Pope John VIII

Last updated

John VIII
Bishop of Rome
Jan-VIII.jpg
Posthumous miniature of John VIII, 14th century
Church Catholic Church
Papacy began14 December 872
Papacy ended16 December 882
Predecessor Adrian II
Successor Marinus I
Personal details
Born
Died(882-12-16)16 December 882
Rome, Papal States
Other popes named John

Pope John VIII (Latin : Ioannes VIII; died 16 December 882) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the ablest popes of the 9th century. [1]

Contents

John devoted much of his papacy attempting to halt and reverse the Muslim gains in southern Italy and their march northwards. When his efforts to obtain assistance from either the Franks or the Byzantines failed, John strengthened the defences of Rome. He supported Methodius of Thessalonica in his mission to the Slavs, defended him against the Carolingian rulers and Bavarian clergy, and authorized the translation of the Bible into Slavonic. John also extended diplomatic recognition to the Duchy of Croatia and resolved the Photian schism. John's pontificate ended with his assassination, and the papacy became significantly weaker in the aftermath.

Slavonic liturgy

John VIII's letter to Svatopluk I of Moravia Letter svatopluk.jpg
John VIII's letter to Svatopluk I of Moravia

Pope Adrian II consecrated Methodius of Thessalonica as archbishop and supported his mission to the Slavs. Unbeknownst to Rome, Methodius was imprisoned in 870 by the Carolingian King Louis the German and Bavarian bishops, who objected to his use of the Slavonic language in the liturgy and his encroachment on their jurisdiction in Moravia. [2] Adrian II died in 872, and John VIII, a Roman native, [3] was selected to succeed him. When Bishop Anno of Freising visited Rome, John inquired about the whereabouts of the missing Methodius, but Anno lied to him. In the summer of 873, John finally learned the truth. Furious, he forbade the celebration of mass in Bavaria until Methodius was released. [4] After his release, Methodius came to Rome and convinced John to allow him to translate the Bible to Slavonic as well as to perform liturgy in Slavonic. John wrote: "He who made three main languages – Hebrew, Greek, and Roman – also made all other languages to sing his praise and glory." [5]

Saracen incursions

As a young man, John witnessed the Arab raid against Rome. Their expansion into Italy was severely affecting the economy of the Papal States. [3] After the raids against Campania and the Sabine Hills, Pope John asked for military aid from Emperor Charles the Bald and later Count Boso of Provence. [6] His efforts failed and he was forced to pay tribute to the Emirate of Sicily. [7] The threatening Muslim military presence (which he believed was God's punishment against "bad Christians"), [8] coupled with alliances they formed with the local Christians, prompted John to promote "a new and uncompromisingly hostile view of the Saracens." This included a ban on forming alliances with the Muslims. However, his efforts proved unsuccessful, [9] partly because Christian leaders viewed his calls for unity as an excuse to assert papal authority in southern Italy. [8]

An 876 bull of John VIII EB1911 Palaeography - Bull of Pope John VIII.jpg
An 876 bull of John VIII

In 876, John VIII traveled throughout Campania in an effort to form an alliance among the cities of Salerno, Capua, Naples, Gaeta and Amalfi against Muslim raids. By 877, all five cities sent delegates to Traietto to formalize an alliance. [10] Pope John VIII urged Charles to come to his defence in Italy. Charles again crossed the Alps, but this expedition was received with little enthusiasm by the nobles, and even by his regent in Lombardy, Boso, and they refused to join his army. At the same time Carloman of Bavaria, son of Louis the German, entered northern Italy. Charles, ill and in great distress, started on his way back to Gaul, but died while crossing the pass of Mont Cenis on 6 October 877. [11]

Obtaining relatively little support from outside sources, John fell back on what resources he could command. He reinforced the walls previously restored by Pope Leo IV. As the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls was located outside the Aurelian Walls, and had been damaged in a Saracen raid, the pope fortified the basilica, the monastery, and the nearby dwellings of the peasants. [12] He also founded a papal fleet. [5]

