GIOVANNI, bishop of Methone. – A celebrated polemicist of the 15th century, born in Crete (cf. his letter in J. Hardt, Catal. cod. mss. Bibl. reg. di Baviera, II, Munich 1806, p. 256); he was appointed “head of the Churches” by Cardinal Bessarion when the latter became Patriarch of Constantinople (April 1463), and “vicar-bishop” of the island (1470). Later he was elected bishop of Methone in Greece. He made a journey to Rome (1498) and to Venice (1499), where he preached and collected alms. As soon as he learned of the Turkish attack on Methone, he returned to the city and encouraged all to resist. He was therefore killed by the enemy in 1500. G. was a staunch defender of the Union of Florence, a skilled writer, and a virtuous man.
G.’s fame rests on his polemical works:
1) *Defensio Synodi Graecae*, once attributed to Gennadius; PG 159, 1109-1394;
2) *Responsio ad libellum Marc-Ephesi*: PG 159, 1023-94;
3) *Disceptatio de differentiis inter Graecos et Latinos*: PG 159, 957-1022.
He also authored other minor works: a *Canon Synodi VIII Florentiae habitae* and a *Synaxarion*: PG 159, 1095-1106. In addition, he transcribed the entire ms. Conv. sopp. 3 of the Laurentian Library in Florence (signed) and Parisinus Gr. 423 (unsigned). There are unpublished works by G. including sermons, a letter, a treatise *In Cretenses schismaticos* (cf. A. Olivieri and N. Festa, Indice di cod. gr. Bolognesi, in Stud. ital. di filol. class., 3 [1895], p. 471; V. Puntoni, Indici cod. gr. Bonon. ab A. Olivieri compo-supp., ibid., 4 [1876], p. 370) and a hymn to the Holy Spirit (Conv. sopp. 3, f. 390).
GIOSEPPE BONAPARTE, king of Naples, then king of SPAIN. – Born on 7 January 1768 at Corte in Corsica, died on 28 July 1844 in Florence. Elder brother of Napoleon, he studied law at the College of Autun. During the French Revolution he took part in the siege of Toulon. Elected in 1796 as deputy to the Council of Five Hundred, in 1797 he was sent as ambassador to Rome, where he pursued a policy of fomenting unrest against the papal government, which led to the killing of General Duphot by the Roman populace, inflamed by provocations. Returning to France as plenipotentiary minister after the 18th Brumaire, he contributed to the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and Commerce with the United States (30 September 1800), and the Treaties of Lunéville (9 February 1801) and Amiens (24 March 1802).
He also held a similar role in the negotiations that led to the signing of the Concordat of 1801. In 1806 he became a divisional general, and in the same year king of Naples, and in 1808 king of Spain. In Naples he pursued a policy unfavourable to the Church. He placed a limit on the number of priests (five per thousand souls); expelled the Jesuits (3 July 1806) and suppressed the Benedictine monasteries (13 February 1807); and studied the reduction of the number of dioceses in the Kingdom. After the fall of his brother he left France for the United States; from 1832 he resided in England, and later, with the consent of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Florence.