Pope Leo IX

Bruno of Egisheim-Dagsburg reigned as Leo IX from 1049 to 1054, began the reform of the medieval papacy, and presided over the schism that split Christendom. He was an Alsatian nobleman and bishop of Toul, nominated by his kinsman the emperor Henry III, and he refused to take office until the clergy and people of Rome had elected him, which was itself a statement about where papal authority should come from. He then did something no pope had done: he travelled. Synods at Rome, Reims, Mainz and elsewhere let him depose simoniac bishops in person and enforce clerical celibacy across Europe, and he brought reformers such as Humbert of Silva Candida and the future Gregory VII into his administration. His military venture went badly. He led an army against the Normans of southern Italy in 1053, was defeated at Civitate, and spent months as their honoured prisoner. His legates then went to Constantinople to settle disputes with the patriarch Michael Cerularius over Latin and Greek practice. Humbert laid a bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia in July 1054; the patriarch excommunicated the legates in return. Leo had already been dead three months, which meant the legates' authority had technically lapsed. The mutual anathemas were not lifted until 1965. He was the first pope in centuries to be widely travelled in his own office, and the practice of holding synods across Europe rather than only at Rome outlasted him. The reformers he promoted went on to fight the Investiture Controversy under Gregory VII. He was canonised, and the schism he did not intend has now lasted nearly a thousand years.

• Lived: 1002 CE – 1054 CE
• Nationality: German
• Roles: pope, religious_leader