GIOVANNI, ANTIPAPA. – Upon the death of Pope Gregory IV (25 January 844), the populace, through violent demonstrations, succeeded in having the deacon G. proclaimed pope and enthroned at the Lateran; the aristocrats, however, chose the elderly priest Sergio. G.’s resistance and that of his supporters was soon broken, and Sergio was able to be duly consecrated at St Peter’s; the emperor Lothair sent his son Ludovic to Rome to conduct an inquiry and put an end to the devastation that continued in the countryside at the hands of the discontented; Ludovic openly recognized the legitimacy of the election of Pope Sergio.
BIBL.: Jaffé-Wattenbach, I, p. 327; Lib. Pont., II, pp. 86-87; L. Duchesne, Les premiers temps de l'Etat pontifical, 3rd ed., Paris 1911, p. 209; P. Brezzi, Roma e l'Impero medievale, Bologna 1947, p. 50.