GIOVANNI X, POPE. - Elected in March (?) 914, deposed in June 928, d. in 929 (?). Historical tradition, especially supported by the malicious account of Liutprand, paints a very unfavorable portrait of the man; recent studies have brought to light his vigorous figure. G. of Ravenna, previously a deacon and sent several times to Rome by Archbishop Cailone, was already by July 905 archbishop of Ravenna, the 11th of that name. He had already shown himself convinced of the necessity that spiritual and temporal authority should mutually support each other against feudal anarchy; for this reason he favored Berengar I.
He was elected pope with the support, or at least the consent, of Theophylact and Theodora, the most powerful figures in Rome, with whom he had long maintained cordial relations; but the illicit relations attributed to him with Theodora are very probably a malicious invention. He gathered into an alliance Romans, Byzantines, Alberic, marquis of Spoleto and Camerino, and the states of southern Italy, to drive the Saracens from the Garigliano, and took part in the enterprise, exposing himself and his own body, and achieved a complete victory (Aug. 915). In Dec. 915 he crowned Berengar as emperor. In Rome he was unable to prevent the rise to power of Marozia, “senatrix” and “patricia,” and later the wife of Guido, marquis of Tuscany. He favored the election as king of Italy of the energetic Hugh of Vienne, and concluded with him at Mantua (926) a “foedus”; Marozia and Guido suspected this, also because of the authority granted by the Pope to his brother, Marquis Peter. The Lateran was invaded by their soldiers and Peter was killed; not long afterward, during Hugh’s absence from Italy, the Pope was taken prisoner, deposed, and probably killed.