lost, the Papal States temporarily annexed, and the Pope himself eventually imprisoned by Napoleon. The restorations of 1815 returned the Papal Italian territories, until the period of the unification of Italy, 1859-1870. This formally ended the political independence of the Papacy until the Concordat with Mussolini in 1929 recognized the sovereignty of the Vatican City.

The Donation of Pepin and the subsequent crowning of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor gave the Popes ideas. A document was manufactured, the "Donation of Constantine," whereby secular authority over the entire Western Roman Empire had been given to the Pope by Constantine the Great. This became the basis of Mediaeval Papal claims of authority over all secular rulers in Francia. Papal claims were occasionally enforced with some success, against the Emperors and even against the Kings of France and England; but they came to a bad end when Boniface VIII had to face the ruthlessness of King Philip IV of France. The subsequent Babylonian Captivity and Great Schism, not to mention the Reformation and the exposure of the Donation of Constantine as a forgery, put the Papacy at such disadvantages that it never again had as much leverage as before over secular rulers.

The Frankish Kingdom as the Roman Empire petered out (as it were) after a while, and the Pope granted the Imperial Crown for a few years to local Kings of Italy. This also lapsed. The institution got revived, for the rest of the Middle Ages, when the successful German King Otto I descended on Italy. This began a long struggle between the German Emperors and the Popes for control of Italy and control of the Church in Germany. The successes of the Popes crippled the authority of the German Throne, and ensured that Germany and Italy would enter the Modern period fragmented and anarchic. The political consequences even in the 20th century were severe, as the political immaturity of Germany and Italy rendered them vulnerable to ideologies like Fascism and Naziism. Italy remained tempted by Communism until its fall in 1989/91. The war and mass murder effected by the former temptations echo in the terrorism practiced by the die-hard believers of the latter, even after the Fall of Communism.

One sees differing numberings of the Popes. Here I have John Paul II as the 263rd Pope. At the time of his death, I began seeing him referred to as the 264th, and the Catholic Encyclopedia gives him as the 265th. Part of this uncertainty is that there may be disagreement about which Popes are legitimate. Thus, in this list, Christopher (903) and Benedict X (1058) were formerly counted as Popes, but they are not on the Catholic Encyclopedia list and are characterized as Anti-Popes by The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. On the other hand, Leo VIII (963) and Sylvester III (1045) are now on the Catholic Encyclopedia list but were formerly, at least by some, considered Anti-Popes.

As it happens, if we switch off between these Popes and Anti-Popes, it still leaves the count the same. So where does the difference come from between the 363 Popes here and the 365 in the Catholic Encyclopedia? Well, the 365 number in the Encyclopedia list comes from numbering Benedict IX (1032) three times, as the 146th, 148th, and 151st Pope. He was a layman elected by the power of his family, the Counts of Tusculum, following his uncles Benedict VIII (1012) and John XIX (1024). Opposition to his family, to his own secular ways, and by the Emperor, resulted in him being deposed three times, first in favor of Sylvester III (1045), then second in favor of Gregory VI (1045). Gregory, Sylvester, and Benedict were all pushed aside by the Emperor Henry III, who installed Clement II (1046). After Clement's death, Benedict finally returned again, only to be deposed a third time in 1048 by Boniface of Tuscany, who installed the Emperor's candidate, Damasus II (1048).

It is because of this mess that Benedict, uniquely, like President Grover Cleveland, can be numbered with non-consecutive "terms" as Pope. I am not sure this makes as much sense for Popes as for Presidents, however. We are not really dealing with terms of office. If we ask "How many popes?" we want to know the number of individuals. So I have dispensed with the extra numberings. Reckoning them into the count, if anyone really wants to do that, does make John Paul II the 265th Pope (given the other judgments about Popes and Anti-Popes).

The count of John Paul II as 264th may come from using the three reigns for Benedict IX but not counting Stephen II (752), who died after reigning for only three days. Since he was properly elected but was never consecrated, judgment has wavered about whether to count him as a proper Pope. This results in different numberings seen for subsequent Stephens. Here, however, I have included the original Stephen II as a true Pope. Even if we discount him, however, I think it is very wrong to renumber the subsequent Stephens. This can create tremendous confusion when dealing with older (mainly pre-1961) histories, which will not have the renumbering. Stephen III was a Pope of great historical significance, and it should be possible to refer to him, or read about him, without confusion. There are several cases where Popes now considered Anti-Popes nevertheless retain their place in the sequence of names. Thus, Boniface VII (974), John XVI (997), Benedict X (1058), and Alexander V (1409) are now all Anti-Popes who nevertheless are figured in the numbering of subsequent Popes of their name. Since Stephen II had a legitimate election, and has never been considered an Anti-Pope by anyone, it is especially inappropiate to create confusion with anyone after him.

The only other Papal name where we get this kind of confusing renumbering is with "Felix." Felix II (355) was the early Anti-Pope with the name, but the subsequent Felixes, III (or II, 483) and IV (or III, 526), are early and not of great historical significance -- so not much confusion arises. However, the Anti-Pope Felix V (1439), chosen by the Council of Basle, and the last Anti-Pope, is of rather more importance, and appears to always be numbered with the Anti-Pope Felix II in the sequence.

There actually is no Pope John XX. When John XXI (1276) became Pope, there was some confusion about the numbering of the earlier Johns. Since John XXI styled himself the "XXI," this number has been allowed to stand, even when the confusion has been cleared up. How much more appropriate, then to retain even a discounted Stephen II.

