FORMOSUS, the successor of Stephen V. (or VI.), as pope, first appears in history when, as bishop of Porto, he was sent on an embassy to the Bulgarians. Having afterwards sided with the German faction against John VIII. he was excommunicated, and compelled to take an oath never to return to Rome, or again to assume bis priestly functions. From this oath he was, however, absolved by Martin II., the successor of John VIII., and restored to his dignities; and on the death of Stephen V. in 891 he was chosen pope. The Italian faction had chosen Sergius, and the election of Formosus, which was in opposition to an old rule against the translation of bishops from one see to another, had to be confirmed by recourse to violence, but was rendered secure for a time by the success of the arms of Arnulf of Germany. After the withdrawal of Arnulf, Formosus was compelled to grant the imperial crown to Lambert, son of Guido of Italy, but this act did not pacify the Italian faction, and Formosus was only released from very hard straits by the arrival of Arnulf, who captured the city in the end of 895. In the following year Arnulf was crowned emperor by Formosus, but before the death of the latter in May, the excesses of Arnulf and his soldiers had begun to create a strong opposition to the German power amongst all parties in Italy. By Stephen VI. the body of Formosus was disinterred, and treated with contumely as that of a usurper of the papal throne; but Theodorus II. restored it to Christian burial, and at a council presided over by J ohn IX. the pontificate of Fermosus was declared valid and all his acts confirmed.