JOHN
981
JOHN"
the story of "pope Joan." Comp. Luitprand, Tlistoria Ottonis, in Monum. Ge?-m. Script, vol. iii ; IMilman, Lat. Christ, iii, 175 sq. ; Neander, Ck. History ; Gicseler, Ch. Hist, ii, 350; Eeichel, *S'ee of Rome in the Middle Ayes, p. 121 sq. ; RidtUe, Papacy, ii, 39 sq. (J. H. W.)
John XIII, Pope, who was made such A.D. 965, was of noble descent, and held, previous to his election, the bishopric of Narni. Provoking the wrath of the Koman nobility on account of his severity, and being a favorite of the imperial party, they instigated a riot against him, and finally secured him as prisoner. The pope, however, eifected his escape, and returned to the city about a year after, when the eminror himself made his appearance, visiting the disorderly factions of the city with unmitigated severity. After the appointment of a prefect as representative of the imperial power, Otho the Great went to Ravenna, followed by the pope. Here a great and influential council was held, Easter, 907, and fresh guarantees offered to the pontifical chair on all the territory to which it had ever been entitled, in- cluding Ravenna. In return for these favors, John crowned the younger Otho (afterwards Otho II) as em- peror, and associate king of Germany; also his wife Theophauia, the daughter of the Greek emperor. Ho also evinced his gratefulness by establishing, at the em- peror's expressed desire, a mission among the north- eastern Slavonians. John died in 972. His few letters are found in Mansi, Condi. Sirjrpl. i, 1142, and Harduin, Condi, vi, pt. i, 639. See Pagi, Brev. Pontif. R. ii, 233 sq. ; Aschbach, Kirchen-Lex. iii, 520 ; Herzog, Real-En- cykiop. vi, 757.
John XIV, Pope, who was, previous to his eleva- tion, Peter, bishop of Pavia, and archchanceUor of the emperor, was elected pope through the infiuence of Otho II in November or December, 983, in place of Bon- iface VII (q. v.). Unfortunately, however, his patron died at Rome December 7 of the same year, and the ex- pope, encouraged by the anti-empirical jiarty, ventured to return the following spring (April, 984) from Con- stantinople, whither he had fled, and proving sufficient- ly strong to overcome John, his person was secured, and he was imprisoned in the Castle del Angelo, where he was either poisoned or starved to death. See Aschbach, Kirchen-Lexlkon, iii, 520.
John XV, Pope, who began his inglorious reign in September, 985, was in reality only the puppet of Crescentius, the true governor of Rome, for he presided and ruled at the Castle del Angelo as patricius. At one time John fled to Tuscany, but at the interven- tion of Otho III he was afterwards permitted to return and to live in the Lateran, but he remained destitute of all authority. By way of compensation for his lack of power, he enriched himself and his relatives with the revenues of the Church. Concerning the dispute about the bishopric of Rheims, see Sylvester II. He died in April, 996.
Some believe that another John, son of the Roman Eupertus, was the fifteenth pontiff under the name of John, and that the present John was the sixteenth pope of that name, holding that he was pope four months af- ter the miurder of Boniface VIII ; but this is a very du- bious statement, and is wholly denied by modern critics. Comp. Willman's Jahrhiicher des deutschen Reichs unter Otto III. p. 208, 212; Aschbach, Kirchen-Lex. iii, 520; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. vi, 757.
John XVI (or XVII), Pope, a native of Greece, a Calabrian and bishop of Piacenza, was appointed in 997 by Crescentius, in opposition to Gregory V ; but when Otho III, in February, 998, brought Gregorj^ V back to Rome, he imprisoned, mutilated, and ill treated John most shamefully, and put to death Crescentius and his partisans. See Gregory V. Though a rival pope, and in office onlj' ten months, John is generally numbered in the series of the popes.
John XVII (or XVIII), Pope, succeeded Sylves- ter II in 1003, and died four months after his election.
John XVIII (or XIX, with the surname Fasa- nus). Pope, succeeded the preceding, and died about 1009. The history of the popes during this period is very obscure, and tlie chronology confused. He seems to have been on a good footing with the Greek Church, for his name found a place in the great book of the Con- stantinopolitan Church. See Aschbach, Kirchen-Lex, iii, 521.
John XIX (or XX), Pope, son of count Gregorv' of Tuscany, procured the papal throne by vinkncc and bribery after the decease of his brother Benedict A'lII, in the year 1024, and died in 1034. He crowned the emperor Conrad, but is especially noted for his imbecil- ity and simoniacal inclinations. The latter so much controlled him that he came very near disposing of the Roman supremacy over the Eastern Church for a pecu- niar}' consideration.
John XX. See John XXI.
John XXI (who should really have been counted XX), I'opc (whose true name was Petrus Juliani, car- dinal bishop of Tusculum, a native of Lisbon), was elect- ed Sept. 13, 1270. He was a man of learning and hon- est intentions, but weak, and unable to carry out any honest designs. Whether he is identical with Petrus Hispanus, the writer of many medical and iiliilosophical works, is not certain. His efforts to unite the European powers for a crusade were unsuccessful. It is said that he found his death IVIay 10, 1277, at Viterbo, by the falling of a ceiling. See Herzog, Real-EncyUop. vi, 758.