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Pope Gregory I

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Pope Gregory I, known as Gregory the Great, was pope from 590 to 604. The historian Roger Collins writes of the early medieval popes: "Gregory I (590-604) - known as 'the Great' - is the most outstanding, as well as the best known."[1]

Life

Gregory turned his family's house on the Caelian Hill in Rome into a monastery.[1] He spent five years in Constantinople as the pope's representative, although he does not seem to have been able to read much Greek.[2]

Pope

According to Thompson, Gregory was elected in 590, after the death of Pope Pelagius II, by the clergy, the senate and the people,[3] and was consecrated on 3 September 590.[3] According to Collins, the most original thing about him was that he was the first pope who was also a monk.[1] Thompson, writing in 1931, argued that the papacy took its definite medieval form under Gregory.[3]

Writings

About 850 of Gregory's official letters survive.[1] He also wrote commentaries on the Bible, mostly while he was in Constantinople, around 580 to 585, and early in his time as pope.[1] In 593 he wrote the Dialogues, a series of stories about the lives and miracles of recent holy men in Italy.[4]

Mission to Kent

Gregory sent a group of monks, led by Augustine, to Kent in England. Collins dates this to 596 in one place and to 597 in another.[1][5] Augustine was sent to King Æthelberht of Kent, who became a Christian.[5] The mission linked the Anglo-Saxon church with the papacy.[6]

See also


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  2. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Thompson, James Westfall (2016) [1931]. History of the Middle Ages, 300–1500. Routledge Revivals. Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-138-65906-3.
  4. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  6. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
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