BENEDICT V, POPE

Pontificate: May 964 to July 4, 964 or 965; d. Hamburg, Germany, July 4, 966?. He was a deacon of Rome, noted for virtue and learning. His election infuriated the emperor otto i, who regarded leo viii as lawful pope. The Romans tried to prevent the emperor's army from entering their city, but hunger forced their surrender. In a Lateran synod, convened by Otto and Leo VIII (June 23,964), Benedict admitted, according to Liutprand, that he was an intruder. He was publicly degraded, reduced to deacon, and sent to Hamburg, where he was placed in the charge of Archbishop adaldag until death. According to the Annuario Pontificio (2001), "If Leo VIII was a legitimate pope, Benedict V … is an antipope." In 988, otto iii transferred his remains to Rome.

Bibliography: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores ser. 4, 3:626–627. p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum 1198 (Graz 1956) 1:325. Liber pontificalis, ed. l duchesne 2:251. h. k. mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages from 590 to 1304 4:273–281. f. balx, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 8:31–38. p. brezzi, Romae l'Imperio medioevale (Bologne 1947). j. haller, Das Papsttum (Stuttgart 1950–53) 2:213. h. zimmermann, "Die Deposition der Päpste … Benedikt V," Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung 68 (1960) 209–225. j. n.d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 128–9.

[s. mckenna]