Benedict III

Benedict III († April 17, 858 in Rome ) was Pope from 855 to 858.

Life

During the papal election, there were tumults between the supporters of the candidates. First he was supported by the imperial party antipope Anastasius III. deposed and imprisoned. However, when Anastasius' support waned, Benedict was freed and consecrated on September 29, 855. As Pope he managed to increase the influence of the papacy within the church. Benedict stood up for the keeping of marriage and fought the moral decline of the nobility and the high clergy . He also protested against the deposition of bishops by lay people in England. During his pontificate, tensions between the Roman and Orthodox churches in Byzantium increased . He died in Rome on April 17, 858.

Benedict III and the legend of Popess Joan

The pontificate of Benedict III. is often mentioned in connection with the legend of a Popess Joan . According to some controversial theories, this Popess officiated between the pontificate of Leo IV and Benedict III. Although Benedict III. according to all current papal lists the official successor of Pope Leo IV. However, there is relatively little documented information about him. Supporters of the legend of the Pope therefore suspect that Benedict III. was invented by the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century to wipe Popess Joan from history. Today, most historians assume that the Johanna story is one of the invented legends about the church that was very popular in the Middle Ages. An indication of this is that Popess Johanna was only registered in the Liber Pontificalis in the 13th century , after the publication of the chronicle of Martin von Troppau , who first mentioned the Popess in 1277, 400 years after her alleged pontificate. However, there are no other earlier sources that would support this thesis (cf. Popess Johanna).

literature

Rudolf Schieffer : Benedict III . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 1858.
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Benedict III. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 482. ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive )

Web links

Commons : Benedict III. - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Leo IV	Pope 855-858	Nicholas I.

personal data
SURNAME	Benedict III
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Pope (855-858)
DATE OF BIRTH	8th century or 9th century
DATE OF DEATH	April 17, 858
Place of death	Rome