John XII

This illustration is from The Lives and Times of the Popes by Chevalier Artaud de Montor, New York: The Catholic Publication Society of America, C.E.1911. It was originally published in C.E.1842.

Pope John XII

Pope John XII (Pope) (Octavian Tuscolo) (937–964) – Head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from December 16, C.E.955 to May 14, C.E.964.

Quotes

John XII

• C.E.962, The King celebrated Christmas in Pavia; From thence he proceeded, was profitably received at Rome, and in the presence of all the Roman people and clergy was appointed by Pope John, son of Alberic, and appointed emperor and augustus. The Pope kept him with great cordiality and promised not to fall away from him during his life}}.
• C.E.964, Emperor <Otto I>... at the request of popes] returned the hostages to the Romans. These, however, who were ungrateful for such favours, admitted, when the emperor was still not far from the city, John, also called Octavian, into the city, and without fear violated their allegiance to the emperor and the pope. Pope Leo, on the other hand, barely escaped, destitute of all means, and accompanied only by a few, marched to the emperor.
• John... Bishop Speyer, Otger, he ordered to be seized and whipped, and held, though with difficulty, for some time with him, then he soon set him free, in the hope of obtaining the emperor's forgiveness, but in this hope he was deceived by God's command, for on the second ides of May <May 14> he departed from earthly life.

Quotes about John XII

• The twenty-year-old son of Alberic II, Octavian, after his election, took the name John. A debauched young man, eager for fun and adventure, he exchanged the Lateran, the papal palace, for a house of trysts.
  • Author: Jan Wierusz Kowalski, Poczet popey, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warsaw 1985, ISBN 8303010131, p. 74.

You are accused of such heinous misdeeds that our faces would blush even if you were an ordinary actor. It would take a whole day to list them all here.

• • Author: Otto the Great
  • Source: Simon Sebag Montefiore, Monsters. A History of Crime and Cruelty, publ. World of Books, transl. Jerzy Korpanty, 2010, ISBN 978-83-247-1548-0, p. 60.
• Pope John XII was the most depraved bishop ever to head the Church; His conduct was in complete contradiction to the principles of Christian ethics. He was hypocritical, cruel and thoughtless - he was the embodiment of the papal "pornocracy" of the first half of the tenth century. His insatiable lasciviousness eventually led him to a miserable downfall.
  • Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore, Monsters. A History of Crime and Cruelty, publ. World of Books, transl. Jerzy Korpanty, 2010, ISBN 978-83-247-1548-0, p. 59.

A monster devoid of even the slightest virtue that could atone for his many transgressions.

• • Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore, Monsters. A History of Crime and Cruelty, publ. World of Books, transl. Jerzy Korpanty, 2010, ISBN 978-83-247-1548-0, p. 59.
• John XII's debauched life prompted the emperor to travel again to Rome, where at the synod of December 6, 963, the pope was solemnly anathematized and deprived of all rights.
  • Author: Jan Wierusz Kowalski, Poczet popey, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warsaw 1985, ISBN 8303010131, pp. 74–75.
• During these repressions, John XII died suddenly. He was found dead in the home of one of his mistresses. According to the medieval historian Liutprand, the pope was murdered by Satan. Modern church historians believe that the hand of one of the betrayed men was enough.
  • Author: Jan Wierusz Kowalski, Poczet popey, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warsaw 1985, ISBN 8303010131, p. 75.

Bibliography

• Chamberlin, Russell (C.E.2003). The Bad Popes. Sutton Publishing. pp. 955–963.
• DeCormenin, Louis Marie; Gihon, James L (C.E.1857). A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop to Pius the Ninth.
• Gregorovius, Ferdinand (C.E.1895). The History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Vol. III. G. Bell & sons. Retrieved September 8, C.E.2018.
• Luttwak, Edward (C.E.2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Harvard University Press.
• Mann, Horace K. (C.E.1910). The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999.
• Norwich, John Julius (C.E.2011). The Popes: A History

Sources

• Mann 1910, pp. 243–244.
• Gregorovius 1895, pp. 328–329.
• Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John XII." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 January 2016
• Mann 1910, p. 230.
• Mann 1910, pp. 244–245.
• Norwich 2011, p. 76.
• Mann 1910, p. 245.
• Gregorovius 1895, p. 330.
• Mann 1910, pp. 246–247.
• Gregorovius 1895, p. 331.
• Mann 1910, p. 247.
• Mann 1910, p. 248.
• Gregorovius 1895, pp. 332–333.
• Mann 1910, p. 250.
• Mann 1910, p. 252.
• Gregorovius 1895, p. 338.
• Mann 1910, p. 246.
• Mann 1910, pp. 265–266.
• Mann 1910, pp. 253–254.
• Mann 1910, p. 235.
• Mann 1910, p. 254.
• Gregorovius 1895, p. 340.
• Mann 1910, pp. 255–256.
• Gregorovius 1895, pp. 341–342.
• Norwich 2011, p. 79.
• Mann 1910, p. 256.
• Gregorovius 1895, p. 347.
• Norwich 2011, p. 80.
• Luttwak 2009, p. 150.
• Gregorovius 1895, pp. 349–350.
• Norwich 2011, pp. 80–81.
• Mann 1910, pp. 262–264.
• Mann 1910, p. 264.
• Gregorovius 1895, p. 329.
• Mann 1910, p. 242.
• DeCormenin & Gihon 1857, pp. 296–298.
• Gregorovius 1895, pp. 329–330, 351–352.
• Mann 1910, pp. 241–242.
• Freeman, Thomas S., The Myth of the Female Pope in Early Modern England in Religious Politics in Post-Reformation England: Essays in Honour of Nicholas Tyacke, Boydell & Brewer (2006), p. 69.