Caerularius, Michael (c. 1000–1059)

Patriarch of Constantinople. A civil servant at first, he was exiled for conspiracy by Michael IV. He became a monk and made his career in the Church, being chosen patriarch in 1043. He took advantage of the weaknesses of Constantine IX to promote the claims of the Church (and therefore himself) over the state. Not surprisingly he came into conflict with Pope Leo IX , whose attitudes were equally uncompromising, over ecclesiastical jurisdiction in southern Italy, and various points of ritual and dogma. The mutual excommunications pronounced by Cardinal Humbert and Caerularius have been taken as the formal start of the schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches although there are reasons to doubt this. Later, Caerularius was instrumental in the rise of emperors Michael VI and Isaac I.