ABSTRACT
Pope Gregory's patronage policy assumed a distinct pattern and possessed the sort of coherence one might expect from someone with his background in both secular and ecclesiastical administration. It is important to stress that the policy stemmed not from an ideological desire to dominate the episcopate but from a pressing practical need to ensure good government, something not necessarily guaranteed by free elections. Sicily was the largest unit free of Lombard control, and as a self-contained unit provides an ideal starting point for an examination of Gregory's policy in detail. His first recorded letter, dated September 590, is to the bishops of Sicily, suggesting that it was high on his list of matters to deal with. Maximian will now be able to manage the Sicilian episcopate for Gregory much more unobtrusively and uncontroversially than the rector could. Gregory's greatest coup was the appointment of two successive bishops of Syracuse, Maximian and John, who were able to take over.
