STEPHEN V (VI), POPE

Pontificate: Sept. 885 to Sept. 14, 891; Roman priest elected by the people, but rejected by Emperor Charles the Fat, who sent his legate Liutward to depose him. Stephen proved the validity of his election, and no action was taken. In November 887, Charles was deposed by his subjects and the Carolingian empire disintegrated. In Italy the power was claimed by Berengar I of Friuli, great–grandson of Charlemagne, but Guido III of Spoleto, the actual ruler of the major part of the peninsula, was crowned emperor by Stephen in 891. In the course of the preceding year the pope had summoned Arnulf, later crowned emperor, who held power in the greater part of the Frankish empire, to rescue Italy from the devastations of "pagans and evil Christians." Arnulf did not come to Italy until after Stephen's death; meanwhile Guido's son Lambert (see lambert of spoleto) had been crowned by Stephen's successor, formosus, who reaped the tragic fruits of this disastrous expediency. The vacillating character of Stephen was again tested in the matter of the Slavonic liturgy introduced among the Moravians by SS. cyril and methodius. Methodius had been twice summoned to Rome, where he had received from adrian ii and john viii approval of his missionary work and liturgical practice. Wiching, the suffragan of Methodius, received from Stephen sanction for the organization of the Moravian Church according to the wishes of the German hierarchy. The Slavonic liturgy was forbidden, and the disciples of Methodius fled to Bulgaria, where their rite continued to be celebrated. There is no evidence that Stephen failed to recognize the second patriarchate of photi us.

Bibliography: p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum 1198, ed. s. lÖwenfeld (repr. Graz 1956) 1:427–435. Liber pontificalis, ed. l. duchesne (Paris 1886–92) 2:191–198. liutprand, Antapodosis, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores rerum Germanicarum (Berlin 1826) 38:1–158. a. fliche and v. martin, eds., Histoire de l'église depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours (Paris 1935) 7:15–19. a. fliche, L'Europe occidentale de 888 à 1125 (Paris 1930). f. dvornik, The Photian Schism (Cambridge, England 1948). p. viard, Catholicisme. Hier, aujourd'hui et demain (Paris 1947–) 4:588–589. d. jasper, "Die Roller der Querimonia Egilmari und der Responsio Stephani V (JL 3464) im Osnabrüker Zehnstreit unter Heinrich IV," Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte (Stuttgart 1976) 202–220. g. schwaiger, Lexikon des Mittelalters 8 (Munich-Zurich 1996). a. spicker-wendt, Die Quaerimonia Egilmari episcopi und die Responsio Stephani papae. Studien zu den Osnabrücker Quellen der Karolingerzeit (Cologne 1980). f. staab, "Die Wurzel des zisterziensischen Zehntprivilegs. Zugleich: Zur Echtheitsfrage der 'Querimonia Egilmari episcopi' und der 'Responsio Stephani V papae"' Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung der Mittelalters (1984) 21–54. j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 113–114.

[p. j. mullins]