Anastasius III, Pope
ANASTASIUS III, POPE
Pontificate: c. June 911 to c. October 913; b. Rome; d. there. He was the son of Lucian, but little is known of him, except that he was a man of good repute. He succeeded sergius iii and ruled in a time of turmoil when the government of Rome was dominated by theophylactus, consul et senator, and his energetic wife, theodora. The papal throne was at that time entirely in the control of this powerful family (see tusculani). There is extant only one authentic document of Anastasius' reign, a bull granting the pallium to Ragembert, Bishop of Vercelli. Another bull, purporting to grant extensive jurisdiction to the bishop of Hamburg, is spurious. Anastasius was buried in st. peter's basilica.
Bibliography: a. clerval, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 2:1475. f. x. seppelt, Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 20. Jh. (Munic 1954–59) 2:350. g. hocquard, Catholicisme 1:510–511. r. benericetti, La cronologia dei Papi dei secoli IX–XI secondo le carte di Ravenna, (1999) 34–35. s. scholz, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 3d. ed. (1995). j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 120–121.
[a. j. ennis]