JOHN, antipope. — At the death of Pope Gregory IV (25 Jan. 844) the common people, through violent demonstrations, succeeded in having the deacon JOHN proclaimed pope and enthroned at the Lateran; the aristocrats, however, chose the elderly priest SERGIUS. JOHN’s resistance and that of his followers was quickly broken, and SERGIUS was able to be duly consecrated at St Peter’s. Emperor Lothair sent his son Louis to Rome to conduct an inquiry and put an end to the devastation that continued in the countryside at the hands of the discontented; Louis openly acknowledged the legitimacy of Pope SERGIUS’s election.
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. Paolo Brezzi