of ten years, and resulted from poison administered to him by John's command, has left an indelible stain on that prince's memory. On Erik's deposition in 1568, John obtained possession of the throne; but his reign was embittered by hostilities with Denmark and Russia—hostilities that wasted fruitlessly the treasure and the blood of Sweden. His wife, the daughter of Sigismund, king of Poland, was a bigoted Roman catholic; and influenced by her counsels, he vainly strove to subvert the established Lutheran faith, and restore the old religion. Such efforts simply added intestine discord to the external troubles of the monarchy. In 1592 he died, leaving to his son and successor, Sigismund, the fatal harvest of the evils he had sown.—J. J.
JOHN of Austria, a natural son of Charles V., born in 1545, was carefully educated by his father, and recommended by him to the protection of his brother, Philip II. of Spain. Though his father had destined him for the church, the part which he took in Philip's disputes with his son, Don Carlos, induced the former to allow his brother to embrace the military profession. At the age of twenty-six he commanded the combined fleets of Spain, Rome, and Venice, and gained against great odds the victory of Lepanto over the Turks, thus destroying the prestige of the Ottoman power. He next made himself master of Carthage, and obtained the sanction of the pope to his project for founding a second empire on that spot, but was prevented by the jealousy of his brother. His next exploits were in the campaign of the Netherlands. He seized upon Namur and Charleroi; but the jealousy of Philip deterred him from trusting so able a commander with a sufficient force. It is said that at this time Don Juan's thoughts were turned to a plan for the rescue of Mary Queen of Scots, and the assertion of her claims. He died in 1578, at his camp at Namur, not without suspicions of having been poisoned.—F. M. W.
JOHN CASIMIR, Count Palatine, born 1st March, 1543; died 6th January, 1592; was the second son of the elector palatine, Frederick III., called the Pious. He was brought up at the court of France, but returned home in 1559 and took an active part in the religious schemes of his father, who was engaged in substituting Calvinism for Lutheranism. He appeared at the diet of Augsburg in 1566, and maintained intimate relations with the principal French protestants—Condé, Coligni, and the king of Navarre. When the second civil war broke out in France, the French protestants who had been worsted at St. Denis turned towards the palatinate, and sacrificing nation to sect, joined John Casimir, who entered Lorraine and was instrumental in procuring the peace of Longjumeau. In 1575 he again entered France in aid of the protestant cause, and on his return established at Neustadt a centre of Calvinism, where celebrated men appeared as guests, and men of ability filled professorial chairs. John became the continental chief of the anticatholics. In 1578 he led an army into Holland to aid the Dutch Calvinists, and in consequence was made a knight of the garter by Queen Elizabeth. He has been represented by some writers as narrow-minded, calculating, sectarian, and fanatical; but with this account of him the moderation which he exhibited in his treatment of the various sects of reformers is altogether irreconcilable.—P. E. D.
JOHN of Gaunt. See Lancaster.
POPES.
John I., the successor of Hormisdas and a Tuscan by birth, was elected, August 12, 523. Theodoric sent him to Constantinople to the Emperor Justin to plead the cause of the Arians. At Constantinople, they say, he opened the eyes of a blind man, and wrought other miracles; he was welcomed by twelve thousand men with tapers and crosses; the emperor came and humbled himself to the ground before him, and adored him, and besought him to crown him, which he did. John, instead of pleading for the Arians, inveighed against them on his return; therefore Theodoric, who was an Arian, put him in prison at Ravenna, where he died, after being bishop of Rome less than three years, in May, 526.
John II. called Mercurius, the son of a certain Projectus of Monte Celio at Rome, was appointed to succeed Boniface II., on January 22nd or 31st, 532. According to some, he was called Mercurius because of his eloquence. He doubtless deserved it on other accounts; for "so extensive was the bribery at his election that the advocate of the church complained at the court of the emperor, that some of the clergy even sold the sacred vessels of their churches in order to purchase votes." John no sooner found himself in office than he condemned Anthimus of Constantinople as an Arian. In 533 John wrote a letter to Justinian, in which he styles himself "archbishop and most holy patriarch of the city of Rome," and calls the emperor his son. Justinian also wrote to John, and is said to have sent an embassy to him. John, who was ambitious and energetic, died in May, 535.
