Giovanni Tossignano

Born [date unknown] in Tossignano, Papal States

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Biography

Pope John X Tossignano is Notable.

John X was born at Tossignano to John.^[1]

He was consecrated as archbishop of Ravenna in 905.^[1]

His papacy began in March or April 914 and ended in May or June 928^[2].

Platina^[3] states:

John the Tenth, a Roman, natural son of Pope Sergius, in the year 909 succeeded. He was, before, Archbishop of Ravenna, and had been deposed by the people in a tumult; but upon the death of Landus, he obtained the papal chair, and showed more of the spirit of a soldier than of a clergyman.

The editor of Platina's works states in a footnote on this page:

Pope John had been the paramour of an infamous woman, possessed of great riches, at Rome, named Theodora. Her daughter, Marozia, wife of Guido, Duke of Tuscany, and as profligate as her mother, after a fierce struggle with John for the mastery of Rome, gained the victory, and is said to have caused him to be murdered in prison.

In 928 he was thrown into a dungeon, where he remained until his death. He was buried in the atrium of the Lateran Basilica.^[1]

He was summoned to Rome and appointed pope by Theophylact in 914.^[1]

Research Notes

This profile is being updated by the Popes Project.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Wikipedia
2. ↑ Vatican
3. ↑ Platina, Bartolomeo (1479) The Lives of the Popes From the Time of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII, I, London: Griffith Farran & Co., p245-246, retrieved 2021-04-04.