JOHN XV, POPE

Pontificate: August 985 to March 996. The son of a Roman priest named Leo, he was elected pope after the forcible removal of the legitimate Pope john xiv and the eleven-month reign (until July 985) of the usurper, Boniface VII. He owed his election (which took place some time between Aug. 6 and Sept. 5, 985) to the influence of John Crescentius II, who as patricius romanorum continued to hold political sway over Rome. John sought at times to evade this domination of the crescentii and succeeded, to a limited degree, in restoring impeded papal authority during his ten-year pontificate. He enjoyed friendly contacts with the Empire's regents, namely, Emperor otto i's widow, St. Adelaide, and Emperor otto ii's widow, Theophano. Through his legate, Leo of Trevi, he brought about the Peace of Rouen (991), which settled the quarrel between King Ethelred II of England and Duke Richard of Normandy; he confirmed the peace with a papal bull.

John brought papal authority to bear on the dispute over the archdiocese of Reims precipitated by Hugh Capet, king of France, who had made Arnulf, nephew of Duke Charles of Lorraine, the archbishop there in 989. Charles, an opponent of Hugh Capet, had imprisoned the archbishop; subsequently Capet held a synod at Saint-Basle near Reims, which deposed Arnulf (991). Capet considered him a traitor and chose as his successor Gerbert of Aurillac (the future sylvester ii). The pope objected to this deposal, and in 995 his legate presided over a council at Mouzon (995) —attended only by the German bishops—which condemned and suspended Gerbert in turn. When Capet died (October 996) Arnulf was finally released from imprisonment and restored to his see.

About 990 John received Poland as a papal fief from Duke Mieszko of Poland. He initiated the practice of papal canonization of saints, and on Jan. 31, 993, solemnly canonized Bp. ulric of augsburg at a Roman synod held in the Lateran and proclaimed the canonization in a papal bull of February 3 to the French and German bishops. John has been considered a promoter of the cluniac reform. His dictatorial manners and his tendency to favor his relatives, however, provoked criticism and opposition among the Roman clergy that John Crescentius II utilized to force the pope to flee to Tuscany. There John successfully sought the support of the young otto iii, and as the king progressed toward Rome (996) for his imperial coronation, Crescentius was forced to seek peace with the pope. John returned to Rome but died before the imperial party reached the city.

Bibliography: p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum 1198, ed. s. lÖwenfeld (Graz 1956) 1:486–489; 2:707–708. Liber pontificalis, ed. l. duchesne (Paris 1886–92) 2:260; 3. k. g. von zmigrodstadnicki, Die Schenkung Polens an Papst Johannes XV (Fribourg 1911). f. schneider, "Johann XV., Papst, u. Ottos III. Romfahrt, " Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung 39 (1923) 193–218. Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al. (Tables générales 1951—) 2444. r. aubert, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 26 (Paris 1997), s.v. "Jean XV, pape." f. x. bischof, "Die Kanonisation Bischof Ulrichs auf der Lateransynode des Jahres 993, " in Bischof Ulrich von Augsburg, 890–973. Seine Zeit—sein Leben—sein Verehrung. Festschrift aus Anlaß des tausendjährigens Jubiläs seiner Kanonisation im Jahre 993 (1993) 197–222. k. gÓrich, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 5 (Freiburg 1996), s.v. "Johannes XV." chr. lÛbke, Lexikon des Mittelalters 6 (München-Zürich 1992/1993), s.v. "Mieszko I. Fürst von Polen." l. musset, "Un millénaire oublié: la remise en place de la hiéarchie épiscopale en Normandie autour de 990, " in Papautés, monarchisme et théories politiques. Études d'histoire médiévale offertes à Marcel Pascaut (Lyon 1994) 563–73. g. wolf, "Die Kanonisationsbulle von 993 für den hl. Oudalrich von Augsburg und Vergleichbares, " Archiv für Dipolmatik Schriftgeschichte, Siegelkunde und Wappenkunde 40 (Köln-Wien 1994, 85–104). j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 133–134.

[w. m. plÖchl]