History Daily - The Great Schism

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

July 16, 1054. After years of increasingly fractious relations, the Great Schism divides Christendom between East and West. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

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Marble columns rise on either side of him, supporting a vast domed ceiling overhead. Golden mosaics cover the walls and vaults. A sea of worshippers turned around to look at him. Humberd has arrived at the beginning of the afternoon service, and chanting prayers fill every corner of the end. ancient church. But Humbert is not here to pray. He has been sent to Constantinople from Rome to negotiate with patriarch Michael Cirulius, the most powerful church leader in the Eastern Christian world. But Sourulius has ignored and insulted him, and now Humberd has run out of patience.

He marches down the vast marble nave, the sound of his steps, cutting through the chanting. Priests and worshippers pause mid-prayer as he passes, but no one moves to stop him. When he comes to the altar, Humbert reaches into his robes and produces a parchment. He drops it onto the altar and lets it unfurl. Dozens of eyes fix on the seal at the top of the parchment, and a ripple moves through the congregation as people recognize it. This is the papal seal, and the document is a deed of excommunication. It means banishment from the church, and its address to Michael Ceruleus. Tensions have been building between the Christians of East and West for a century.

In the past, Rome and Constantinople have been able to patch up their differences and remain united as one church. But now relations between the two have reached a breaking point, and one of the most consequential religious rifts in history will be triggered when Cardinal Humberg excommunicates the patriarch of Constantinople on July 16, 1054. From Noisor and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is July 16, 1054, the Great Schism. It's Christmas Day 800C.E. at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, 254 years before Cardinal Humberd excommunicates the patriarch of Constantinople.

Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, kneels at the altar as Pope Leo III leads the congregation in prayer. The great church is lit by hundreds of candles, and a heady mix of smoke and incense hangs in the air. At the age of 52, Charlemagne is the most powerful man in Europe. He has crushed rivals in battle and absorbed fractured kingdoms through diplomacy. He now rules more territory than any other king in generations, and yet he considers today to be his greatest achievement. A large congregation of nobles from across Charlemagne's empire has gathered for this ceremony. They watch in reverential silence as the prayers come to an end and Pope Leo

steps forward, carrying a large golden crown. Charlemagne stares forward. Slowly, Leo lowers the crown onto his head and proclaims Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans. It's a title that no one in Western Europe has claimed for centuries. There's just one problem. The Roman Empire still exists and it does not need a new emperor. Although the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century, in the East, the empire survived. Ruled from the city of Constantinople, the Eastern Empire is universally recognized as the last remnant of the once-mighty Roman state. But Charlemagne's coronation threatens that. Still, his rise doesn't just present a political challenge to the Eastern Empire. It also strikes a blow against the fragile unity of Christianity itself.

On paper, Christians in both East and West belong to one unified church, with power shared by patriarchs from the five great cities of Christendom, Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. In practice, though, many different customs and traditions coexist within Christianity, and there are frequent disputes between the five patriarchs. For centuries, these disagreements over power and theology have been manageable, but Charlemagne's, but Charlemagne's, emergence as Emperor of the Romans opens up new divisions. One dispute centers on a statement of belief that dates back to the 4th century. The Nicene Creed originally stated that the Holy Spirit comes directly from God the Father, but gradually over the centuries, churches in Western Europe began adding, and the sun, to that formula. Now Charlemagne pushes for the phrase to be universally adopted. Most churches within his empire accept the change, but in the east,

they fight back. Some argue that the addition is heretical. Others don't go so far, but they'll all argue that changing the Nicene Creed without the agreement of church leaders is completely unacceptable, and that not even a man as powerful as Charlemagne has the right to alter a statement of belief shared by all Christians. So Charlemagne does not get his way. His efforts help standardize Christian worship in his own territories, but the original Nicene Creed continues to be used elsewhere unchanged. Charlemagne dies in 814 CE, and the vast empire he built breaks apart soon after. But the dispute over the wording of the Nicene Creed does not end there. For more than 200 years after Charlemagne's death, the argument drags on. The reference

to the son, as well as the father, continues to feature in the liturgy of Western churches, but Eastern churches continue to reject the addition. Over the years, positions harden, divisions widen, and the argument over the Nicene Creed becomes just part of a wider power struggle in the Christian world. And as the old system of the five patriarchs begins to crumble, the Pope in Rome tries to claim ultimate authority in the church, and Constantinople emerges as the main power opposing him in the East. Eventually, in the 11th century, a new religious leader will rise in the city,

A man who will see Rome not as a potential partner in faith, but as a threat. The new patriarch of Constantinople is Michael Cirulius, and he's ambitious, stubborn, and fiercely protective of his authority. He will have little patience for Western influence in the East, and will challenge Rome directly. When he does, the fragile balance between East and West will finally shatter. It's April 1054 at a Market Square in Constantinople, over 250 years after Charlemagne's coronation. Cardinal Humbert climbs down wearily from his carriage and stretches his legs. Weeks after setting off from Rome, the exhausted Humbert has finally reached his destination.