Constantinople problems

In 879, John recognised the reinstatement of Photios I as the legitimate patriarch of Constantinople. Photius had been condemned in 869 by Adrian II. This was undertaken mainly to appease the Byzantines, since in them he saw the only hope of removing the Arabs from Italy. [13] It was commonly believed that some time afterward John VIII re-confirmed the excommunication of Photius, which eventually enabled Emperor Leo VI to move against Photius. [14] However, modern scholarship particularly influenced by Catholic scholar Francis Dvornik has demonstrated this to be a Latin myth, as Photius died in visible perfect communion within the Roman Church.[ citation needed ]

John was anxious that the Duchy of Croatia would follow in the steps of Bulgaria, which had recently accepted the spiritual authority of Constantinople rather than that of Rome. After the overthrow of the pro-Byzantine Zdeslav in 879, John thanked the new duke, Branimir, for returning Croatia to papal jurisdiction. In return, John recognized Croatian independence from the Carolingians. [15]

Death

John VIII was assassinated in 882 by his own clerics; he was first poisoned, and then clubbed to death. [5] The motives may have been his exhaustion of the papal treasury, his lack of support among the Carolingians, his gestures towards the Byzantines, and his failure to stop the Saracen raids. [16] Without the protection of powerful magnates or the Carolingian emperor, the papacy after John VIII's reign became increasingly subject to the machinations and greedy ambition of the rival clans of the local nobility. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Fourth Council of Constantinople was held in 879–880. It confirmed the reinstatement of Photius I as patriarch of Constantinople.

Pope Adrian II was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 867 to his death. He continued the policy of his predecessor, Nicholas I. Despite seeking good relations with Louis II of Italy, he was placed under surveillance, and his wife and daughters were killed by Louis' supporters.

Pope Stephen V was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from September 885 to his death. In his dealings with Photius I of Constantinople, as in his relations with the young Slavic Orthodox church, he pursued the policy of Pope Nicholas I.

Pope Formosus was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Kingdom of West Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire. Because he sided with Arnulf of Carinthia against Lambert of Spoleto, Formosus's remains were exhumed and put on trial in the Cadaver Synod. Several of his immediate successors were primarily preoccupied by the controversial legacy of his pontificate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyril and Methodius</span> 9th-century Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries

Cyril and Methodius (815–885) were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".

Pope Nicholas I, called Nicholas the Great, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority, exerting decisive influence on the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe. Nicholas I asserted that the pope should have suzerainty over all Christians, even royalty, in matters of faith and morals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadaver Synod</span> Posthumous ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus

The Cadaver Synod is the name commonly given to the ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, who had been dead for about seven months, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January 897. The trial was conducted by Pope Stephen VI, the successor to Formosus' successor, Pope Boniface VI. Stephen had Formosus' corpse exhumed and brought to the papal court for judgment. He accused Formosus of perjury, of having acceded to the papacy illegally, and illegally presiding over more than one diocese at the same time. At the end of the trial, Formosus was pronounced guilty, and his papacy retroactively declared null.

Anastasius Bibliothecarius or Anastasius the Librarian was bibliothecarius and chief archivist of the Church of Rome and also briefly a claimant to the papacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italy in the Middle Ages</span> History of Italy during the Middle Ages

The history of Italy in the Middle Ages can be roughly defined as the time between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance. Late Antiquity in Italy lingered on into the 7th century under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty, the Byzantine Papacy until the mid 8th century. The "Middle Ages" proper begin as the Byzantine Empire was weakening under the pressure of the Muslim conquests, and most of the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell under Lombard rule in 751. From this period, former states that were part of the Exarchate and were not conquered by the Lombard Kingdom, such as the Duchy of Naples, became de facto independent states, having less and less interference from the Eastern Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Svatopluk I of Moravia</span> Ruler of Great Moravia

Svatopluk I or Svätopluk I, also known as Svatopluk the Great, was a ruler of Great Moravia, which attained its maximum territorial expansion during his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longobardia</span> Historical region of Italy

Longobardia was a Byzantine term for the territories controlled by the Lombards in the Italian Peninsula. In the ninth and tenth centuries, it was also the name of a Byzantine military-civilian province known as the Theme of Longobardia located in southeastern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photian schism</span> 9th-century schism between Rome and Constantinople

The Photian Schism was a four-year (863–867) schism between the episcopal sees of Rome and Constantinople. The issue centred on the right of the Byzantine Emperor to depose and appoint a patriarch without approval from the papacy.

The Arab raid against Rome took place in 846. Muslim raiders plundered the outskirts of the city of Rome, sacking the basilicas of Old St Peter's and St Paul's-Outside-the-Walls, but were prevented from entering the city itself by the Aurelian Walls.

Saint Athanasius I was the bishop of Naples from 850 to his death. This Athanasius should not be confused with his nephew, Athanasius II.

Metrophanes of Smyrna was a Christian bishop, Metropolitan of Smyrna, in the ninth century. He was a leader of the Ignatian bishops at the time of the Photian schism (867).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in the 9th century</span> Christianity-related events during the 9th century

In the 9th century, Christianity was spreading throughout Europe, being promoted especially in the Carolingian Empire, its eastern neighbours, Scandinavia, and northern Spain. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor, which continued the Photian schism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in the Middle Ages</span> Aspect of history

Christianity in the Middle Ages covers the history of Christianity from the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The end of the period is variously defined. Depending on the context, events such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492, or the Protestant Reformation in 1517 are sometimes used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archbishopric of Moravia</span> Ecclesiastical province

The Archbishopric of Moravia was an ecclesiastical province, established by the Holy See to promote Christian missions among the Slavic peoples. Its first archbishop, the Byzantine Methodius, persuaded Pope John VIII to sanction the use of Old Church Slavonic in liturgy. Methodius had been consecrated archbishop of Pannonia by Pope Adrian II at the request of Koceľ, the Slavic ruler of Pannonia in East Francia in 870.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trilingual heresy</span>

In Slavic Christianity, the trilingual heresy or Pilatian heresy is the idea that Biblical Hebrew, Greek, and Latin are the only valid liturgical languages or languages in which one may praise God. Trilingualism was rejected in the 850s by Saints Cyril and Methodius, Byzantine brothers and missionaries who introduced a Christian liturgy in the vernacular of their Slavic converts, a language now called Old Church Slavonic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis II's campaign against Bari (866–871)</span>

The Frankish emperor Louis II campaigned against the Emirate of Bari continuously from 866 until 871. Louis was allied with the Lombard principalities of southern Italy from the start, but an attempt at joint action with the Byzantine Empire failed in 869. In the final siege of the city of Bari in 871, Louis was assisted by a Slavic fleet from across the Adriatic.

References

  1. Mann, Horace. "Pope John VIII." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. retrieved 10 June 2007.
  2. Goldberg 2006, pp. 300, 319.
  3. 1 2 Kreutz 1996, p. 57.
  4. Goldberg 2006, p. 319.
  5. 1 2 3 4 O'Malley 2009, p. 79.
  6. Pierre Riche, The Carolingians: A family who forged Europe, Transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 203.
  7. The Expansion of Saracens:Africa and Europe, C.H. Becker, The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 2, Ed. John Bagnell Bury, (The Macmillan Company, 1913), p. 387.
  8. 1 2 John Victor Tolan; Gilles Veinstein; Henry Laurens (2013). Europe and the Islamic World: A History (illustrated ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 35. ISBN   978-0691147055.
  9. Andrew Shryock (2010). Islamophobia/Islamophilia: Beyond the Politics of Enemy and Friend. Indiana University Press. p. 32. ISBN   978-0253004543.
  10. Kreutz, Barbara (1991). Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 58. ISBN   978-0-8122-1587-8.
  11. Riche, Pierre. The Carolingians:The Family who forged Europe. 1983. University of Pennsylvania Press
  12. Osborne, John, ed. (2023), "The Last Hurrah: John VIII (872–82)", Rome in the Ninth Century: A History in Art, British School at Rome Studies, Cambridge University Press, pp. 196–234, doi:10.1017/9781009415422.008, ISBN   978-1-009-41542-2
  13. Barbara M. Kreutz (7 Jun 2011). Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 60. ISBN   9780812205435.
  14. "The Errors of the Greeks Condemned in Three General Councils". 17 January 2018.
  15. Curta 2006, p. 140.
  16. Barbara M. Kreutz (2011). Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 59–60. ISBN   978-0812205435.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope John VIII". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Bibliography

Further reading

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Pope
872–882
Succeeded by