Pope John VIII

Pope

John VIII
Pope; John VIII
Bishop of Rome
	Posthumousminiatureof John VIII, 14th century
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	14 December 872
Papacy ended	16 December 882
Predecessor	Adrian II
Successor	Marinus I
Personal details
Born	Rome,Papal States
Died	16 December 882; Rome, Papal States
	Other popes named John

Pope John VIII(Latin:Ioannes VIII;died 16 December 882) was thebishop of Romeand ruler of thePapal Statesfrom 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the ablestpopesof the 9th century.^[1]

John devoted much of his papacy attempting to halt and reverse theMuslim gains in southern Italyand their march northwards. When his efforts to obtain assistance from either the Franks or the Byzantines failed, John strengthened the defences ofRome.He supportedMethodius of Thessalonicain his mission to theSlavs,defended him against theCarolingianrulers and Bavarian clergy, and authorized thetranslation of the BibleintoSlavonic.John also extended diplomatic recognition to theDuchy of Croatiaand resolved thePhotian schism.John's pontificate ended with his assassination, and the papacy became significantly weaker in the aftermath.

Slavonic liturgy

Pope Adrian IIconsecratedMethodius of Thessalonicaas archbishop and supported his mission to the Slavs. Unbeknownst to Rome, Methodius was imprisoned in 870 by theCarolingianKingLouis the Germanand Bavarian bishops, who objected to his use of theSlavonic languagein theliturgyand his encroachment on their jurisdiction inMoravia.^[2]Adrian II died in 872, and John VIII, a Roman native,^[3]wasselectedto succeed him. When BishopAnno of Freisingvisited 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 ofmassin Bavaria until Methodius was released.^[4]After his release, Methodius came to Rome and convinced John to allow him totranslate the Bibleto Slavonic as well as to perform liturgy in Slavonic. John wrote: "He who made three main languages –Hebrew,Greek,andRoman– also made all other languages to sing his praise and glory. "^[5]

Saracen incursions

As a young man, John witnessed theArab raid against Rome.Their expansion into Italy was severely affecting the economy of thePapal States.^[3]After the raids againstCampaniaand theSabine Hills,Pope John asked for military aid from EmperorCharles the Baldand later CountBoso of Provence.^[6]His efforts failed and he was forced to pay tribute to theEmirate 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]

In 876, John VIII traveled throughoutCampaniain an effort to form an alliance among the cities ofSalerno,Capua,Naples,GaetaandAmalfiagainst 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 timeCarloman of Bavaria,son ofLouis 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 byPope Leo IV.As theBasilica of Saint Paul Outside the Wallswas located outside theAurelian 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 ofPhotios Ias the legitimatepatriarch 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 theexcommunicationof Photius, which eventually enabledEmperor Leo VIto move against Photius.^[14]However, modern scholarship particularly influenced by Catholic scholarFrancis Dvornikhas demonstrated this to be a Latin myth, as Photius died in visible perfect communion within the Roman Church.^[15]

John was anxious that theDuchy of Croatiawould follow in the steps ofBulgaria,which had recently accepted the spiritual authority of Constantinople rather than that of Rome. After the overthrow of the pro-ByzantineZdeslavin 879, John thanked the new duke,Branimir,for returning Croatia to papal jurisdiction. In return, John recognized Croatian independence from the Carolingians.^[16]^[17]

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.^[18]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]

References

^Mann, Horace. "Pope John VIII." The Catholic EncyclopediaVol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. retrieved 10 June 2007.
^Goldberg 2006,pp. 300, 319.
^^a ^bKreutz 1996,p. 57.
^Goldberg 2006,p. 319.
^^a ^b ^c ^dO'Malley 2009,p. 79.
^Pierre Riche,The Carolingians: A family who forged Europe,Transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 203.
^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.
^^a ^bJohn Victor Tolan; Gilles Veinstein; Henry Laurens (2013).Europe and the Islamic World: A History(illustrated ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 35.ISBN 978-0691147055.
^Andrew Shryock (2010).Islamophobia/Islamophilia: Beyond the Politics of Enemy and Friend.Indiana University Press.p. 32.ISBN 978-0253004543.
^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.
^Riche, Pierre.The Carolingians:The Family who forged Europe.1983. University of Pennsylvania Press
^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
^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.
^"The Errors of the Greeks Condemned in Three General Councils".17 January 2018.
^Dvornik, F. (1948)."The Photian Schism in Western and Eastern Tradition".The Review of Politics.10(3): 310–331.ISSN 0034-6705.
^Curta 2006,p. 140.
^Category:Uncategorized (2020-11-08)."AD879 Croatia Recognised as Independent State – Pope John VIII and Prince Branimir".Knights of the Precious Blood.Retrieved2024-06-07.
^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.

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

Bibliography

Balan, Pietro (1880).Il pontificato di Giovanni VIII(in Italian). Roma: Tip. di Roma.
Cariello, Nicola (2002).Giovanni VIII: papa medioevale (872–882).Studi e documenti, 19 (in Italian). Roma: Edilazio.ISBN 978-88-87485-34-9.
Dvornik, Francis(1948).The Photian Schism: History and Legend.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ostrogorsky, George(1956).History of the Byzantine State.Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Siecienski, Anthony Edward (2010).The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy.Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0195372045.
O'Malley, John W.(2009).A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present.Government Institutes.ISBN 978-1580512299.
Goldberg, Eric Joseph (2006).Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict Under Louis the German, 817–876.Cornell University Press.ISBN 080143890X.
Curta, Florin(2006).Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0521815398.
Kreutz, Barbara M. (1996).Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries.University of Pennsylvania Press.

External links

Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes(in Latin)
"Iohannes VIII papa".Repertorium "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages" (Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters).(in German)
Literature by and about Johannes VIII.in theGerman National Librarycatalogue(in German)
Profile,Enciclopedia dei Papi;accessed 27 August 2016.(in Italian)

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Adrian II	Pope 872–882	Succeeded by Marinus I

[1] Mann, Horace. "Pope John VIII." The Catholic EncyclopediaVol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. retrieved 10 June 2007.

[FOOTNOTEGoldberg2006300,_319-2] Goldberg 2006,pp. 300, 319.

[FOOTNOTEKreutz199657-3] Kreutz 1996,p. 57.

[FOOTNOTEGoldberg2006319-4] Goldberg 2006,p. 319.

[FOOTNOTEO'Malley200979-5] 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.

[Tolan-8] 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] Dvornik, F. (1948)."The Photian Schism in Western and Eastern Tradition".The Review of Politics.10(3): 310–331.ISSN 0034-6705.

[FOOTNOTECurta2006140-16] Curta 2006,p. 140.

[17] Category:Uncategorized (2020-11-08)."AD879 Croatia Recognised as Independent State – Pope John VIII and Prince Branimir".Knights of the Precious Blood.Retrieved2024-06-07.

[18] 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.

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