Adalbert (3)

Adalbert archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg, was descended from a noble Saxon family. He served as subdeacon to archbishop Hermann for several years, and himself received that office in 1043 from Henry III, whom in 1046 he accompanied to Rome. There he barely failed of election to the papal throne. Pope Leo IX, in whose behalf he had spoken in the synod at Mentz in 1049, made him in 1050 his legate in the North. Adalbert intended, with the support of the Emperor Henry, to convert the archdiocese of Bremen into a northern patriarchate, which was to be independent of Rome, and embrace the sees of Northern Germany, of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and England. Henry III compelled the pope, Clement II (one of the three German popes who were in succession elevated to the papal throne by Henry), to recognize Adalbert as his peer. A bull is still extant in which the pope addressed Adalbert with "Vos," while generally the popes addressed every bishop with "Tu" (hence the principle, Papa neminem vossitat). But this was all ended by a bull of Pope Leo IX, recognizing Adalbert as apostolic vicar, but demanding fealty to the Roman see. During the minority of the Emperor Henry IV he usurped, together with archbishop Hanno of Cologne, the administration of the empire. His ambition and violence made him so obnoxious to the German princes that, in 1066, they forcibly separated him from the emperor; but in 1069 he regained his former power, and kept it until his death, March 16, 1072. — Adam Bremensis, Gesta Hannaburg. pontif.; Lappenberg, Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch; Stenzel, Gesch. Deutschlands unter denfrankischen Kaisern.