Although the Church of the Pope is called by one and all the "Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church" (Sancta Romana Catholica et Apostolica Ecclesia), and this is contrasted, not just with Protestant churches, but with the Orthodox Churches of the East, Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Bulgarian, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, etc., this has been no more than a very clever usurpation. The "Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church" was the Universal (katholikos) Church of the Roman Empire. The Pope was not the ruler of that Church, but one of the Ecumenical Patriarchs, along with the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. The Pope was allowed to be primus inter pares, "first among equals," but that was it. Governance of the Church was also shared with the Emperor, the "Equal of the Apostles," who had the authority to call Church Councils; and, after 476, that meant only the Emperor in Constantinople -- although, as it happened, only that Emperor had ever called Councils. After various disputes, the Latin and Greek Churches finally broke in 1054. Each thus claimed to be the proper "Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church," but over time the Papal use of the terminology seems curiously to have been conceded by the East. "Eastern Orthodox" is not particularly insulting, but it is a surrender. Even the expression "Greek Catholic" is used for the Roman Catholic counter-church that was created to lure the Greek Orthodox into allegiance to Rome.

The Schism between Greek and Latin Churches came at a very bad time for the Greeks. Defeat by the Turks and the loss of Asia Minor deprived Romania of more than half its territory. This was a catastrophe, and actually the Empire never recovered. The Emperor Alexius Comnenus appealed to the West for help. He had no idea what this would set off. Pope Urban II got the idea to call for a "Crusade," a great Christian army, not just to help the Greeks, but to go on and reconquer Jerusalem. This is what happened. The First Crusade defeated the Turks badly enough that Romania was able to recover considerable territory, but then it went on and obtained the great goal of Jerusalem, which had been in Islâmic hands for 463 years.

Later Crusades were the result of setbacks, like the fall of Edessa in 1144 and, much worse, the loss of Jerusalem in 1187. The Popes began to labor constantly to put together forces that could recover the Christian position in Outremer. The Third Crusade was the most powerful and direct, led by the heroic Richard the Lionheart of England, but it fell short. Much, much worse was the Fourth Crusade, which was redirected by the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, to the purposes of Venice. Pope Innocent III first had to excommunicate everyone for the use of the army in Dalmatia, and then the Venetians took it, not to Palestine, but to Constantinople. This could be seen as undoing the Schism between the Chruches, since now there was a Latin Emperor and Latin Patriarch in Romania, but it didn't accomplish the real purpose. Nor did it last long. Innocent also sanctioned the appalling Albigensian Crusade which precipitated massacre and cultural devestation in the South of France. Nevertheless, he also accepted the legitimancy of the new mendicant preachers, like the charismatic St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and St. Dominic (1170-1221), the founders of the Franciscan and Dominican Orders.

Later Popes had to contend with an excommunicated Emperor, Frederick II, regaining Jerusalem by negotiation (Fifth Crusade), and then with St. Louis of France getting himself captured in Egypt (Sixth Crusade) and then dying in Tunisia (Seventh Crusade). That was about it.

While the last glimmers of the Holy Land were fading, the self-importance of the Papacy was expanding. Boniface VIII went the furtherest with this. The Popes were essentially going to be rulers of the world, deposing and enthroning rulers as they wished. These were naive and dangerous pretentions given some of the rulers that the Pope would have to deal with. The Emperor Henry IV might have been willing to stand in the snow as a penitant, but King Philip IV of France sent one of his agents, Nogaret, to do something about the Pope. With a gang of mercenaries, Nogaret seized Boniface in his summer palace at Anagni, holding him hostage and sacking the place. By one account, they intented to take him back to France for trial but then were driven off, and Boniface rescued, by the local citizens. On another account, they thought it impractical to move Boniface and simply left him without further harm. But they had broken his spirit, and he died weeks later.

In short order, a French Pope was elected, Clement V, who may actually have meant well but who ended up as a dupe and tool of Philip. Clement settled at Avignon, where the Papal Court then resided until 1377 -- later called the "Babylonian Captivity" of the Papacy. Clement was helpless against Philip's schemes, like the destruction of the Templars, even though the Crusading Order was under the direct authority of the Pope and was theoretically immune to French sovereignty. That didn't help them, and Philip ended up burning the Grand Master, without so much as notifying Clement beforehand. Subsequently, all of Europe saw the Papacy as an instrument of French policy.

Finally, the Babylonian Captivity was ended when a French Pope, Gregory XI, returned to Rome, but not without great trouble wading in to Italian politics.

Popes at Avignon during Great Schism
A [Clement (VII) Robert of Geneva]	1378-1394
A [Benedict (XIII) Petro de Luna]	1394-1417 d.1423
1414-1418 Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, Papal interregnum 1415-1417
A [Clement (VIII) Gil Sanchez Muñoz]	1423-1429, d.1446
A [Benedict (XIV) Bernard Garnier]	1425-? in Armagnac

When he died a new Pope was elected in Rome, but another was soon also elected at Avignon. This resulted in two Papacies, the "Great Schism," and the states of Francia lined up on one side or another. As with the Northern Emperors in Japan, the Popes at Avignon during the Schism are now considered Anti-Popes and not numbered in the succession.

This awkward and mortifying division of Catholic Christendom eventually moved many to find a solution.

1409 Council of Pisa, adds third Pope at Pisa
P [Alexander V Pietro Philarghi]	1409-1410
P [John (XXIII) Baldassare Cossa]	1410-1415 d.1419

A Council at Pisa in 1409 elected a new Pope, but then the two old ones refused to resign. So the Great Schism now divided Europe in three, rather than just two. Even worse, the second Pope at Pisa, John XXIII, behaved so disgracefully that no legitimacy was left for the Pisa line, and no Pope would again take the name "John" for five hundred years, until 1958 -- then we get another John XXIII because the first was considered an anti-Pope and his number discounted.

