GIOVANNI XIII, POPE. – A Roman, elected on 1 October 965, died on 6 September 972. Born to a Giovanni “episcopus,” perhaps of the Crescenzi family, and possibly descended on his mother’s side from the other powerful family of Teofilatto, he was first bishop of Narni and librarian of the Apostolic See. A supporter of Giov. XII, he was sent by him as ambassador to Otto I; but he subsequently took part both in the Synod which, at Otto’s behest, deposed him and in the one that restored him to the papacy.
His election as successor to the imperial-party pope Leo VIII, perhaps resulting from a designation and certainly with the Emperor’s consent, may have emerged from a compromise among the Roman factions. But G. soon came into conflict with part of the nobility and with the people, perhaps because of the favor he showed to a nephew; he was confined in Castel S. Angelo and then exiled to Campania (late 965–early 966). He returned to Rome through the support of the Crescentian faction and of Otto, who, having come to the city, severely punished the Pope’s adversaries (autumn 966). G., by now attached to the imperial party, crowned the thirteen-year-old Otto II (25 December 967), worked for his marriage to Theophano, and blessed the wedding
(14 April 972). He favored his own family; but he also displayed significant religious activity, in some respects anticipating the reforming pontiffs. Together with Otto I, he held a Synod at Rome in January 967, and another at Ravenna in April 967; at the latter he obtained from the Emperor, theoretically at least, the restoration of Ravenna, and regulations “de mulierositate relinquenda” were reaffirmed; he reorganized the
