JOHN VI. (pope from 701 to 705) was a native of Greece, and succeeded to the papal chair two months after the death of Sergius I. An attempt of the exarch Theophylact of Ravenna to extort from him certain concessions to the Byzantine emperor Tiberius was frustrated by the revolt of the Italian portion of the army with which he threatened Rome, who but for the intervention of the pope would have put their leader to death. Partly by persuasion and partly by means of a bribe, John also succeeded in inducing Gisulph, duke of Benevento, to withdraw from the territories of the church.

JOHN VI. (1332-1391), Palaeologus, emperor of Constantinople, born in 1332, was the son of Andronicus III., whom he succeeded in 1341. From 1342 John Cantacuzenus shared the throne with him, till on the abdication of his colleague, who had been virtually the sovereign, he became sole emperor in 1334. His reign was marked by the gradual dissolution of the imperial power through the rebellion of his son Andronicus and the encroachments of the Ottomans, to whom in 1381 John acknowledged himself tributary....

JOHN VII. (pope from 705 to 707), successor of John VI., was also of Greek nationality. He declined to accede to the request of the emperor Justinian II. that he should give his sanction to the decrees of the Quinisext or Trullan council of 691, on the ground that a papal legate was not present, and his death shortly afterwards delivered, him from the necessity of committing himself to a more decided opinion. He was followed by Sisinnius.

JOHN VII. (1390-1448), Palaeologus, emperor of Constantinople, son of Manuel II., was born in 1390, and in 1425 succeeded to the semblance of dominion and the wreck of the empire. To secure the favour of the Latins he consented to the union of the Greek and Roman Churches, which was ratified at Florence in 1439. The union failed of its purpose, but by his prudent conduct towards the Ottomans he succeeded in holding possession of Constantinople till his death in 1448.

JOHN VIII. (pope from 872 to 882), successor of Adrian II., was a Roman by birth. His chief aim during his occupancy of the papal chair was to build up his temporal power by uniting the various discordant political elements of Italy into a theocracy under his own immediate control, and by subordinating the empire to the ecclesiastical authority of Rome. The qualifications he brought to the task he had undertaken were a resolute and unbending will, an unscrupulous readiness to employ any means that might best advance his purpose, and a thorough mastery of diplomatic intrigue. Events, however, were so fatally opposed to his designs that no sooner did one of his schemes begin to realize itself in fact than it was shattered and dissipated by an unlooked-for chance. To take advantage of the opportunity of winning a recognition of the dependence of the imperial authority on that of Rome, as well as to obtain an influential alliance against his enemies, he agreed, in 875, to bestow the imperial crown on Charles the Bald, but that monarch was too much occupied in Germany to grant him much effectual aid, and about the time of the death of Charles he found it necessary to come to ignominious terms with the Saracens, who were only prevented from entering Rome by the promise of an annual tribute. Carloman, the opponent of Charles’s son Louis, soon after invaded northern Italy, and, securing the support of the bishops and counts, demanded from the pope the imperial crown. John attempted to temporize, but Duke Lambert of Spoleto, a partisan of Carloman, whom events had recalled to Germany, entered Rome in 878 with an overwhelming force, and for thirty days virtually held him a prisoner in St Peter’s. He was, however, unsuccessful in winning any concession from the pope, who after ...