Finally, a General Church Council was called at Constance by the Emperor Sigismund. All three Popes were asked to resign. They did, and the Schism was resolved with the election of a new Pope, Martin V. Although Benedict XIII at Avignon resigned, two more "Avignon" Popes were elected, though they were not in possession of the Papal city. The principle that Church Councils might be called by the Emperor and rule on matters of Church doctrine and discipline, although affirmed by Constance, was soon repudiated by Martin. The next Emperor who wanted to call a Council, and who had the power to do so, Charles V, nevertheless deferred to the claims of the Papacy (even though his army sacked Rome in 1527, driving out the hostile Clement VII).

No sooner was the Papacy out of all this trouble, however, that it got into new problems. The Popes became wealthy Renaissance Princes. Alexander VI Borgia was one of the most infamous Popes ever, with rumors of incest as well as murder dogging him. He produced multiple illegitimate children, like Cesare and Lucretia Borgia, and was so busy poisoning his enemies that he seems to have accidentally poisoned himself and Cesare! This did not look good to the morally earnest.

The following tables contain some genealogy of two families of Renaissance Popes, the Borgias and the della Roveres. More della Rovere genealogy is given under the rulers of Urbino. Popes from a similiar family, the Medici, are featured in the genealogy of the Medici given with the rulers of Tuscany. Originally Spanish (Borja), Alexander VI's descendants through his son Juan returned to Spain and multiplied.

Leo X, the first of the Medici Popes, under whom the Protestant Reformation began, is supposed to have said, "God has given us the Papacy, so we might as well enjoy it." He dismissed Martin Luther as "some drunken German," but Luther's movement not only shook Francia, it shattered it. A division something like the Great Schism happened again, but this time is not was not over who would be Pope, but whether there would be a Pope at all.

The political divisions of the Reformation were only settled by war. The Dutch revolted against Spain (1568), and as the Spanish kept trying to defeat them, the Emperor moved to suppress heresy in Bohemia (1618). After Imperial forces secured Bohemia and advanced in Germany, France began to subsidize opposition. This brought Sweden into the war; and after Swedish fortunes faded, France, a Catholic state, entered the war against the Catholic side. Spanish power was permanently broken, and the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 secured Dutch (and Swiss) independence and the Protestant states in Germany. The Pope lost even theoretical and spiritual authority over most of Northern Europe.

If we ever wanted to know what a Counter-Reformation Pope was like, all we need is the portrait of Innocent X (1644-1655) by Velázquez (from 1649/50). This is often regarded as Velázquez' greatest portrait, and it is perhaps one the greatest in all history -- and the subject of more than one disturbing interpretation by the artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992). Click on image for larger popup.

By the 19th century, Popes were spending much of their energy just trying to maintain their rule over Rome and the Papal States. They were ultimately unsuccessful. A Concordat with Napoleon (1801) meant that the Corsican took a crown from the hands of Pius VII to crown himself Emperor. Later, Napoleon annexed Rome and arrested the Pope for excommunicating him. A few years later, after riding out the troubles of 1848, Napoleon III came to the rescue of the Papacy with French troops who prevented the absorption of Rome into the new Kingdom of Italy. When French troops were withdrawn to fight Prussia in 1870, the Italians rolled into Rome, made it the capital of Italy, and the Pope removed himself to sulk in the Vatican (and proclaim Papal Infallibility at the Vatican I Council). This was the end of the 1116 year history of the Papal States. Pope Pius XI finally settled for a Concordat with Mussolini (1929) that gave him sovereignty over the Vatican City. This left him with nothing to do but worry about religion and morality, which the Popes have largely confined themselves to since -- as most Catholics probably figure that they should. The Pope's Swiss Guard, still in 15th Century costume (at least on ceremonial occasions), remains to remind us of the day when the Pope had armies.

Detailed histories of the Papacy are readily available. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, by J.N.D. Kelley [Oxford, 1986, 1988], has good discussion of all Popes individually. Chronicle of the Popes, by P.G. Maxwell-Stuart [Thames and Hudson, 1997], sometimes doesn't have as much on individual Popes but supplements this with extensive illustrations and maps, like other books in the Thames and Hudson "Chronicle" series. The dates here are now taken out of the Oxford Dictionary.

In much recent writing, Pope Pius XII has been accused of being little better than a Nazi collaborator during World War II -- "Hitler's Pope," in the title of one book. There is one fact that all by itself refutes such charges. When the Germans occupied Rome after the surrender of Italy in 1943 and began rounding up Jews, no less than three thousand Jews found refuge at the Pope's summer residence, Castel Gandolfo (originally built, ironically, by the Roman Emperor Domitian). The Pope's own private apartments became an obstetrics ward. Critics of Pius generally ignore this case, or lamely and incredibly argue that this was done without the Pope's knowledge. That would have been, to say the least, impossible. But inferences are not necessary; the testimony and the evidence is abundant that Papal instructions to all were to rescue Jews. For instance, Tibor Branaski, honored by Israel as a "righteous gentile" for helping Jews escape Hungary, testifies that he worked with the Papal Nuncio, Angelo Rotta, who showed him letters from Pius with such instructions. Similarly, Angelo Roncalli, the future John XXIII, who had a Papal diplomatic post in Istanbul during the War, supplied immigration and transit papers to Hungarian and Slovakian Jews. In 1957, Israel thanked Roncalli, still a Cardinal, for what he had done. But Roncalli refused to take credit:  "I referred to the Holy See and afterwards I simply carried out the pope's orders." Similarly, in 1955, an Israeli deligation asked Giovanni Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, if he would accept an award for what he had done to rescue Jews. Montini declined, again referring to his instructions from the Pope, and affirming that he had simply done his duty. One result of the Church's efforts was that 80% of Roman Jews and 85% of Italian Jews were saved from the Nazis. But to the "Hitler's Pope" crowd, this was apparently in spite of Papal indifference or even collaboration. This is hardly believable. In truth, Pius never approved of the Nazis, often spoke out against them, and never had any friendly dealings with them. The implication of the "Hitler's Pope" thesis, that Pius would have met with or had some understanding with Hitler, is all false. Indeed, the attacks sink so low that a photograph is used of Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII, leaving a building guarded by German soldiers, with the implication that this was from a meeting with Hitler. In fact, it was Pacelli, who was a Papal diplomat in Germany, leaving a reception in 1928 for the German President, Paul von Hindenberg. The soldiers were those of the Weimar Republic.

