Pope Callixtus II |
|
---|---|
Papacy began | 1 February 1119 |
Papacy ended | 13 December 1124 |
Predecessor | Gelasius II |
Successor | Honorius II |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Guy de Burgundy |
Born | c. 1065 Quingey, County of Burgundy, Holy Roman Empire |
Died | 13 December 1124 Rome, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
Previous post | Archbishop of Vienne (1088–1119) |
Pope Callixtus II or Callistus II (c. 1065 – 13 December 1124), born Guy of Burgundy, reigned from 1 February 1119 to his death in 1124. His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controversy, which he was able to settle through the Concordat of Worms in 1122.
Born the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy, one of the wealthiest rulers in Europe, Guy was a member of the highest aristocracy in Europe. His family was part of a network of noble alliances. He was a cousin of Arduin of Ivrea, the King of Italy. One sister, Gisela, was married to Humbert II, Count of Savoy, and then to Renier I of Montferrat; another sister, Maud, was the wife of Odo I, Duke of Burgundy. His brother Raymond was married to Urraca, the heiress of León, and fathered the future King Alfonso VII of León. His brother Hugh was an Archbishop of Besançon.
Guy first appears in contemporary records when he became the Archbishop of Vienne in 1088. He held strong pro-Papal views about the Investiture Controversy. As archbishop, he was appointed papal legate to France by Pope Paschal II during the time that Paschal was induced under pressure from Holy Roman Emperor Henry V to issue the Privilegium of 1111, by which he yielded much of the papal prerogatives that had been so forcefully claimed by Pope Gregory VII in the Gregorian Reforms. These concessions were received with violent opposition and nowhere more so than in France, where the opposition was led by Guy, who was present at the Lateran Synod of 1112.