A saint of damned memory. Clement III, (Anti)Pope

In the wake of the death of (anti)pope Clement III at Civita Castellana in the year 1100, a series of written sources bore witness to the many miracles—the “plurima miracula”—that occurred around his tomb. These miracles contributed to the spread of the fame of Clement’s sanctity, which was strongly upheld by the anti-Gregorian party and resolutely opposed by Gregory VII’s successors. Affirmed by some, contrasted by others, and ultimately condemned to oblivion, Clement III’s sanctity provides a fitting illustration of the reasons the Reform of the eleventh century cannot be interpreted as a unitary and unambiguous process.