In Mediaeval Europe, as it happens, one place that Jews could always be sure of a secure reception was in Rome. As early as 1247, for instance, a Papal Bull refuted with learned detail the "blood libel" charge against Jews, that they mixed the blood of Christian children with Passover matzos. This refutation was confirmed by another Bull in 1540. Meanwhile, Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 could find refuge in Rome, where the contemporary Pope, the notorious Alexander VI, had a Jewish personal physician. When the Emperor Maximilian I was about to order that the Talmud be banned, and burned, in Germany for reputed blasphemies against Jesus, Pope Leo X responded by ordering the entire Talmud published at Rome. These are the sorts of things that those with an animus for Catholicism or the Papacy don't seem to notice.

On the other hand, Pius cannot be entirely excused from a more complacent attitude towards, if not Nazis, then Fascists in general. In 1941 he granted an audience to Ante Pavelic, who, after exile in Italy, returned home to head the Nazi puppet state of Croatia -- for a while the state even had a figurehead King from the Italian royal family. Pavelic conducted round ups and massacres against Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and Communists. Nevertheless, after the War the Church apparently sheltered him in Italy before he fled to South America and found service with Juan Peron. This sort of thing, of course, is not to the credit of the Church or the Pope. Indeed, if Pius never had any use for the Nazis, the Church had much less of a problem with Mussolini's Fascism, or that of Franco in Spain (where Pavelic died in 1959) or Salazar in Portugal. That a Fascist like Franco could actually shelter Jews fleeing from Vichi France means that Fascism as such was not necessarily anti-Semitic, but it is troubling that conservatives or nationalists of the time, like Mircea Eliade, nevertheless became attracted to regimes like those of Mussolini or Franco. Then, as now, collectivist and statist politics were all too appealing, both to left and right, and liberal ideals disparaged. Indeed, few would confuse the traditional Papacy with a source of liberal policies or exhortations.

Nevertheless, despite a less than perfect record of dealing with Fascists, the Church was already on record as opposing the fundamentals of Fascism. Thus, in 1931 (just two years after the Concordat of 1929), Pope Pius XI had issued an encyclical, Non abbiamo bisogno, that condemned Fascism for its "statolatry," a charge on target for far too much of 20th century politics, but certainly especially apt for fascism and communism. The Fascists were accused of trying "to monopolize completely the young, from their tenderest years up to manhood and womanhood, for the exlcusive advantage of a party and of a regime based on an ideology which clearly resolves iself into a true, a real pagan worship of the State." This not only bespeaks the better angels of the Papal nature but is a caution for continuing political traditions, for long under the influence of Hegel, that denigrate the individual and exalt the reality of state and government. Critics of Catholicism should be careful of the statist log in their own eye before practicing their ophthamology on the Papacy.

The name "John," shunned for centuries, has now been born by three of the last four Popes. This was all due to the saintliness and magnanimity of John XXIII. John Paul I wished to honor John and his successor, Paul VI, and then John Paul II wished to honor all three of them. John Paul I's brief reign (little more than a month) moved the Cardinals to elect a relatively young and vigorous Pope. John Paul II, indeed, reigned into the new Millennium. He was the first non-Italian Pope in centuries, and the first Slavic and Polish Pope ever. It was a historic reign indeed, with John Paul playing a large part in the Fall of Communism, but in the 90's he grew gravely frail and ill. Rumors of the gravity of his condition occasionally surfaced. Some even suggested that he abdicate, but this is something that historically Popes have never done (of their own will). Now, on 2 April 2005, John Paul has died. Just the previous Sunday, on Easter, he appeared at his window and blessed the crowd, but he was unable to speak. An infection led to a brief critical illness. After what may have been the largest funeral in history, on April 8th, a historic Papal election will soon take place, the first in a quarter of a century.

Although Catholicism has declined in much of the secular West, John Paul himself made the Papacy a presence and a player in modern religion, culture, and politics. In the days of Paul VI, this hardly seemed possible. John Paul was able to accomplish it all through a combination of qualities that may be difficult to repeat. Personally, he was outgoing and appealing, giving a personal touch to an office that can easily swallow a Pope in pompous ritual and the trappings of Mediaeval monarchy. John Paul believed in the pastoral vocation of the Pope, and he travelled the world, meeting millions, to carry this out. All the same, he would not compromise Catholic doctrine just to be in tune with modernity. This turned many away from the Faith, even while it earned the respect, even of some of them, for his conviction and principles. Catholicism was not going to be some wimpy, pop, feel-good religion. But on the stage of history, looming over all of this, was John Paul's place as the de facto sovereign of Poland and the leader of the fight against Communism. In the dark days of the 80's, when the leaders of Solidarity had been arrested and dissent suppressed, the Poles knew that their Saviors, John Paul and Ronald Reagan, lived. And their Saviors delivered them. Josef Stalin had asked once how many divisions the Pope had. This was a joke. Now, burning in Hell, Stalin knows that the joke is on him.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the first German Pope in many centuries, has now been elected as Benedict XVI. Ratzinger is older, a close supporter of John Paul II, and very much more a Vatican insider, indeed a bureaucrat, than John Paul. Ratzinger was one of only two Cardinals who had elected John Paul himself and was still young enough to vote this time. His may be a kind of transition Papacy, as John XXIII's was expected to be. But one never knows, as with John XXIII himself. More dramatic might have been the election of a Latin American, African, or, I don't know, an Irish Pope. Perhaps that comes next.

