John XIX, Pope

JOHN XIX, Pope. - Elected in April, May 6, 1024, d. in 1032. A Roman of the counts of Tusculum, brother of Benedict VIII, he had been, during the latter's pontificate, "consul, duke and senator of all the Romans." He was elected through simony, while still a layman, to succeed him, and thus gathered into his hands both religious and civil power. Under him the abuses reappeared that Benedict VIII had attempted to combat. When Basil II, emperor of Constantinople, wished to have the patriarch of Constantinople recognized as ecumenical, G. XIX at first seemed disposed to yield; but the opposition, especially of the Cluniacs, induced him to oppose it. He crowned Emperor Conrad the Salic (March 26, 1027) in the presence of Rudolph III of Burgundy and Canute, king of Denmark and England; and from this point he became a tool in the hands of the Emperor.

Thus, in the age-old controversy between the patriarchs of Aquileia and of Grado, while he had at first attributed to the patriarch of Aquileia, Poppo, the rights over Grado, but had then recognized the independence of the patriarchate of Grado, he confirmed in a bull of September 1027 the decisions of a Council, held on April 6 in the Lateran in the presence of the Emperor, in favor of Poppo's claims, indeed declaring the see of Aquileia second after that of Rome and its vicar, metropolitan of all the sees of Italy. He granted many privileges to the Cluniacs and would have wished that their abbot Odilo accept the archbishopric of Lyon. The favor shown to Guido of Arezzo, the inventor of the new musical notes, would seem to indicate in G. XIX some interest in art.