BENEDETTO V, PAPA

BENEDICT V, POPE. — Elected at the death of John XII (d. 14 May 964) by the Roman people, who only a few months earlier (6 Dec. 963) had renounced the emperor’s right to elect the Popes, he was consecrated on 22 May 964. He was worthy of the Apostolic See for the holiness of his life and the depth of his learning, so much so that he was called the *Grammarian*. However, his election was not accepted by Otto I, who, as soon as he was able, reinstated the fugitive antipope Leo VIII. The Roman people, after brief resistance, were forced to surrender their Pope to the emperor. Brought before a synod convened that very day (23 June 964) by Leo VIII, he threw himself at the conqueror’s feet, groaning: “If I have sinned, have mercy on me” (Liudprand of Cremona, *Liber de gestis Ottonis*, 22, in MGH, *Scriptores*, III, pp. 340-45). The emperor was moved to pity. Benedict was allowed to exercise the diaconate, but was exiled to Hamburg, where he died in the reputation of a saint on 4 July 966. Twenty years later, at the order of Otto III, his remains were transferred to Rome (Thietmar, *Chronicon*, IV, cap. 40, in MGH, *Scriptores*, III, pp. 752-54; 831-32), though it is not known in which church they were deposited.