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Copyright (c) 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

Among the oldest Bishoprics, and Archbishoprics, in Germany, Mainz, Trier, and Cologne were all Roman cities -- their Latin names are given below -- which became Ecclesiastical States and then the Ecclesiasitical Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. Their status as Electors was confirmed in the Golden Bull of the Emperor Charles IV in 1356. The three Archbishops all participated in the subsequent crowning of a new Emperor, as seen in the 1764 coronation of Joseph II at right, though they were really crowning him King of the Romans (originally King of the Eastern Franks). Only the Pope could crown the King as the actual Emperor of the Romans.

The secular power of the Archbishops was brought to an end by Napoleon in 1803. The cities themselves ended up within the borders of Napoleonic France. The last Elector of Mainz, Karl Theodor, was first transfered as a secular Elector to Regensburg and then, after Napoleon abolished the Empire (1806), to Frankfurt as a Grand Duke -- until Napoleon was defeated and Frankfurt became a Free City. Mainz, Trier, and Cologne were not restored to pre-Napoleonic Ecclesiastical rule or independence.

Archbishop-Electors
Mainz, Moguntiacum		Trier, Augusta Treverorum		Cologne, Colonia Agrippina
Bonifatius	Bishop, 722-754
Lullus	754-781	Richbold	Archbishop, c.791-804	Hildebald	Bishop, 787-794
	Archbishop, 782-786	Waso	804-809		Archbishop, 795-818
Riculf	787-813	Amalharius	809-814
Haistulf	813-826	Hetti	814-847	Hadebald	819-841?
Otgar	826-847
Hrabanus Maurus	847-856	Dietgald	847-863, d.868	Gunther	850-864, d.871
Charles of Aquitaine	856-863
Ludbert	863-889	Bertulf	869-883	Willibert	870-888
Sunderold	889-891	Ratbod	883-915	Hermann I	889-924
Hatto I	891-913
Heriger	913-927	Ruotbert	931-956
Hildebert	927-937			Wikfried	924-953
Friedrich	937-954
Wilhelm	954-968	Heinrich I	956-964	Brun I	953-965
Hatto II	968-970	Dietrich I	965-977	Folkmar	966-969
Rupert	970-975			Gero	969-976
Willigis	975-1011	Egbert	977-993	Warin	976-985
		Liudolf	994-1008	Everger	985-999
Erkenbald	1011-1021	Megingaud	1008-1015	Heribert	999-1021
Aribo	1021-1031	Poppo	1016-1047	Pilgrim	1021-1036
Bardo	1031-1051			Hermann II	1036-1056
Luitpold	1051-1059	Eberhard	1047-1066	Anno II	1056-1075
Siegfried of Eppenstein	1060-1084	Kuno I	1066
		Udo of Nellenburg	1066-1078	Hildolf	1076-1078
Wezelin	1084-1088	Egilbert	1079-1101	Sigewin	1079-1089
Ruthard	1089-1109			Hermann III of Hochstaden	1089-1099
Adalbert I of Saarbrücken	1110-1137	Bruno of Brettheim	1102-1124	Friedrich I of Schwarzenberg	1100-1131
		Gottfried	1124-1127, d.1128
		Meginher	1127-1130	Brun/Bruno II of Berg	1131-1137
Adalbert II of Saarbrücken	1138-1141	Alberto of Montreuil	1131-1152	Hugo of Sponheim	1137
Markulf	1141-1142			Arnold I	1138-1151
Heinrich I	1142-1153
Arnold of Seelenhofen	1153-1160	Hillin of Fallemaigne	1152-1169	Arnold II of Wied	1151-1156
Konrad I of Wittelsbach	1161-1165, 1183-1200	Arnold I	1169-1183	Friedrich II of Altena	1156-1158
				Rainald of Dassel	1159-1167
				Philipp of Heinsberg	1167-1191
Christian I of Buch	1165-1183	Johann I	1190-1212	Brun III of Berg	1191-1193, d.1196/1200
Siegfried II of Eppenstein	1200-1230	Dietrich II of Weid	1212-1242	Adolf I of Altena	1193-1205, 1212-1216, d.1220
				Brun IV of Sayn	1205-1208
				Dietrich I of Hengeberg	1208-1212, d.1224?
				Engelbert I the Holy of Berg	1216-1225
Siegfried III of Eppenstein	1230-1249	Arnold II of Isenburg	Elector, 1242-1259	Heinrich I of Molenark	1225-1238
Christian II of Weisenau	1249-1251, d.1253			Konrad of Hochstaden	Elector, 1238-1261
Gerhard I Wildgraf	Elector, 1251-1259
Werner of Eppenstein	1259-1284	Heinrich II	1260-1286	Engelbert II of Falkenberg	1261-1274
Heinrich II	1286-1288	Boemund of Warnesberg	1289-1299	Siegfried of Westerburg	1275-1297
Gerhard II of Eppenstein	1289-1305	Dieter of Nassau	1300-1307	Wikbold of Holte	1297-1304
Peter of Aspelt	1306-1320	Balduin of Luxemburg	1307-1354	Heinrich II of Virneburg	1306-1332
Matthias of Bucheck	1321-1328
Heinrich III of Virneburg	1328-1346, d.1353			Walram of Jülich	1332-1349
Gerlach of Nassau	1346-1371	Boemund of Saarbrücken	1354-1362, d.1367	Wilhelm	1349-1362
Golden Bull, 1356
Johann I of Luxemburg	1371-1373	Kuno II of Falkenstein	1362-1388	Adolf II of Mark	1363-1364
Ludwig of Meißen	1374-1381, 1382			Engelbert III of Mark	1364-1369
Adolf I of Nassau	1381-1390			Friedrich III of Saarwerden	1370-1414
Konrad II of Weinsberg	1391-1396	Werner of Falkenstein	1388-1418
Johann II of Nassau	1397-1419
Konrad III, Wild- and Rheingraf of Daun	1419-1434	Otto of Ziegenhain	1418-1430	Dietrich II of Moers	1414-1463
Dietrich of Erbach	1434-1459	Ulrich of Manderscheid	1430-1436
		Hrabanus of Helmstadt	1436-1439
		Jakob I of Sirk	1439-1456
Dieter of Isenburg	1459-1461, 1475-1482	Johann II of Baden	1456-1503	Ruprecht of the Palatine	1463-1480
Adolf II of Nassau	1461-1475
Albrecht I of Saxony	1482-1484
Bertold of Henneberg- Römhold	1484-1504			Hermann IV of Hesse	1480-1508
Jakob of Liebenstein	1504-1508	Jakob II of Baden	1503-1511	Philipp of Daun-Oberstein	1508-1515
Uriel of Gemmingen	1508-1514
Albrecht II of Brandenburg	1514-1545	Richard of Greiffenklau	1511-1531	Hermann V of Wied	1515-1547, d.1552
		Johann III of Metzenhausen	1531-1540
		Johann IV Ludwig of Hagen	1540-1547
Sebastian of Heusenstamm	1545-1555	Johann V of Isenburg	1547-1556	Adolf III of Schauenburg	1546-1556
Daniel Brendel of Homburg	1555-1582	Johann VI of Leyen	1556-1567	Anton of Schauenburg	1556-1558
				Johann Gebhard I of Mansfeld	1558-1562
				Friedrich IV of Wied	1562-1567, d.1568
				Salentin of Isenburg	1567-1577, d.1610
		Jabob III of Eltz	1567-1581	Gebhard II Truschseß of Waldburg	1577-1583, d.1601
Wolfgang of Dalberg	1582-1601	Johann VII of Schönenberg	1581-1599	Ernst of Bavaria	1583-1612
Johann Adam of Bicken	1601-1604	Lothar of Metternich	1599-1623
Johann Schweickart of Cronberg	1604-1626			Ferdinand of Bavaria	1612-1650
Georg Friedrich of Greiffenklau	1626-1629	Philipp Christoph of Soetern	1623-1652
Anselm Kasimir Wamboldt	1629-1647
Johann Phlipp of Schönborn	1647-1673	Karl Kaspar of Leyen	1652-1676	Max Heinrich of Bavaria	1650-1688
Lothar Friedrich of Metternich	1673-1675
Damian of Leyen	1675-1678	Johann VIII Hugo of Orsbeck	1676-1711
Karl Heinrich of Metternich	1679
Anselm Franz of Ingelheim	1679-1695			Joseph Clemens of Bavaria	1688-1723
Lothar Franz of Schönborn	1695-1729	Karl Joseph of Lorraine	1711-1715
		Franz Ludwig of Neuburg on Rhein	1716-1729, d.1732
Franz Ludwig of Neuburg on Rhein	1729-1732	Franz Georg on Schönborn	1729-1756	Clemens August of Bavaria	1723-1761
Philipp Karl of Eltz	1732-1743
Johann Friedrich Karl of Ostein	1743-1763	Johann IX Philipp of Walderdorf	1756-1768
Emmerich Josef of Breidbach	1763-1774	Klemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony	1768-1802, d.1812	Maximilian Friedrich of Köngiseck- Rothenfels	1761-1784
Friedrich Karl Josef of Erthal	1774-1802			Max Franz of Austria	1784-1801
Karl Theodor of Dalberg	1802-1803	Secularized, 1803		Secularized, 1803
	Secularized, 1803
	Regensburg, 1803-1810
	Grand Duke of Frankfurt, 1810-1813, d.1817

