{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1012 to 1024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Pope | honorific-prefix = Pope | name = Benedict VIII | title = Bishop of Rome | image = Henry II crowned Holy Roman Emperor.jpg | caption = Benedict (fifth from right) crowning Henry II Holy Roman Emperor, {{circa}} 1400 | church = Catholic Church | birth_name = Theophylact of Tusculum ({{langx|it|Teofilatto di Toscolo}}) | term_start = 18 May 1012 | term_end = 9 April 1024 | predecessor = Sergius IV | successor = John XIX | birth_date = {{c.|980}} | birth_place = Rome, Papal States | death_date = 9 April 1024 | death_place = Rome, Papal States | other = Benedict }} [[File:Bulle benoit VIII 16981.jpg|thumb|Text from a bull of Benedict VIII]] '''Pope Benedict VIII''' ({{langx|la|Benedictus VIII}}; {{c.|980}}<ref>{{cite web| url = https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1001.htm#Teofilatto| title = Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church| access-date = 13 November 2012| archive-date = 29 June 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160629072057/http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1001.htm#Teofilatto| url-status = live}}</ref> – 9 April 1024<ref name="Mann" />) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 18 May 1012 until 1024. He was born '''Theophylact of Tusculum''' to the noble family of the counts of Tusculum. Unusually for a medieval pope, he had strong authority both in Rome and abroad.

Theophylact was born to Count Gregory I of Tusculum.{{sfn|Logan|2013|p=95}} The family had already produced three popes: John XI (r. 931–935), John XII (r. 955–964), and Benedict VII (r. 973–974). Theophylact became pope on 18 May 1012 and took the name Benedict VIII.<ref name="Mann" />

==Pontificate== Benedict VIII was opposed by an antipope, Gregory VI, who compelled him to flee Rome.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mosheim|first1=Johann Lorenz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIEPAAAAIAAJ|title=Institutes of Ecclesiastical History Ancient and Modern, Vol. II|last2=Murdock|first2=James|publisher=A. H. Maltby |edition=5th|year=1867|pages=356}}</ref> He was restored by King Henry II of Germany, whom he crowned emperor on 14 February 1014. He remained on good terms with Henry for his entire pontificate.<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Lasko |title=Ars Sacra: 800–1200 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1994 |page=111 |isbn=978-0300060485 }}</ref> In Benedict VIII's pontificate, the Saracens renewed their attacks on the southern coasts of Italy. They affected a settlement in Sardinia and sacked Pisa.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ferdinand |last1=Gregorovius |first2=Annie |last2=Hamilton |title=History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |page=25 }}</ref> The Normans also then began to settle in Italy. The Pope promoted peace in Italy by allying himself with the Normans, orchestrating the defeat of the Saracens in Sardinia<ref>{{cite book |first=Roger |last=Collins |title=Caliphs and Kings: Spain 796–1031 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2012 |page=201 |isbn=9780631181842 }}</ref> and subjugating the Crescentii. In 1022, he held a synod at Pavia with the Emperor to restrain simony and incontinence of the clergy.<ref>{{cite book |first=Williston |last=Walker |title=A History of the Christian Church |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1921 |page=218 }}</ref> The reformation sponsored by Cluny Abbey was supported by him, and he was a friend of its abbot, St. Odilo.

In 1020, Benedict VIII travelled to Germany to confer with Henry II about the renewed Byzantine menace in the Mezzogiorno. Arriving at Bamberg at Eastertide, he consecrated the new cathedral there, obtained a charter from Henry II confirming the donations of Charlemagne and Otto the Great, and visited the monastery of Fulda.<ref>{{cite book |first=Knud |last=Ottosen |title=The Responsories and Versicles of the Latin Office of the Dead |publisher=Books on Demand |year=2008 |page=263 }}</ref> In 1022, Benedict received Archbishop Æthelnoth of Canterbury, who had traveled to Rome to obtain the pallium.<ref name=Ortenberg49>Ortenberg "Anglo-Saxon Church and the Papacy" ''English Church and the Papacy'' p. 49</ref>

To further the interest of peace, Benedict VIII encouraged the Truce of God.<ref name=Mann>{{Catholic |last=Mann |first=Horace |wstitle=Pope Benedict VIII |volume=2 |inline=1 |prescript=}}</ref> He convinced the Holy Roman emperor to lead an expedition into the south of Italy and subordinate his vassals who had defected to Byzantine authority. Horace Mann considered him "...one of the few popes of the Middle Ages who was at once powerful at home and great abroad." He was succeeded by his brother, John XIX.<ref name=Mann/>

==Family tree== Benedict VIII was closely related to five other popes who reigned in the 10th and 11th centuries, as well as some of the most powerful rulers of Italy at the time.<ref>{{cite book |first=Horace K.|last=Mann|title=The lives of the popes in the early middle ages|url=https://archive.org/details/livesofpopesinea04mannuoft|publisher= London, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, & co|year=1902|page=[https://archive.org/details/livesofpopesinea04mannuoft/page/66 66]}}</ref> {{Marozia's popes}}

==See also== {{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}} *List of popes

==References== {{reflist}}

==Sources== *{{cite book |title=A History of the Church in the Middle Ages |first= F. Donald |last=Logan |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=9780415669948 }}

{{S-start}} {{S-rel|ca}} {{S-bef|before=Sergius IV}} {{S-ttl|title=Pope|years=1012–24}} {{S-aft|after=John XIX}} {{s-end}}

{{Popes}} {{Catholicism}} {{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedict 08}} Category:980s births Category:1024 deaths Category:Popes Category:Italian popes Category:11th-century archbishops Category:Year of birth unknown Category:11th-century popes Category:Counts of Tusculum Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica