{"id":25,"date":"2013-02-13T15:52:02","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T20:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=25"},"modified":"2013-02-21T12:36:01","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T17:36:01","slug":"wp-post-inaccuracies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/wp-post-inaccuracies\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post Inaccuracies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Black

His scan\u00addalous res\u00adig\u00adna\u00adtion is often mis\u00adrep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded and the Post fell into the trap of fail\u00ading to ful\u00adly research reli\u00adable info.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Feb\u00adru\u00adary 12 edi\u00adtion of the Post<\/em><\/a> includ\u00aded a piece by Max Fish\u00ader, which stated:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Pope Bene\u00addict IX<\/span>, in 1045: At age 33 and about 10 years into his tumul\u00adtuous term, the Rome-born pope resigned so that he could get mar\u00adried \u2013 and to col\u00adlect some cash from his god\u00adfa\u00adther, also Roman, who paid Bene\u00addict IX<\/span> to step down so that he might replace him, accord\u00ading to British his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan Regi\u00adnald L. Poole\u2019s defin\u00adi\u00adtive and much-cit\u00aded his\u00adto\u00adry of the 11th century.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not quite. The twist\u00aded and still obscure events of the 11th cen\u00adtu\u00adry are any\u00adthing but clear, but this much is: Regi\u00adnald Poole, writ\u00ading near\u00adly a cen\u00adtu\u00adry ago, did not cred\u00adit the idea that Bene\u00addict IX<\/span> abdi\u00adcat\u00aded the papa\u00adcy in order to marry.<\/p>\n

If you fol\u00adlow the link<\/a> in the Post arti\u00adcle to Poole\u2019s 1917 work, it becomes clear that he regards the source of the mar\u00adriage sto\u00adry to be high\u00adly unre\u00adli\u00adable. Of that source, a cer\u00adtain Boni\u00adzo, Poole writes:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>But I may premise that Boni\u00adzo was not only one of the most inac\u00adcu\u00adrate of writ\u00aders and extreme\u00adly ill-informed about the his\u00adto\u00adry which he relates, but was quite with\u00adout scru\u00adple in fal\u00adsi\u00adfy\u00ading facts which did not suit his opin\u00adions (p. 12).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With that pref\u00adace, Poole then lays out Bonizo\u2019s account, writ\u00adten in 1085, which holds that Pope Bene\u00addict want\u00aded to mar\u00adry his cousin but that her father refused, demand\u00ading that he first abdi\u00adcate the papa\u00adcy. Bene\u00addict agreed to do that and, in addi\u00adtion, was paid a great sum of mon\u00adey by a Roman priest to hand over to him the papacy.<\/p>\n

Poole then gives this assess\u00adment of Bonizo\u2019s account:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>It will be seen that Boni\u00adzo turns the course of events upside down, and places the elec\u00adtion of Sil\u00advester III<\/span> after that of Gre\u00adgo\u00adry VI<\/span>. He implies that they were both Popes at the same time, and does not say what hap\u00adpened to them when Bene\u00addict was restored. More\u00adover, he gives no expla\u00adna\u00adtion of the con\u00adduct of Ger\u00adard de Saxo, who after Bene\u00addict had ful\u00adfilled his con\u00addi\u00adtion refused to allow his daugh\u00adter\u2019s mar\u00adriage. Whether such a mar\u00adriage was ever pro\u00adposed, it is impos\u00adsi\u00adble to deter\u00admine. We have seen that it was believed in Bavaria not many years lat\u00ader. But, in view of the spir\u00adit of defama\u00adtion which per\u00advad\u00aded that age, we can\u00adnot con\u00adfi\u00addent\u00adly exclude the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty that the tale was a sim\u00adple slan\u00adder (p. 13).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Poole was clear\u00adly no fan of Boni\u00adzo and does not cred\u00adit his account of Benedict\u2019s sup\u00adposed abdi\u00adca\u00adtion to mar\u00adry, call\u00ading it \u201cimpos\u00adsi\u00adble to deter\u00admine\u201d and sug\u00adgest\u00ading that it arose from \u201cthe spir\u00adit of defama\u00adtion that per\u00advad\u00aded that age.\u201d More\u00adover, Poole notes that Boni\u00adzo didn\u2019t even get the order of events right, sug\u00adgest\u00ading that Gre\u00adgo\u00adry VI<\/span> pre\u00adced\u00aded Sylvester III<\/span> to the papal throne.<\/p>\n

Accord\u00ading to John Julius Nor\u00adwich, whose his\u00adto\u00adry of the papa\u00adcy relies in part on Poole\u2019s work, Bene\u00addict was dri\u00adven from the papa\u00adcy by a pop\u00adu\u00adlar upris\u00ading in Jan\u00adu\u00adary 1045. He was replaced by Sylvester III<\/span>. Two months lat\u00ader, Bene\u00addict man\u00adaged to take back the papa\u00adcy and imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly excom\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcat\u00aded his usurp\u00ader. In May, how\u00adev\u00ader, Bene\u00addict took the unusu\u00adal step, accord\u00ading to Nor\u00adwich, of resign\u00ading his \u201cpapal rights\u201d in favor of his god\u00adfa\u00adther John Gra\u00adt\u00adian, with\u00adout, how\u00adev\u00ader, \u201crenounc\u00ading the papa\u00adcy itself.\u201d How Bene\u00addict jus\u00adti\u00adfied this trans\u00adac\u00adtion and what he, in fact, believed that he was sell\u00ading, is not alto\u00adgeth\u00ader clear.<\/p>\n

In any event, it was Gra\u00adt\u00adian who became Gre\u00adgo\u00adry VI<\/span> and who was lat\u00ader accused of simo\u00adny. Both Poole and Nor\u00adwich seem to agree that mon\u00adey changed hands, although Bene\u00addict nev\u00ader did entire\u00adly relin\u00adquish his claim as Pope, if Nor\u00adwich is cor\u00adrect. Nor does Nor\u00adwich, any\u00admore than Poole, cred\u00adit Bonizo\u2019s alle\u00adga\u00adtion that Bene\u00addict abdi\u00adcat\u00aded in order to marry.<\/p>\n

All of this was final\u00adly set\u00adtled by the Ger\u00adman emper\u00ador Hen\u00adry III<\/span>, who deposed all three, accord\u00ading to Nor\u00adwich. A sub\u00adse\u00adquent syn\u00adod held at Sutri found Gre\u00adgo\u00adry VI<\/span> guilty of simo\u00adny and ban\u00adished him from Italy.<\/p>\n

So in a sin\u00adgle sen\u00adtence, the Post appears to have com\u00admit\u00adted the fol\u00adlow\u00ading errors:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Pre\u00adsent\u00ading the alle\u00adga\u00adtion that Bene\u00addict IX<\/span> abdi\u00adcat\u00aded the papa\u00adcy in order to mar\u00adry as fact, rather than conjecture.<\/li>\n
  2. Cit\u00ading Regi\u00adnald Poole, who cast asper\u00adsions on Bonizo\u2019s cred\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty and on the verac\u00adi\u00adty of his sto\u00adry, as con\u00adfirm\u00ading this allegation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Post is to be com\u00admend\u00aded for includ\u00ading a link to Poole\u2019s work. The reporter, how\u00adev\u00ader, should have read Poole\u2019s essay more care\u00adful\u00adly before mis\u00adrep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00ading him as assert\u00ading that Bene\u00addict abdi\u00adcat\u00aded in order to marry.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Feb\u00adru\u00adary 12 edi\u00adtion of the Post includ\u00aded a piece by Max Fish\u00ader, which stat\u00aded: \u201cPope Bene\u00addict IX<\/span>, in 1045: At age 33 and about 10 years into his tumul\u00adtuous term, the Rome-born pope resigned so that he could get \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,3,5],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-media","tag-max-fisher","tag-pope-benedict-xvi","tag-washington-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t