JOHN XXII. (pope from 1316 to 1334) was born at Cahors about 1244. His original name was Jacques d’Euse, and his father is said to have been a cobbler. Tradition also affirms that the son learned the same employment, but afterwards he was taken charge of by his uncle, a successful merchant, who rose to be chancellor of Robert of Sicily. Through the instruction of a Franciscan friar, Jacques d’Euse acquired, besides an acquaintance with theology, a mastery of canon and civil law which afterwards stood him in good stead; but, although he was also versed in all the details of statemanship, his learning was saturated with scholasticism, and his political ideas were narrowed by a mean and paltry ambition, the principal element of which was a miserly love of gold. He was small in stature and slightly deformed, and his features are said to have unpleasantly indicated his special moral defects. It is uncertain whether he ever joined the Franciscan order, but at any rate he afterwards had intimate connexions with the court of Naples, and some time before 1300 he was, at the instance of the king, appointed by Boniface VIII. bishop of Frejus. By means of forged letters purporting to have the authority of the king of Naples, Clement V. was induced in 1310 to bestow upon him the see of Avignon; and, notwithstanding that the fraud was soon discovered, he so recommended himself to the pope by his prudent conduct and his knowledge of law that in 1312 he was named cardinal-bishop of Porto. Robert of Naples also condescended to forget the liberty that had been taken in the use of the royal seal, and, on the death of Clement V. in 1316, the cardinals, through the liberal expenditure of Neapolitan gold, were won over to elect the bishop of Porto to the papal chair. The leanings of the ...new pope towards the French party were at once shown by his choice of Avignon as his residence, and by his first promotion of cardinals, all of whom except one were French. During the strife for the empire between Louis of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria, John took no active part on either side, but made use of the opportunity quietly to establish an Italian kingdom under the rule of King Robert of Sicily, and after fortune declared for Louis at the battle of Mühldorf in 1322 continued to act as if the imperial throne were still vacant In consequence of this, Louis found himself compelled to enter into a league with the Ghibellines, whereupon the pope summoned him to appear before him at Avignon, and, on his declining immediate compliance with the request, promulgated against him a ban of excommunication. The empire was offered to Charles the Fair of France, who had married a daughter of the emperor Henry VII., but her death lost him his chief support in Germany; and Louis, owing in a great measure to the influence of the Franciscans, whom the persecutions of John had greatly incensed against the authority of Rome, was accepted as emperor with the unanimous consent of the states at Ratisbon in 1324, a decision fully confirmed by the diet of Spires in 1326. In the following year he experienced equal goodwill at the diet of the imperial feudatories at Trent. After receiving the crown of Italy at Milan he entered Rome with the general acclamation of the inhabitants, and was crowned emperor by two excommunicated bishops. But, although the election of Peter of Corvara as rival pope under the name of Nicholas V. was greeted with the loud approval of the citizens, the threatening attitude of Robert of Naples made it impossible for the emperor and antipope to prolong their stay in Rome, and afterwards a gradual reaction against the 'imperial cause took place throughout the whole of Italy. Nicholas was taken prisoner at Pisa, but on making a complete recantation of his errors was forgiven and absolved. With Louis, however, the pope altogether declined to come to terms, although he found it impossible to establish a rival against him. The last years of John were disquieted by a dispute regarding his tenet—held by most theological authorities to be heretical—that the saints at death fall asleep and do not enjoy the beatific vision until after the resurrection. So great latterly became the general clamour against the doctrine that he found it necessary to make an ambiguous semblance of retracting what he had formerly promulgated with passionate zeal. He, however, never showed any tendency to relent in his persecution of the Franciscans, and his persistent animosity against them was a not unimportant element among the influences which produced the Reformation. He died in 1334. By means of annates he had greatly enriched the papal treasury. His successor was Benedict XII.
[808 words — estimated reading time: 5 minutes]