Bruno,
son of Count Conrad of Egisheim, was born in 1002 in Alsace. Educated
at Toul, he became its archbishop in 1027. Nominated by
our 26th great-grandfather Emperor Henry III, Bruno was elected pope
in 1049 and he began immediately to call for clerical reforms such as
the abolition of simony and an end to clerical unchastity. This explains
why his successor, Pope Stephen X,
already by then had a son. He traveled widely and called synods in the
places he visited. In 1053, he led a small troop against the Normans,
who captured Leo. He was a prisoner in Benevento for nine months, and
he died a month after his return
to Rome in 1054. Disagreements and possibly miscommunication during
Leo's tenure led to the Great Schism between Constantinople
and Rome in 1054, which our 32nd great-grandfather
pope Stephen X tried to heal. |