Pope Stephen IX


Stephen IX
Bishop of Rome
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began3 August 1057
Papacy ended29 March 1058
PredecessorVictor II
SuccessorNicholas II
Personal details
Born
Frederick of Lorraine

c. 1020
Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire
Died29 March 1058(1058-03-29) (aged 37–38)
Florence, March of Tuscany, Holy Roman Empire
Other popes named Stephen

Pope Stephen IX (Latin: Stephanus, christened Frederick; c. 1020[1] – 29 March 1058) was the Bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 3 August 1057 to his death on 29 March 1058. He was a member of the Ardenne-Verdun family, who ruled the Duchy of Lorraine, and started his ecclesiastical career as a canon in Liège. He was invited to Rome by Pope Leo IX, who made him chancellor in 1051 and one of three legates to Constantinople in 1054. The failure of their negotiations with Patriarch Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople and Archbishop Leo of Ohrid led to the permanent East–West Schism. He continued as chancellor to the next pope, Victor II, and was elected abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Montecassino.

Stephen was elected to succeed Victor on 2 August 1057. As pope, Stephen retained the Montecassino abbacy, enforced the Gregorian Reform, and continued Leo IX's efforts to expel Normans from southern Italy. He died in Florence, apparently poisoned by Romans, while endeavouring to crown his brother Godfrey the Bearded as Holy Roman emperor.

  1. ^ Mittermaier, Karl (2006). Die deutschen Päpste. Benedikt XVI. und seine deutschen Vorgänger. p. 102.