The lists of all the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne are taken from the Regentenlisten und Stammtafeln zur Geschichte Europas, by Michael F. Feldkamp [Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 295-306 & 348-352]. I have not seen these given anywhere else.

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Archbishops of Salzburg

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Copyright (c) 2002, 2003 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

Archbishops of Canterbury, Roman Durovernum
1 St. Augustine	597-605
2 Laurentius	605-619
3 Mellitus	619-624
4 Justus	624-627
5 Honorius	627-653
6 Deusdedit	655-664
7 Theodore of Tarsus	668-690
8 Berhtuald/ Berctwald	693-731
9 Taetwine/ Tatwin	731-734
10 Nothelm	734-740
11 Cuthbert	740-758
12 Breogwine	759-762
13 Jaenberht	763-790
14 Aethelheard	790-803
15 Wulfred	803-829
16 Fleogild	829-830
17 Ceolnoth	830-870
18 Aethelred	870-889
19 Plegemund	891-923
20 Aethelm	923-925
21 Wulfelm	928-941
22 Odo	941-958
23 Aelsine	958-959
24 Dunstan	959-988
25 Aethelgar	988-989
26 Sigeric	990-994
27 Aefric	995-1005
28 Alphege	1006-1012
29 Lyfing	1013-1020
30 Aethelnoth	1020-1038
31 Eadsige	1038-1050
32 Robert of Jumièges	1051-1052
33 Stigand	1052-1070
34 Lanfranc	1070-1089
35 St. Anselm	1093-1109
36 Ralph de Turbine	1114-1122
37 William de Corbeuil	1123-1136
38 Theobald	1139-1161
39 St. Thomas Becket	1162-1170
40 Richard	1174-1184
41 Baldwin	1185-1190
42 Reginald Fitz- Jocelin	1191
43 Hubert Walter	1193-1205
44 Stephen Langton	1207-1228
45 Richard Wethershed	1229-1231
46 Edmund Rich (de Abbendon)	1233-1240
47 Boniface of Savoy	1240-1270
48 Robert Kilwardby	1273-1278
49 John Peckham	1279-1292
50 Robert Winchelsea	1293-1313
51 Walter Reynolds	1313-1372
52 Simon de Meopham	1327-1333
53 John Stratford	133-1348
54 John de Ufford	1348-1349
55 Thomas Bradwardin	1349
56 Simon Islip	1349-1366
57 Simon Langham	1366-1368
58 William Wittlesey	1368-1374
59 Simon Sudbury	1375-1381
60 William Courtenay	1381-1396
61 Thomas Arundel	1396-1414
62 Henry Chicheley	1414-1443
63 John Stafford	1443-1452
64 John Kemp	1452-1454
65 Thomas Bourchier	1454-1486
66 John Morton	1486-1500
67 Henry Deane	1501-1503
68 William Warham	1503-1532
69 Thomas Cranmer	1533-1556
executed by Queen Mary
70 Reginald Pole	1556-1558
71 Matthew Parker	1559-1575
72 Edmund Grindal	1575-1583
73 John Whitgift	1583-1604
73 Richard Bancroft	1604-1610
73 George Abbot	1611-1633
76 William Laud	1633-1645
vacant, 1645-1660
77 William Juxon	1660-1663
78 Gilbert Sheldon	1663-1677
79 William Sancroft	1678-1691
80 John Tillotson	1691-1694
81 Thomas Tenison	1694-1715
82 William Wake	1716-1737
83 John Potter	1737-1747
84 Thomas Herring	1747-1757
85 Matthew Hutton	1757-1758
86 Thomas Ecker	1758-1768
87 Frederick Cornwallis	1768-1783
88 John Moore	1783-1805
89 Charles Manners-Sutton	1805-1828
90 William Howley	1828-1848
91 John Bird Sumner	1848-1862
92 Charles Thomas Longley	1862-1868
93 Archibald Campbell Tait	1868-1882
94 Edward White Benson	1882-1896
95 Frederick Temple	1896-1902
96 Randall Davidson	1903-1928
97 Cosmo Gordon Lang	1928-1942
98 William Temple	1942-1944
99 Geoffrey Francis Fisher	1945-1961
100 Arthur Michael Ramsey	1961-1974
101 Frederick Donald Coggan	1974-1980
102 Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie	1980-1991
103 George Leonard Carey	1991-2002
104 Rowan Douglas Williams	2002-present

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Primate of England. His seat is at Canterbury because this was the capital of the Kingdom of Kent, an obvious place for St. Augustine, who was sent in 596 by Pope Gregory (I) the Great (590-604), to seek royal favor, from King (later St.) Æthelbert I, for his mission. The early Archbishops, down to Taetwine (Tatwin) are given by the Venerable Bede (673-735) in his History of the English Church and People (731). The first part of this is still well in the Dark Ages, but it is already not too long before the time of Bede himself.

Several Archbishops are particularly noteworthy. St. Anselm was one of the most important philosophers of the 12th century, responsible for the "ontological argument" for the existence of God which would bedevil subsequent thinkers. He was himself a Lombard who had entered a monastery in Normandy. As Archbishop, he was involved in the particular political dispute of his time, trying to strip secular rulers, in this case the Kings of England, of their powers to designate bishops of the Church. In Germany, this occurred as the formidable and epic Investiture Controversy (1076-1122). Things got so hot that Anselm spent some years in exile (1097-1100, 1103-1107).

Soon after Anselm came Thomas à Becket, who had been a friend and official of King Henry II but after becoming Archbishop entered into further attempts to limit secular authority, in this case in defense of clerics accused of crimes. Since the crimes were sometimes things like murder and rape, for which Becket's ecclesiastical courts often only handed down nominal punishments, it is understandable that Henry took exception to clerical immunity to secular prosecution. A careless wish expressed by Henry resulted in Becket's murder. While Becket was immediately canonized and enthusiastically venerated, he was not a selfless advocate for justice, but a rather foolish champion of clerical privilege who seems to have almost been eager to provoke his own martyrdom. He did succeed, and long afterwards inspired rather good books, plays, and movies of the business. Although some of these make Becket out to have been a Saxon, defending native Englishmen against Norman rulers like Henry, he was actually just as much a Norman himself.

