View source for Pope John XV

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 985 to 996}}{{see also|Pope John numbering}}
{{for|the Coptic pope|Pope John XV of Alexandria}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = John XV
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = <!-- see [[Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Catholicism/Archive_2020#RfC_on_non-contemporary_images_of_popes]] before adding an image -->
| term_start = August 985
| term_end = March 996
| predecessor = [[Pope John XIV|John XIV]]
| successor = [[Pope Gregory V|Gregory V]]
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| death_date = March 996
| death_place = Rome, Papal States
| other = John
}}
[[File:DagomeVatican-1Copy.jpg|thumb|Pope John XV is mentioned in the ''[[Dagome iudex]]'', one of the earliest written records of the nation of [[Poland]].]]
'''Pope John XV''' ({{langx|la|Ioannes XV}}, {{langx|it|Giovanni XV}}; died March 996) was the [[bishop of Rome]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from August 985 until his death. A Roman by birth, he was the first [[pope]] who [[canonized]] a saint. The origins of the [[investiture controversy]] stem from John XV's pontificate, when the dispute about the deposition of Archbishop [[Arnulf of Reims]] soured the relationship between the [[House of Capet|Capetian]] [[kings of France]] and the [[Holy See]].

==Early life==
John XV was the son of Leo, a [[Rome|Roman]] [[presbyter]]. Before he became [[pope]] in August 985, John was cardinal-priest of St. Vitalis.<ref name=Brusher>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stsmarthaandmary.org/popes/John%20XV.htm|title=John XV}}</ref>

==Pontificate==
John XV's venality and nepotism allegedly made him very unpopular with the citizens of Rome.<ref name="EB1911"/> However, Joseph Brusher finds this unproven, as John XV had little authority in Rome at that time.<ref name=Brusher/> [[Crescentius II]], [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patrician]] of [[Rome]], significantly hampered the pope's influence, but the presence of [[Empress Theophanu]] in Rome from 989 to 991 restrained Crescentius' ambition.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=John XV (pope)|display=John XV.|volume=15|page=435}}</ref>

John was a patron and protector of the reforming monks of [[Cluny]].<ref name=Kirsch>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08427c.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John XV (XVI)." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 27 September 2017</ref> Through his legate Leo, he mediated a dispute between King [[Ethelred the Unready]] of England and Duke [[Richard the Fearless]] of Normandy.<ref name=Brusher/>

===French dispute===
During this papacy, a serious dispute arose over the deposition in 991 of Archbishop [[Arnulf of Reims]] by French churchmen. This affair is sometimes read as an early groundswell of the conflicts between popes and the [[House of Capet|Capetians]], new [[kings of France]], that came to a head later in the [[Investiture Controversy]]. King [[Hugh Capet]] made Arnulf [[archbishop of Reims]] in 988. Arnulf was the scion of the previously ruling dynasty, the [[Carolingians]]. Arnulf's uncle [[Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine|Charles]] invaded to claim the throne for himself. Hugh considered Arnulf a turncoat and demanded his deposition by John XV. The turn of events outran the messages, when Hugh Capet captured both Charles and Archbishop Arnulf and convoked a [[synod at Reims]] in June 991, which obediently deposed Arnulf and chose as his successor [[Gerbert of Aurillac]].<ref name=Kirsch/> At the synod, Bishop [[Arnulf (bishop of Orléans)|Arnulf of Orléans]] accused Pope John XV:
<blockquote>Are any bold enough to maintain that the priests of the Lord all over the world are to take their law from monsters of guilt like these—men branded with ignominy, illiterate men, and ignorant alike of things human and divine? If, holy fathers, we are bound to weigh in the balance the lives, the morals, and the attainments of the humblest candidate for the priestly office, how much more ought we to look to the fitness of him who aspires to be the Lord and Master of all priests! Yet how would it fare with us, if it should happen that the man the most deficient in all these virtues, unworthy of the lowest place in the priesthood, should be chosen to fill the highest place of all? What would you say of such a one, when you see him sitting upon the throne glittering in purple and gold? Must he not be the "Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God and showing himself as God"?<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zfg7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA291| first1=Philip |last1=Schaff |first2=David |last2=Schley Schaff |title=History of the Christian Church| publisher=Charles Scribner & Sons|access-date=2009-01-18 |year=1885}}</ref></blockquote>

The proceedings of the Synod of Reims were repudiated by Rome, although a second synod had ratified the decrees issued at Reims. John XV summoned the French bishops to hold an independent synod outside the French king's realm at [[Aachen]] to reconsider the case. When they refused, he called them to Rome, but they protested that the unsettled conditions en route and in Rome made that impossible. The Pope then sent a legate with instructions to call a council of French and German bishops at [[Mousson]], where only the German bishops appeared, the French being stopped on the way by Hugh Capet and his son [[Robert II of France|Robert]]. Through the exertions of the legate, the deposition of Arnulf was finally pronounced illegal. After Hugh Capet's death on 23 October 996, Arnulf was released from his imprisonment and soon restored to all his dignities. As for Gerbert, he set out for the imperial court at [[Magdeburg]] and became the [[preceptor]] to [[Emperor Otto III]].<ref name=Kirsch/>

===First canonization===
At a Roman synod held in the Lateran on 31 January 993, John XV solemnly canonized Bishop [[Ulrich of Augsburg]], an event which the pope announced to the French and German bishops in a [[papal bull]] dated 3 February. This was the first time in history that a solemn canonization had been made by a pope.<ref name="lr4">Luscombe, David and Riley-Smith, Jonathan. 2004. ''New Cambridge Medieval History: C.1024-c.1198, Volume 4''.</ref>

==Death==
In 996, Otto III undertook a journey to [[Italy]] to obtain an [[coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor|imperial coronation]] from the pope, but John XV died of fever in March 996, while Otto III lingered in [[Pavia]] until April 12 to celebrate [[Easter]]. The emperor then elevated his own cousin Bruno to the papal dignity under the name of [[Pope Gregory V|Gregory V]].

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{catholic|wstitle=Pope John XV (XVI)}}

==Further reading==
* Franz Xaver Seppelt: ''Geschichte der Päpste''. Vol. 2. 2nd edition, Kösel Verlag, Munich, 1955, pp.&nbsp;381ff.
* {{BBKL |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629094019/http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/j/Johannes_XV.shtml |autor=[[Michael Tilly]] |band=3 |spalten=213-214 }}
* {{EnciclopediaDeiPapi|Verfasser=[[Wolfgang Huschner]]|ID=giovanni-xv_(Enciclopedia_dei_Papi)|Lemma=Giovanni XV (985-996)|Band=2|SeiteVon=102|SeiteBis=107|kurz=}}

== External links ==
*{{Commons category-inline|Ioannes XV|Pope John XV}}
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Pope John XIV|John XIV]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=985–996}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Gregory V|Gregory V]]}}
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{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Popes]]
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[[Category:996 deaths]]
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[[Category:10th-century popes]]
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