Benedict IX (c. 1012–c. 1056), born Theophylactus of Tusculum around 1012, was pope during a turbulent period in the mid-eleventh century. A member of the powerful Tusculan aristocracy and the son of Alberic III, he was also the nephew of Popes Benedict VIII and John XIX. He first became pope in 1032 while still very young.

His pontificate, marked by factional conflict within Rome and repeated depositions and restorations, exposed the instability of the papacy before the reforms of the later eleventh century.

Pontificate

Benedict IX was pope from 1032 to 1044, again briefly in 1045, and finally from 1047 to 1048. Contemporary and later sources portray him unfavourably, though much of this criticism derives from reforming writers hostile to Roman aristocratic control of the papacy.

During his periods in office he held synods in Rome, granted privileges to churches and monasteries, and in 1037 met the Emperor Conrad II. He excommunicated Aribert, Archbishop of Milan, during disputes concerning ecclesiastical and imperial authority.

In 1044 a Roman faction expelled him and elected John, Bishop of Sabina, as Sylvester III. Benedict returned and regained control later that year. In 1045 he resigned the papacy, reportedly in exchange for a large payment, transferring the office to John Gratian, who became Gregory VI. He later attempted to reclaim the papacy, deepening the crisis.

Council of Sutri and Aftermath

In 1046 King Henry III intervened in Roman affairs. At the Council of Sutri, Benedict IX, Sylvester III and Gregory VI were deposed. Suidger of Bamberg was elected Pope Clement II.

After Clement’s death, Benedict again seized Rome in November 1047 but was finally displaced in 1048 to make way for Pope Damasus II.

Final Years

Later tradition, particularly that preserved at the Abbey of Grottaferrata, holds that Benedict eventually repented and withdrew from political life. He is often described as the first pope to have resigned the papal office.

He is believed to have died at Grottaferrata around the mid-eleventh century.

Significance

The career of Benedict IX illustrates the entanglement of Roman noble families with the papacy and the vulnerability of the office to local factional control. The disorders of his reign contributed directly to increased imperial involvement in papal elections and formed part of the background to the Gregorian Reform ⓘ later in the century.