After many centuries, Thomas Cranmer was the first Protestant Archbishop,

Archbishops of Salzburg, Roman Iuvavum
Arno	Bishop, 785-798
	Archbishop, 798-821
Adalram	821-836
Liutpram	836-859
Adalwin	859-873
Adalbert I	873-874
Dietmar I	874-907
Pilgrim I	907-923
Adalbert II	923-935
Egilolf	935-939
Herold of Scheyern	939-958, d.984
Friedrich I	958-991
Hartwig	991-1023
Gunther of Meißen	1024-1025
Dietmar II	1025-1041
Balduin	1041-1060
Gebhard	1060-1088
Thiemo of Medling	1090-1101
Konrad I	1106-1147
Eberhard I	1147-1164
Konrad II of Austria	1164-1168
Adalbert III	1168-1177, 1183-1200
Konrad III of Wittelsbach	1177-1183, d.1200
Eberhard II of Regensburg	1200-1246
Burkard of Ziegenhain	1247
Philipp of Carinthia	1247-1256
Ulrich	1257-1265, d.1268
Ladislaus of Schlesien	1265-1270
Friedrich II of Walchen	1273-1284
Rudolf of Hoheneck	1284-1290
Konrad IV of Fohnsdorf- Praitenfurt	1291-1312
Weichard of Polheim	1312-1315
Friedrich III of Leibnitz	1316-1338
Heinrich of Piernbrunn	1338-1343
Ortolf of Weißeneck	1343-1365
Pilgrim II of Puchheim	1366-1396
Georg I Schenk of Osterwitz	1396-1403
Eberhard III of Neuhaus	1403-1427
Eberhard IV of Starhemberg	1427-1429
Johannes of Reichenberg	1429-1441
Friedrich IV of Emmerberg	1441-1452
Sigismund I of Volkersdorf	1452-1461
Burkard of Weißbriach	1462-1466
Bernhard of Rohr	1466-1482, d.1487
Johannes Beckenschlager	Coadjutor, 1482-1487
	Archbishop, 1487-1489
Friederich V of Schaumburg	1490-1494
Sigismund II of Holneck	1494-1495
Leonhard of Keutschach	1495-1519
Matthäus Lang of Wellenburg	Coadjutor, 1512-1519
	Archbishop, 1519-1540
Ernst of Bavaria	1540-1554, d.1560
Michael of Kuenberg	1554-1560
Johannes Jakob of Kuen-Belasy	1561-1586
Georg II of Kuenberg	Coadjutor, 1580-1586
	Archbishop, 1586-1587
Wolf Dietrich of Raittenau	1587-1612, d.1617
Marcus Sitticus of Hohenems	1612-1619
Paris of Lodron	1621-1653
Guidobald of Thun	1654-1668
Max Gandolf of Kuenberg	1668-1687
Johann Ernst of Thun	1687-1709
Franz Anton of Harrach	1709-1727
Leopold Anton of Firmian	1727-1744
Jakob Ernst of Liechtenstein	1745-1747
Andreas Jakob of Dietrichstein	1749-1753
Sigmund Christoph of Schrattenbach	1753-1771
Hieronymous Joseph Franz of Colloredo- Waldsee	Archbishop, Landesherr, 1772-1803, d.1812
Ferdinand, III of Tuscany	Duke of Tuscany, 1790-1801, 1814-1824
	Elector of Salzburg, 1803-1806
	Elector of Würzburg, 1806
	Grand Duke of Würzburg, 1806-1814

helping King Henry VIII to break the Church of England away from Rome, seize monastic properties, etc. This earned him arrest by the subsequent Catholic Queen Mary. Tortured into confessing to heresy, Cranmer was going to be burned at the stake nevertheless. At the event, he recanted his confessions and thrust his own hand into the flames for signing the coerced documents, saying, "This hath offended; oh, this unworthy hand!" The Martyr's Memorial stands outside Balliol College, Oxford, where Cranmer and two other prelates were excecuted.

The See stood empty during the Civil War (1640-1649), Commonwealth (1649-1653), and the Protectorate (1653-1660) of the Cromwells but has had to endure little in the way of such political trials since. Instead, the Church has tried so hard, despite being a State Religion, not to be judgmental, exclusive, or demanding that it has seemed to cease to stand for, or mean, much of anything. It has thus steadily lost membership and excites comments like the following, from Michael Whelton:

This position of so-called "inclusiveness" back in the 1950s and 1960s was perceived by many in the British Isles as slightly preposterous. Sadly, the Anglican Church lost respect, influence, and relevance, becoming the target of much satire and the butt of many jokes. One comedian declared, "In England we have a wonderful institution called the Anglican Church, and no one from Joseph Stalin to Mao Tse Tung can say with any certainty that he is not a member." [Popes and Patriarchs, Conciliar Press, 2006, p.15]

Even better we have the classic poem by T.S. Elliot, "The Hippopotamus," comparing that animal, favorably, to the Church of England. The poem can be examined in a popup.

We see a classic expression of the 19th century politics of the Church of England in Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers (1857), with conflict between the traditionalist High Church and the Evangelical, Protestantizing Low Church. Indeed, even today the Anglican Church remains ritually so close to the Roman Catholic Church that Anglican priests who convert to Catholicism are accepted as Catholic priests, even if they are married. They are, I believe, the only married priests in the Catholic Church.

Already in the 19th century there were some high-profile converts to Catholicism, such as John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who went on from a pinacle of Anglican scholarship at Oxford to be a Catholic priest (1846) and then cardinal (1879). Nevertheless, he is still commemorated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship in 1822. There he steadily moved from Calvinist sentiments and association with the Low Church to the creation of the High Church "Oxford Movement." This led steadily on towards Catholcism and conversion in 1845.

Salzburg was a very large eccelesiastical state. Its principal claim to fame may be as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1736-1791). Apart from European tours, Mozart lived in Salzburg and worked for the Archbishop (who has been described as "strict and unkind") until 1781. At this time, of course, composers could be treated as feudal retainers not much above the status of footmen. Mozart then died in poverty and was buried in an anonymous pauper's grave in Vienna. Before long, composers like Ludwig van Beethoven became such figures of public celebrity that such a fate was unthinkable.

Another minor claim to fame for Salzburg may be that the location shots for the 1965 movie The Sound of Music were in or near the city. For people who have not visited the area, the movie contains the images of the Alps that they probably retain.

Eventually Salzburg fell to Napoleon's rearrangements of Europe. In 1803 it was made an Imperial Electorate for the deposed Hapsburg Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand III. When Napoleon gave the city to Austria in 1806, Ferdinand was moved to Würzburg, which became a Grand Duchy when Napoleon abolished the Empire in the same year. In 1809 Napoleon took Salzburg from Austria and gave it to a better ally, Bavaria; but then Austria got it back at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1815 it has remained part of Austria. Ferdinand returned to Tuscany.

The list of the Archbishops of Salzburg are taken from the Regentenlisten und Stammtafeln zur Geschichte Europas, by Michael F. Feldkamp [Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 295-306 & 348-352].

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