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Pope urged Charles to deal humanely with his rebellious son who had been blinded and imprisoned. Hadrian's young successor, John VIII, set out to reign with a firmer hand; but though he conferred the Im- perial crown on Charles he received no aid against the ever-increasing pressure of the Saracens. The small states of Italy were collapsing by reason of mutual jealousies, and for the time being the Pope had to buy the Saracens off with heavy annuities. While the corre- spondence which the Pope's chancellery conducted with Germany, France, England, Spain, Byzantium and Jerusalem shows how vast was the extent of the Pope's spiritual power, he remained personally helpless, as the Roman factions conspired against him because of his Prankish sympathies. He had no other weapon than the ban, and this fell primarily on Bishop Formosus of Porto, whose name thence- forth was dominant throughout all the factional warfare. The Lords of Spoleto and Tuscany invaded the Papal States, occupied Rome, and kept Pope John himself a prisoner until he signed every promise ex- acted of him. Then he fled to France; but there also he could find no dependable ally for the Roman See. When he returned he found that Photius, the Patriarch of Byzantium, had betrayed his friendship, and that he was compelled to recognize the abominable Charles the Fat as King of Italy as well as, finally, to crown him Emperor. The next year (882) the Pope fell victim to a conspiracy. The poison which a relative, who himself wanted to become Pope and a wealthy man, gave him worked too slowly. Thereupon the assassin finished his work with a hammer.
Then there followed that bloody farce which plays the same role in the history of the Papacy that was played by the bailiffs and the traitors in Christ's Passion. The epileptic Charles the Fat had united on his head all the crowns of the first Carolingian Empire. But on the Day of Tribur (887) he returned all to his nobles and his despairing peoples with a plea for mercy. In Germany his nephew Arnulf became king; and in Italy the choice lay between Beranger of Friuli and Vido of Spoleto until the second gained the upper hand. He was awarded the Imperial crown; and before he died his son Lambert was crowned by the same Bishop Formosus, who had now finally gained possession of the Roman See. The aged Pope, a man of impeccable conduct whom Nicholas had in his time entrusted with important business,
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