Pope John XIV

Pope John XIV (Latin: Ioannes XIV; died 20 August 984), born Pietro Canepanova,[1] was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from November 983 until his death.

For the 16th-century pope of Alexandria, see Pope John XIV of Alexandria.

Pope John XIV
Papacy began	November 983
Papacy ended	20 August 984
Predecessor	Benedict VII
Successor	John XV
Personal details
Birth name	Pietro Canepanova
Born	Pavia, Italy
Died	(984-08-20)20 August 984 Rome, Papal States
Other popes named John

Early career

Canepanova was born at Pavia. He was bishop of Pavia and served as imperial archchancellor for Italy of Emperor Otto II.[2] His earliest document in that capacity dates from 28 December 980, and the latest from 27 August 983.[3]

Pontificate

Pope Benedict VII died in 983. Empresses Adelaide and Theophanu, Otto II's mother and wife respectively, wished to enthrone Majolus of Cluny as the new pope, but he refused, and Pietro Canepanova was chosen instead.[4] Canepanova took the papal name John XIV to avoid being linked to Saint Peter.

Otto II died shortly after his election, his heir Otto III, being only 3 years old and unable to protect John's position. Antipope Boniface VII, on the strength of the popular feeling against the new pope, returned from Constantinople and placed John XIV in prison in the Castel Sant'Angelo, where he died either from starvation or poison.[5]

References

1. George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants Of The Popes, (McFarland & Company, 1998), 232.
2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John XIV." . Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 435.
3. Gerhard Schwart (1907), [https://archive.org/details/MN42020ucmf_1 Die Besetzung der Bistümer Reichsitaliens unter den sächsischen und salischen Kaisern: mit den Listen der Bischöfe, 951-1122 (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner) (in German), p. 142.
4. J. N. D. Kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (Oxford 1986), "John XIV", p. 132.
5. Eleanor Shipley Duckett, Death and Life in the Tenth Century, (University of Michigan Press, 1967), 110.

Sources

• Gregorovius, Ferdinand (1903). History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. Vol. III. London: G. Bell & sons. pp. 387–398.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Benedict VII	Pope 983–984	Succeeded by John XV