John

John, the name of a long line of popes, the number of whom is variously stated by different historians. John VIII. (872-82) is styled the IX. by some writers, who, accepting the story of Pope Joan (q.v.), reckon her as John VIII.; and John XV. (985-96) is also called XVI. by those who place before him another John who died within a few days of his election. Without entering into this question, it will suffice to say that the last of the line of popes called John is John XXIII., who filled the papal chair most unworthily in 1410-15. The following popes of this name appear to deserve some special notice.—JOHN XII. was the son of Alberico, and grandson of the notorious Marozia, who, during the pontificate of John X. (913-27), ruled with almost supreme power at Rome. John was originally named Octavianus, and, being elected pope in 956 through the violence of the dominant party when only in his nineteenth year, was the first in the papal line to originate the since familiar practice of changing his name. The Emperor Otho in 963 in a synod of the clergy, overstepping all the ordinary rules of canonical procedure and legal precedent, caused sentence of deposition for scandalous life to be pronounced against John, and Leo VIII. to be elected in his stead. John, however, re-entered Rome in the following year with a strong party and drove out Leo; but his career was cut short by a dishonourable death.—JOHN XXII. is one of the most celebrated of the popes of Avignon. He was born at Cahors in 1244, and was elected pope in 1316, on the death of Clement V. Attempting to carry out in very altered circumstances the vast and comprehensive policy of Gregory VII. and Innocent III., John interposed his authority in the contest for the imperial crown between Louis of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria, by not only espousing the cause of the latter but even excommunicating his rival. The diet of Frankfurt refused to obey, and a long contest ensued, not only in Germany but also in Italy, where the Guelph or papal party was represented by Robert, king of Naples, Frederick of Sicily being the chief leader of the Ghibel- lines. The latter was placed by John under the same ban which had already been proclaimed against Louis; but in 1327 Louis came to Italy in person, and having been crowned at Milan with the iron crown, advanced upon Rome, expelled the papal legate, and was crowned emperor in the church of St Peter's by two Lombard bishops. Immediately on his coronation he proceeded to hold an assembly, in which he caused the pope, under his original name of James de Cahors, to be thrice summoned to answer a charge of heresy and breach of fealty; after which he caused him to be deposed, and Peter de Corvara, a monk, to be elected pope, under the name of Nicholas V. These measures, however, were attended with little result. Louis returned to Germany, and the Guelphic predominance at Rome was restored, the papal representative resuming his authority. But John XXII. never personally visited Rome, having died at Avignon in 1334, when, although without incurring the suspicion of personal aggrandisement, he had accumulated in the papal treasury the enormous sum of 18,000,000 florins of gold.