GIOVANNI X, PAPA. – Elected in March (?) 914, deposed in June 928, died in 929 (?). Historical tradition, relying above all on Liutprand’s malicious account, presents a very unfavorable portrait of the figure; recent studies have brought his vigorous character to light. G. of Ravenna, initially a deacon and sent several times to Rome by Archbishop Cailone, was already Archbishop of Ravenna in July 905, the eleventh of that name. From that time onward he showed himself convinced of the necessity that spiritual and temporal authority should give each other mutual support against feudal anarchy; he therefore favored Berengario I.
He was elected pope with the support, or certainly the consent, of Teofilatto and Teodora, who were supremely powerful in Rome and with whom he had long maintained cordial relations; but his illicit relations with Teodora are in all likelihood a malicious invention. He brought together in a league Romans, Byzantines, Alberico, marquis of Spoleto and Camerino, and the states of southern Italy, in order to drive the Saracens from the Garigliano, and took part in the undertaking, se ipsum corpusque suum opponendo, achieving complete victory (Aug. 915). In Dec. 915 he bestowed the imperial crown on Berengario. In Rome he was unable to prevent the authority of Marozia, “senatrix” and “patrician,” and later the wife of Guido, marquis of Tuscany, from becoming established. He favored the election as king of Italy of the energetic Ugo of Vienne, and concluded a “foedus” with him at Mantua (926); Marozia and Guido became suspicious of this, also because of the authority granted by the Pope to his brother, the marquis Pietro. Their soldiers invaded the Lateran and killed Pietro; not
long afterward, during Ugo’s absence from Italy, the Pope was taken prisoner, deposed, and probably killed.
In the government of the Church, G. X upheld the prestige of papal authority; he took measures to maintain ecclesiastical discipline and improve morals; but his program of strengthening royal authority, as a prerequisite for religious reform, compelled him to make dangerous concessions, such as the one granted to the kings of Germany and France, allowing them to interfere in the appointment of bishops. He sent a legate to Germany, who presided over the Synod of Hohenaltheim (Sept. 916), at which the subjects were bound, under ecclesiastical sanctions, to remain loyal to the King. He facilitated the conversion of the Normans to Christianity. He worked to establish peace between the Greeks and the Bulgarians, and between the latter and the Croats; he sent the imperial crown to the Bulgarian tsar, Simeone, and probably made Tomislao king of the Croats. He sought to keep the people of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia obedient to the Roman See, and recommended that children be accustomed to the study of Latin letters and that Mass not be celebrated “in barbara seu slavinica lingua.” He rebuilt the Lateran Basilica and adorned it with paintings that were greatly admired at the time.