# The New International Encyclopædia/John (popes)

Edition of 1905. See also Pope John on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​JOHN. The name of twenty-three popes.—John I., Pope 523–526, a native of Tuscany. Nothing is known of his pontificate except his heading an embassy to the Emperor Justin II. at Constantinople, at the request of Theodoric, in regard to the execution of an Imperial edict against the Arians. On his return he was imprisoned by Theodoric, who was dissatisfied with the result of his mission, and died in captivity.—John II., Pope 532–535. A Roman, Mercurius by name. He appealed to Athalaric, King of the Goths, for aid in putting down simony, which was fearfully prevalent. His letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina, lxvi.—John III., Pope 560–573.—John IV., Pope 640–642, a Dalmatian by birth. He condemned the Monothelites, and insisted that Honorius I. had not sanctioned their doctrine.—John V., Pope 685–686, a Syrian, the first of several popes of Eastern birth, who owed their election to the influence of the exarchs. He had been sent by Pope Agatho as his legate to the sixth general council.—John VI., Pope 701–705, a Greek. He decided the prolonged conflict between Saint Wilfrid of York and the See of Canterbury in the former’s favor. His letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina, lxxxix.—John VII., Pope 705–707, the immediate successor of the preceding.—John VIII., Pope 872–882. A Roman by birth and Archdeacon of Rome before his elevation. He supported the claim of Charles the Bald to the Empire and crowned him in 875; two years later he upheld his disputed right in a great synod at Ravenna. The incursions of the Saracens in Lower Italy gave him much trouble, and after strenuously opposing any compromise with them, he was obliged to purchase exemption from their attacks by a yearly tribute. He made a determined attempt to reunite the Eastern Church with Rome, but was defeated by the crafty stubbornness of Photius (q.v.). His numerous letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina, cxxvi. Consult for the Eastern negotiations, Hergenröther, Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel (Regensburg, 1867).
John IX., Pope 898–900. A Benedictine, the candidate of the Frankish party. His position amid the troubles of the time was very insecure, and, though a zealous man, he accomplished little except the rehabilitation of his predecessor Formosus.—John X., Pope 914–928. A native of Romagna, he became Archbishop of Ravenna in 905, and was raised to the Papacy by the influence of Theodora’s faction. But he disappointed their expectations by striving to render his temporal power independent of any party. He defeated the Saracens in person, and attempted a reconciliation with the Eastern Church. He was imprisoned, and finally murdered by Marozia, daughter of Theodora, in the way of whose ambitious designs he stood. His letters are in Migne, cxxxii.—John XI., Pope 931–936, the son of Marozia by her first husband, Alberic. She and her other son, Alberic II., practically ruled, leaving none but purely sacerdotal functions to the Pope.—John XII., Pope 955–964, the son of Alberic II., elected at the age of eighteen. His name was Octavian; he was the first to introduce the practice of adopting a new name. He gained the support of Otho I., whom he crowned Emperor in 962, but fell out with him afterwards, and, in consequence of many grievous accusations, was threatened with deposition. He conquered his opponents, but died soon afterwards.—John XIII., Pope 965–972. He was Bishop of Narni before his choice as the candidate of Otho I. for the Papacy. By his influence with the Emperor, John recovered Ravenna and the rest of the patrimonium Petri. He crowned Otho’s young son as associate in the Empire, and aided in procuring for him the hand of the Greek Princess Theophano. His letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina, cxxxv.—John XIV., Pope 983–984, previously Bishop of Pavia and Chancellor of Otho II. When the Emperor died and his wife, Theophano, left Rome, John was helpless. Boniface VII., who had seized the Papacy on the death of Otho I., and had then fled to Constantinople in fear of the Counts of Tusculum, now returned and imprisoned him in the Castle of Sant’ Angelo, where he was done to death four months later. Consult Floss, Die Papstwahl unter den Ottonen (Freiburg, 1858). Another John is included in some lists of the popes as the immediate successor of Boniface, but according to modern investigations he has no claim to the title. His inclusion has introduced a confusion into the numbering of the later Johns.
John XV., Pope 985–996, elevated by Crescentius and his party, and completely under their influence. After his death, Otho III. caused the election of his own kinsman Bruno, as Gregory V., but on the Emperor’s departure he was driven out by Crescentius, who in 997 set up John Philagathus, a native of the Greek Province of Calabria, as John XVI. He was overthrown by the return of the Emperor, and treated with a cruelty which he did not long survive.-John XVII., Pope for a few months in 1003.-John ​XVIII., 1003–09. He affected a temporary reconciliation with the Church of Constantinople, and left the name of a learned and pious man. He is said to have retired to a monastery to end his days, but it is not improbable that he was driven out by the son of Crescentius.—John XIX., Pope 1024–33, a Roman of the family of the counts of Tusculum. He succeeded his brother, Benedict VIII. He attempted to consolidate the renewed union with the East by conceding to the Patriarch of Constantinople, in a sense, the title of Ecumenical; but the feeling of Western Christendom was so strong against the concession that he was obliged to withdraw it, and the breach became wider than ever. He crowned the Emperor Conrad II. in the presence of the English King Canute. His letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina, cxl.—John XX., often called John XXI., Pope 1276–77, a Spaniard, Peter by name, made Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati in 1273. He was a man of great learning, especially in philosophy and medicine. He left some treatises which are interesting contributions to the history of mediæval medicine. His enemies accused him of dealing in magic arts, and considered his death by the fall of a ceiling as a judgment.
John XXII., Pope 1316–34, Jacques d’Euse, a native of Cahors, made Bishop of Fréjus in 1300 and Cardinal-Bishop of Porto in 1312. He was chosen Pope after a vacancy of two years, and fixed his residence at Avignon. Attempting to carry out, in very altered circumstances, the vast and comprehensive policy of Gregory VII. and Innocent III., he interposed in the contest for the Imperial crown between Louis of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria, in favor of the latter. He was involved in several other controversies of a more theological nature; that on the poverty of Christ, which sprang up among the Franciscans (see Fraticellians) was partly connected with support given by the recalcitrant members of the order to Louis. His opinion that the just would not be admitted to the beatific vision until the general resurrection was vigorously opposed by many theologians, and he retracted it before his death. He endeavored to propagate the Christian faith in the most distant lands, and to promote a crusade, in which he was hindered by the constantly divided state of Christendom. He collected large sums for the treasury of the Church, but his own life was simple and ascetic. Consult: Verlaque, Jean XXII., sa vie et ses œuvres (Paris, 1883); Souchon, Die Papstwahlen von Bonifaz VIII. bis Urban VI. (Brunswick, 1888); Friedensburg, Ludwig der Bayer und Friedrich von Oesterreich (Göttingen, 1877).—John XXIII., Pope 1410–15, Baldassarre Cossa, of a noble Neapolitan family. He was made cardinal in 1402. He took a prominent part in the Council of Pisa, and in the effort to terminate the great schism by the elevation of Pietro Philargi as Alexander V. On Alexander’s death he was chosen by the same dubious authority. He called the Council of Constance (q.v.), by which he was deposed. He fled, but was captured and imprisoned for four years, until he was released by the intervention of his successor, Martin V., who made him dean of the Sacred College. He died and was buried in Florence.