Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/746

 712 JOHN [POPES. the jealousy and distrust of the clergy, but probably his comprehensive and liberal policy would have shed excep tional lustre on the church had not his life been brought to a premature close through the fall of the roof which he had planned for one of his rooms in the palace of Viterbo. His successor was Nicholas III. JOHN XXII. (pope from 1316 to 1334) was born at Cahors about 1244. His original name was Jacques d Euse, and his father is said to have been a cobbler. Tradition also affirms that the son learned the same employment, but afterwards he was taken charge of by his uncle, a successful merchant, who rose to be chancellor of Robert of Sicily. Through the instruction of a Franciscan friar, Jacques d Euse acquired, besides an acquaintance with theology, a mastery of canon and civil law which afterwards stood him in good stead ; but, although he was also versed in all the details of statemanship, his learning was saturated with scholasticism, and his political ideas were narrowed by a mean and paltry ambition, the principal element of which was a miserly love of gold. He was small in stature and slightly deformed, and his features are said to have unpleasantly indicated his special moral defects. It is uncertain whether he ever joined the Franciscan order, but at any rate he afterwards had intimate connexions with the court of Naples, and some time before 1300 he was, at the instance of the king, appointed by Boniface VIII. bishop of Frejus. By means of forged letters purporting to have the authority of the king of Naples, Clement V. was induced in 1310 to bestow upon him the see of Avignon; and, notwithstanding that the fraud was soon discovered, he so recommended himself to the pope by his prudent conduct and his knowledge of law that in 1312 he was named cardinal-bishop of Porto. Robert of Naples also condescended to forget the liberty that had been taken in the use of the royal seal, and, on the death of Clement V. in 1316, the cardinals, through the liberal expenditure of Neapolitan gold, were won over to elect the bishop of Porto to the papal chair. The leanings of the new pope towards the French party were at once shown by his choice of Avignon as his residence, and by his first promotion of cardinals, all of whom except one were French. During the strife for the empire between Louis of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria, John took no active part on either side, but made use of the opportunity quietly to establish an Italian kingdom under the rule of King Robert of Sicily, and after fortune declared for Louis at the battle of Muhldorf in 1322 continued to act as if the imperial throne were still vacant. In consequence of this, Louis found himself compelled to enter into a league with the Ghibellines, whereupon the pope summoned him to appear before him at Avignon, and, on his declining immediate compliance with the request, promulgated against him a ban of excommunication, The empire was offered to Charles the Fair of France, who had married a daughter of the emperor Henry VIL, but her death lost him his chief support in Germany ; and Louis, owing in a great measure to the influence of the Franciscans, whom the persecutions of John had greatly incensed against the authority of Rome, was accepted as emperor with the unanimous consent of the states at Ratisbon in 1324, a decision fully confirmed by the diet of Spires in 1326. In the following year he experienced equal goodwill at the diet of the imperial feudatories at Trent. After receiving the crown of Italy at Milan he entered Rome with the general acclamation of the inhabitants, and was crowned emperor by two excom municated bishops. But, although the election of Peter of Corvara as rival pope under the name of Nicholas V. was greeted with the loud approval of the citizens, the threaten ing attitude of Robert of Naples made it impossible for the emperor and antipope to prolong their stay in Rome, and afterwards a gradual reaction against the imperial cause took place throughout the whole of Italy. Nicholas was taken prisoner at Pisa, but on making a complete recanta tion of his errors was forgiven and absolved. With Louis, however, the pope altogether declined to come to terms, although he found it impossible to establish a rival against him. The last years of John were disquieted by a dispute regarding his tenet held by most theological authorities to be heretical that the saints at death fall asleep and do not enjoy the beatific vision until after the resurrection. So great latterly became the general clamour against the doctrine that he found it necessary to make an ambiguous semblance of retracting what he had formerly promulgated with passionate zeal. He, however, never showed any tendency to relent in his persecution of the Franciscans, and his persistent animosity against them was a nob unimportant element among the influences which produced the Reformation. He died in 1334. By means of annates he had greatly enriched the papal treasury. His successor was Benedict XII. JOHN XXIII. (pope from 1410 to 1415) was born in Naples about 1360. He was of noble descent, his original name being Balthasar Cossa. In his youth he had, along with his brothers, served as a corsair, and at the university of Bologna, which he afterwards entered, he led a loose and intemperate life. After occupying the office of archdeacon of Bologna, he became chamberlain of Boniface IX., and in that office greatly enriched both himself and the pope by his unscrupulous traffic in indulgences. In recognition of the high value of his services he was in 1402 created by Boniface a cardinal, and shortly afterwards he was appointed papal legate to Bologna, which he succeeded in wresting from the Visconti. The scandalous and cruel excesses in which he indulged when governor of the city caused Gregory XII. to pass against him a sentence of excommunication, but he was restored to his full dignities by Alexander V. The death of this pope, which took place suddenly at Bologna in 1410, was generally believed to have been con trived by the governor, but the cardinals were unanimous in electing him his successor, other two popes, Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII., the predecessors of Alexander, being still alive. Previously John had entered into a close alliance with Louis of Anjou, and he now united with him against Ladislaus of Naples, but notwithstanding the victory of Rocca Secca in 1411 he found it necessary to come to ignominious terms with Ladislaus in 1412. The compact was, however, congenial to neither party, and in the following year Ladislaus, advancing on Rome, compelled the pope to flee to Florence and thence to Bologna. In his extremity John implored the protection and help of the emperor Sigismund, who condescended to acknowledge him to the extent at least of requiring him to summon a council at Constance by which his claims and that of the other two rival popes should be decided. John opened the council in person in 1414, but, after consenting to abdicate preliminarily to the council deciding on his claims, he made his escape in disguise to Freiburg, where he obtained the protection of the duke of Austria. On his refusal to return lie was solemnly deposed by the council as guilty of a long list of heinous crimes. The duke of Austria then surrendered him to the emperor, and after he had acknowledged the justice of his sentence he was con fined in the castle of Heidelberg. At the end of four years imprisonment he obtained his freedom, in all probability through a bribe, and, having made his submission to his successor Martin V., he was appointed by him cardinal- bishop of Frascati and dean of the college of cardinals, but he died a few months afterwards. JOHN I. (925-976), emperor of Constantinople, Greet surnamed on account of his short stature Zimisces, was en P e