He wipes the dust from his face and takes his first look around the city he's heard so much about. Unlike many of the travelers he saw on the road to Constantinople, Humbert is not a pilgrim. He's here to deal with a crisis on behalf of Pope Leo the 9th. In recent months, the patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cirulius has become increasingly. increasingly hostile toward the Western churches operating in his city. Western priests follow different rituals and customs from their Eastern counterparts. These extend even to the most basic details of Christian worship. The Western Church services are conducted in Latin, while Eastern

churches use Greek. Western Communion bread is made without east and entirely flat, while the Eastern is risen and leavened. But it wasn't these differing traditions that seem to provoke the patriarch. To Cirulius, they represented more than harmless variation within a shared tradition. They were a sign of growing and unwanted papal influence in his own city. So in 1052, he ordered the Latin churches in Constantinople to follow Greek rights. When they refused, he shut them down. Adding insult to injury, Ceruleus did not just have the doors to the Latin churches barred, but the flat communion bread they used trampled in the streets. When word of this hour,

outrage reached Rome. Pope Leo the 9th was furious. Such an insult cannot be ignored, so Leo sent his most trusted advisor to Constantinople for talks with Cirulius. Officially, Humbert and his allegation arrive as diplomats, tasked with repairing relations

between Rome and Constantinople. But although he's a brilliant scholar, Humbert is not known for his patience or his tact. He hasn't been sent here to build bridges. He's been sent here to fight. But from the moment he enters Constantinople, his mission begins to unravel. Humbert wants to meet with a patriarch directly,

but that proves impossible. Requestes for an audience aren't officially rejected, but the talks are repeatedly delayed. Weeks go by, excuses wear thin, and Humbert's frustration with this open show of defiance only grows. Humbert may be angry, and think he speaks with the power of Rome behind him. But as far as Sir Rulius is concerned, Humbert is just an advisor who has not no right to lecture him. And besides, Cirulius rejects the very idea that as patriarch of Constantinople, he should defer to the Pope in any way. Neither man is interested in compromise and neither is willing to back down. But then suddenly the situation shifts again. A courier arrives from Rome with an urgent message for Cardinal Humbert, Pope Leo the 9th, is dead. For Humbert, the news is potentially disastrous.

His authority in Constantinople was personal, granted directly by the Pope who appointed him. Under normal procedure, that authority would end the moment the Pope dies, and Humbert will be expected to return to Rome and await further instructions from a successor. But leaving Constantinople now would hand victory to Surylius, who will think he has the authority to defy Rome again. So Humbert decides that he will stay and fight. Over the following weeks, Humbert assembles his case against the pre-Rulius. Patriarchs draft the language that accuses Cirulius of defying Rome and leading Christians

away from proper teaching. And slowly, a papal bull of excommunication takes shape. This is the most severe punishment in Christianity. The document formally casts Michael Cerulius out of communion with the Roman Church. And on July 16, 1054, Humbert enters the Hia Sophia Cathedral and places the bowl of excommunication on the altar. As Humbert watched, walks out of the building, past a shocked congregation. He stops briefly in the church doorway. There, he dramatically shakes the dust from his robes as if cleansing himself of the taint of Eastern Christianity. Then he sweeps out of the cathedral. A deacon runs after him into the street, waving the papal edict and begging him to take it back, but Humbert refuses. For him, the matter is

settled. But for patriarch Michael Cirulius, it's only just beginning. He is not prepared to let Rome's decree stand unanswered, but when he responds, the consequences will extend far beyond Constantinople. It's July 24, 1054 in Constantinople, only a week after Michael Ceruleus was excommunicated. Cirulius moves quickly through the corridors of the patriarchal palace. Messengers fall into step beside him, speaking in urgent bursts. Copies of the papal edict are already circulating among clergy in Constantinople its contents read and repeated in guarded voices. In response, Ceruleus has summoned the senior bishops of the Eastern Church to an emergency council known as a synod, and inside a cavernous hall, bishops take their places in uneasy silence. Serulius is outraged

by Cardinal Humbert's edict, but he listens calmly as the bishop's debate what to do about it. Some demand immediate retaliation. Others urge restraint, worried that the ancient unity of of the church will be put at risk by any hasty response. But ultimately, accepting the decree would mean accepting Rome's authority over the patriarch of Constantinople, and Cirulius will not have that. Scribes are called forward, and Sirulius and his advisors begin drafting a declaration of their own. In this document, they argue that the East is the one true protector of the Christian faith,

and they declare that Humbert and the rest of his delegation are henceforth cut off from communion with the church in Constantinople. When the text is complete, it is carried beyond the palace walls to be read publicly and distributed among the Western clergy still present in the city. Rome has cast out the Patriarch,

but now the Patriarch has cast out Rome. It's a dramatic development. What at first, few in Rome or Constantinople believe it will lead to a permanent rift. Disputes between East and West have erupted before, and new leaders, new negotiations, and new political circumstances, have always restored relations eventually.

Even within the Eastern Synod itself, some bishops expect to return to the status quo once temper is cool, but this time is different. After centuries of growing tension, this is a point of no return. Relations between the Latin and Greek churches continue to deteriorate, reaching a new depth in 1204

when a crusader army from Western Europe sacks Constantinople. The result is a permanent division between the churches of East and West, creating separate Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches that exist to this day. The Great Schism was the deepest rift in Christian history, with consequences that echoed through the centuries, and it was ignited by a disputed papal bull of excommunication delivered on July 16, 1054.

Next, on History Daily, July 17, 1674, two skeletons are discovered in London, leading to speculation that they are the long-lost princes in the tower. From Noisor and Aership, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham, audio editing by Moham Shazi, sound designed by Molly Bond, music by Thrum.

This episode is written and researched by Olivia Jordan, edited by William Simpson, managing producer Emily Byrth. Executive producers are William Simpson for airship and Pascal Hughes for Noisor.