GREGORY V, POPE (996-999). - Bruno of Carinthia was the first German pope of the Middle Ages. Born in 972, son of Duke Otto of Carinthia, he was educated by Bishop Hildebold of Worms and became court chaplain. On the request of a Roman legation, he was appointed pope by Emperor Otto III to succeed John XV and was well received by the Roman clergy and people for his excellent character and blameless morals. Gregory V crowned Emperor Otto III. Toward the end of 996 he was driven from Rome by a new rebellion led by John Crescentius II, who, though recently pardoned by the emperor at the pope’s mediation, with clandestine aid from the Byzantines, set up the ambitious antipope John XVI. In February 998 Gregory V was restored to Rome by Otto III with military support.
In the ecclesiastical dispute at Reims, Gregory V successfully intervened on behalf of Arnulf’s rights, but later granted the pallium to Gerbert (later Pope Sylvester II), archbishop of Ravenna. Against King Robert II of France he vigorously defended the Church’s marriage laws. Gregory V died prematurely of malaria. The epitaph in the Vatican Grottoes praises his charitable activity and zeal and notes that he preached in three languages.