Wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove: Bruno of Toul and the Making of Pope Leo IX

Thesis

Bruno of Toul (1002-1054), became pope in 1049, taking the name Leo IX. He has been characterised as a reforming pope and is credited as the precursor to the Gregorian Reforms of the later eleventh century. While many historians have examined Leo IX’s pontificate, little scholarship, especially in English, treats Bruno’s early life and career as bishop of Toul. It is also not clear how Leo’s own reforms fit with those of later reformers. This thesis examines the influences on Bruno’s early life that helped to make him Pope Leo IX and considers whether – or in what way – he was a ‘reformer’.

Chapter 1 explores Bruno’s family history and the regional influences of Alsace and Lotharingia, where he was born and educated. Chapter 2 concerns his formal education, and evaluates how living in the bishop’s household and serving in Conrad II’s royal court helped to shape Bruno’s expectations of episcopal, and later papal, ministry. Chapter 3 studies the expectations placed on canons and monks in the eleventh century, seen through the Rules of Benedict and Chrodegang, and uses hagiographic materials written at this period to show how the Rules could be put into practice. Chapter 4 evaluates Bruno’s time as bishop of Toul and his early papacy, seeing how he put into practice the influences explored in the first three chapters.

This thesis argues that these influences on Bruno’s early life helped to form his balanced approach to episcopal and papal ministry, which helped him establish and maintain authority. He was a product of the system in which he was reared and educated, and he knew how to use the institutions at his disposal to promote his own aims and ambitions, attempting to make the Church stronger and free from moral laxity. In promoting these aims, Bruno/Leo simply emphasised those ideas that were already well-established by the nobility and the ecclesiastical institutions of his day. His actions did not clearly separate clerics from laity, but rather exemplified the connections between them. Leo IX was able to bring about his reforms by being a moderate leader, willing to work with both clerical and lay rulers.

Authors: McDole, IP

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-eo5pnwvb0
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: papacy; monasticism; Germany; reform; Salian emperors; papal reform; canon law; Church History; eleventh century; Toul; vitae; Leo IX; bishops; medieval; Alsace; Lotharingia; abbots
• Subjects: Literature, Medieval; Education, Medieval; Church history; Practice of law (Canon law); Clergy (Canon law); Middle Ages