Leo IX

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Bruno, son of Count Hugh of Egisheim, was born in 1002 in Alsace. Educated at Toul, he became its archbishop in 1027, and after he became pope, he canonized Gerard of Toul. Nominated by Emperor Henry III, Bruno was elected in 1049, and he began immediately to hold synods which called for clerical reforms such as the abolition of simony and an end to clerical unchastity. He traveled widely and called synods in the places he visited. In 1053, he led a small troop against the Normans, who captured Leo. He was a prisoner in Benevento for nine months, and he died a month after his return to Rome in 1054. Disagreements and possibly miscommunication during Leo's tenure led to the Great Schism between Constantinople and Rome in 1054.