Pope Sergius IV (died 12 May 1012) was the

bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

and nominal ruler of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

from 31 July 1009 to his death. His temporal power was eclipsed by the patrician

John Crescentius John Crescentius ( it, Giovanni Crescenzio) also John II Crescentius or Crescentius III (d. 1012) was the son of Crescentius the Younger (Crescentius II). He succeeded to his father's title of consul and patrician of Rome in 1002 and held it to h ...

. 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 pope takes on a new name became tradition.

Early life

Pietro Martino Buccaporci was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in the "Pina" district, at an unknown date, the son of Peter the Shoemaker and Stephania. He was called ''Pietro Martino Buccaporci'', which was neither his birth name, nor the name of his family, but apparently a nickname given him because of his personal habits. In 1004, he became the bishop of Albano.Mann, Horace. "Pope Sergius IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 8 November 2017 He was elected

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

after the

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

John XVIII Pope John XVIII ( la, Ioannes XVIII; died June or July 1009) was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States from January 1004 (25 December 1003 NS) to his abdication in July 1009. He wielded little temporal power, ruling during th ...

in 1009, and adopted the name Sergius IV.

Pontificate

The power held by Sergius IV was small and often overshadowed by the patricius,

, the ruler of the city of Rome at the time. With the help of Crescentius, Sergius resisted the attempts of

Emperor Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of G ...

to establish control over Rome. Sergius IV acted to relieve famine in the city, and he exempted several monasteries from episcopal rule. A papal bull calling for

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

to be driven from the Holy Land after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed in 1009 by the

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah has been attributed to Sergius IV, although its authenticity has long been a matter of debate.

Carl Erdmann Carl Erdmann (17 November 1898 – 5 March 1945) was a German historian who specialized in medieval political and intellectual history. He is noted in particular for his study of the origins of the idea of crusading in medieval Latin Christendom ...

considered it genuine, but it was rejected at length by Aleksander Gieysztor, who suggested that it was actually invented around the time of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

in order to help justify that expedition to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Subsequently, Hans Martin Schaller has argued for the document's authenticity.

Death and legacy

Sergius died on 12 May 1012 and was buried in the

Basilica of St. John Lateran The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...

. Although not canonized, Sergius is sometimes venerated as a saint by the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

s of which he was a member. There was some suspicion that he was murdered, as he died within a week of Crescentius, considered by many to have been his patron. Sergius was followed in the papacy by Benedict VIII.

References

Sources

* :: {{DEFAULTSORT:Sergius 4 Popes Italian popes Cardinal-bishops of Albano 11th-century archbishops 1012 deaths Year of birth unknown 11th-century popes Burials at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran