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Pope John XIV

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Pope
John XIV
Bishop of Rome
Church Catholic Church
Papacy began December 983
Papacy ended 20 August 984
Predecessor Benedict VII
Successor John XV
Personal details
Born Peter Canepanova
Pavia, Italy
Died 20 August 984
Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, Papal States
Buried Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
Other popes named John

Pope John XIV (Latin: Ioannes XIV; died 20 August 984), born Peter Canepanova, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from December 983 until his death. Upon the death of Pope Benedict VII in July 983, Emperor Otto II nominated Canepanova to the papal throne after the abbot Maiolus of Cluny refused the office. The decision to install the then bishop of Pavia was made without consultation with the clergy and the Roman people, nor was it confirmed by formal election.

Canepanova took the papal name John. Otto's death in December left the Pope without allies, and he was deposed and confined at Castel Sant'Angelo after the seizure of the papal throne by Antipope Boniface VII. John died, either by starvation or poisoning,[1] on 20 August 984 and was buried in Old St. Peter's Basilica.

Pontificate

John XIV was born as Peter Canepanova in Pavia.[2] When Pope Benedict VII died on 10 July 983, Emperor Otto II (r. 973–983) wished to enthrone Maiolus of Cluny, a renowned Burgundian abbot, as the new bishop of Rome, but Maiolus refused the office.[3][2] As a second option, the Emperor selected Canepanova, who was by then the bishop of Pavia and had previously served as Otto's archchancellor in Italy.[2] Negotiations with Canepanova stalled until December, at which point he accepted the papal throne.

Upon his accession, Canepanova decided to adopt a new papal name — John – to avoid taking the name of Saint Peter.[3][4] The appointment of John XIV occurred without the consultation of the clergy or the people of Rome,[5] and there is no evidence that a formal election ever took place.[3][2] As such, John relied solely upon the Emperor's support.[6] The only extant document from John's pontificate is a bull that granted a pallium to Alo, the archbishop of Benevento; the action is indicative of Otto's political interests in southern Italy.[3]

Soon after John's installation, the Emperor fell ill with malaria and died on 7 December 983 in the Pope's arms after John performed the rites of absolution.[6] His widow, the Empress Theophanu, immediately left Rome to travel to Germany to protect the interests of her infant son Otto III (r. 980–1002), leaving John isolated in the city without allies.[6] Upon the return of Antipope Boniface VII from Constantinople in April 984 and his installation as pope by the influential Crescentii family, John was assaulted, deposed, and confined at Castel Sant'Angelo.[6] Information regarding the charges laid against John do not survive, nor do any details surrounding his trial.[6] John died four months after his imprisonment, either of starvation or poisoning.[7] The historian Hans-Henning Kortüm wrote that, "Because of the brevity and weakness of his reign, very few documents bear his name".[5] John was buried in Old St. Peter's Basilica;[3] his tomb was destroyed in the seventeenth century during the Basilica's demolition.[8] His epitaph there, erected under the pontificate of Antipope Boniface VII, records John's death date as 20 August 984, but does not state a cause of death.[6] Because Antipope Boniface VII was only considered an antipope in the 20th-century, Pope John XV was considered to be the successor of Antipope Boniface VII and not John XIV.[9]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope John XIV — Date of birth unknown; d. 984. After the death of Benedict VII, Bishop Peter Campanora of Pavia, earlier imperial chancellor of Italy, was elected pope with the consent of Emperor Otto II, and was crowned at the end of November or beginning of December, 983, when he took the name of John. On 7 December of the same year the young emperor, Otto II, died at Rome, prepared for death by the pope, and was buried in the vestibule of St. Peter's. When the antipope Boniface VII, created in 974 by the Roman adherents of Crescentius, received at Constantinople news of the emperor's death, he returned to Rome (April, 984), and with the aid of his followers made Pope John a prisoner, threw him into the dungeons of the Castle of Sant' Angelo, and mounted the papal throne. After four months the unhappy John XIV died in prison on 20 August, 984, either from starvation and misery or murdered by order of Boniface.

Liber Pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, II, 259; JAFFÉ, Regesta Rom. Pont., I, 484 sq.; LANGEN, Gesch. der römischen Kirche, III, 3;68 sqq.; UHLIRZ, Jahrbücher des deutschen Reiches unter Otto II und Otto III, I (Leipzig, 1902).

References

  1. Back to citation Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John XIV.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 435.
  2. Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Back to citation occurrence 2.3 Kelly & Walsh 1988, p. 132.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 Back to citation occurrence 3.3 Back to citation occurrence 3.4 McBrien 2000, p. 163.
  4. Back to citation Kelly & Walsh 1988, pp. 132–133.
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Levillain 2002, p. 842.
  6. Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 Back to citation occurrence 6.2 Back to citation occurrence 6.3 Back to citation occurrence 6.4 Back to citation occurrence 6.5 Kelly & Walsh 1988, p. 133.
  7. Back to citation McBrien 2000, pp. 163–164.
  8. Back to citation Reardon 2004, p. 74.
  9. Back to citation McBrien 2000, p. 164.

Bibliography

  • Kelly, J. N. D; Walsh, M. J. (1988) [1986]. Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192820853.
  • Levillain, Philippe, ed. (2002). The Papacy: an Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York City: Routledge. ISBN 0415922283.
  • McBrien, Richard P. (2000). Lives of the Popes. New York, NY: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060653040.
  • Reardon, Wendy J. (2004). The Deaths of the Popes. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0786415274.
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