John III., called Catellinus, elected in July, 560, was a Roman, and occupied the papal chair till 573. He restored the cemeteries of the martyrs, built some churches, and decided an appeal from France. Very little else is recorded of him.
John IV. succeeded Severinus in 640. He was born in Dalmatia, and as soon as elected became a zealous collector of relics. He wrote a letter to Scotland regarding the time of observing Easter, and the Pelagian controversy then active in that country. He also took part in the monothelite controversy. He died towards the close of 642.
John V. succeeded Benedict II. in 685 or 686. He was a native of Antioch in Syria. In 680 he is supposed to have attended the council of Constantinople as a delegate from Pope Agatho. He died on the 1st August, 687.
John VI., a Greek by nation, succeeded Sergius I. in 701. Soon after his election there was a conflict between his adherents and those of the Exarch Theophylact; and from that time, says Baronius, the power of the exarchs began to decrease, and that of the popes to increase. In 703 he recognized the appeal of Wilfrid of York against an English synod which had deposed him, and ordered his restoration. He died in 705.
John VII., also a Greek, and the successor of the preceding, was elected in March, 705. Justinian II. requested him to convene a synod and decide which of the decrees of the council Quinisextum should be received; but he prudently declined, as it appears, by the advice of a synod of bishops, before whom also a second time Wilfrid appeared, and was absolved and restored. He died in 707.
John VIII., successor of Adrian II., was a Roman, elected December 14, 872, and died on December 15, 882. There is an ancient legend that the real pope, John VIII., was the famous Joan.—(See Joan.) John VIII. in 875 crowned as emperor Charles the Bald, the rival of Louis. The pope on this occasion claimed the right to dispose of the empire, and his whole conduct greatly tended to establish the papal power. He crowned Louis the Stammerer and Charles the Fat, and readmitted Photius to communion, and recognized him as patriarch of Constantinople.
John IX., an Italian monk, elected the successor of Theodore II. in 898; died in 900. He called a council at Ravenna or Rome, where he confirmed the acts of Formosus, and ordered the decisions of a council held under Stephen VII. to be burned.
John X., was elected to the papacy in 914, through the influence of Theodora, a princess of whom he was more than the friend. His disposition was warlike, and he fought against the Saracens in Italy. He espoused the cause of Berengarius, and crowned him in 916. He took part in a movement for the union of the Greek and Latin churches. After a turbulent pontificate, he was murdered in 928 by the Princess Marosia.
John XI., the son of Pope Sergius III. and of Marosia, was elected by a faction in 931. He left civil affairs to his mother, and managed only those of the church. His brother Alberic took possession of Rome, and cast him and his mother into prison, where he died about 936.
John XII., the son of Alberic, and originally called Octavian, was born in 938. He was a profligate youth, and in 956, at the age of eighteen, seized the pontificate. He was the first pope who changed his name on his election. He invited Otho into Italy, and crowned him emperor in opposition to Berengarius; but soon after he allied himself with Berengarius and abandoned Otho, who marched on Rome and compelled John to flee. A council was called, at which John was accused of various abominable crimes, and deposed. Leo VIII. was elected in his stead; but John rallied his friends, and Leo was expelled. John returned to his see, but died soon after under very suspicious circumstances in 964.
John XIII., the son of a bishop of Narni, was made pope by the emperor in 965, in opposition to the Romans, who first put him in prison and then exiled him. By the influence of Otho he was restored, and his enemies punished. He held a council at Ravenna, and introduced the blessing of bells. He crowned the son of Otho, on whom he conferred the title of Augustus. He died in 972.
