John XIV, Pope

GIOVANNI XIV, POPE. – B. at Pavia, elected in December 983, d. on 20 August 984. Pietro Canepanova, bishop of Pavia from about 978 and chancellor of the Kingdom of Italy, was elected by Otto II to succeed the imperial-party Pope, Benedetto VII. After the latter’s death (7 December 983), Bonifacio VII, of the Crescentian party, reoccupied the papal see (April 984) and confined Giov. XIV in Castel S. Angelo, where he was left to die of hunger or was killed. His epitaph in St Peter’s praised him for eloquence, gentleness, and charity.