BENZO OF ALBA

Bishop, Gregorian polemist; b. northern Italy, early 11th century; d. c. 1086–89. There is little certain knowledge about Benzo. He first appears at a Roman council (1059) where he signed himself as bishop of Alba. An extreme imperial partisan and bitter papal enemy, he vigorously supported Cadalus, the imperial antipope Honorius II, against Pope alexander ii (1061). After Cadalus's deposition (May 1064), Benzo continued to attack the papacy in his writings until the patarines drove him from his see (1076). About 1086 he collected all his writings into a single volume, which he dedicated to Emperor henry iv under the title Libri VII ad Heinricum IV. At this point he disappears from history. His verse and prose prove Benzo well grounded in the classics and a skillful parodist.

See Also: investiture struggle.

Bibliography: a. fliche, Catholicisme 1:1456. a. hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, 3:707 and passim (9th ed. Berlin-Leipzig 1958). m. manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters (Munich 1911–31) 3:454–457. h. k. mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages from 590 to 1304 (London 1902–32) 6:242 and passim. c. mirbt, in j. j. herzog and a. hauck, eds., Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie (3d ed. Leipzig 1896–1913) 2:605–606. k. pertz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores (Berlin 1826—) 11:591–597. t. schieffer, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (2d new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 2:210–211.

[s. williams]