Re: Young bishops Re: Hildegard of Flanders

Dear Peter and others,
Weren`t there also some underaged popes
set up by the Cresentii family in the tenth century ? John XI for instance
appears to have been only 21. Succeeded 931, born abt 910 to Marozia, daughter of
the Patrician Theophylact and his wife Theodora and said to have been the son
of Pope Sergius III.

Peter Stewart...

There were many irregularities in the 10th century Church - the point
is that if we don't know this in a particular case, and in fact the
sources flatly state that a particular man succeeded as bishop without
qualifying this in any way, then the strong presumption must be that he
was qualified for the office under canon law. If a conjecture that
there was an exception is proposed, without evidence, only to back up
another conjecture about the family origin of the bishop's mother then
it is a fairly pointless exercise in speculation. All the more so when
the genealogy proposed for the mother is at odds with at least one
interested source describng her background, and in the absence of any
corroborating evidence apart from the Remiremont list that is
unsatisfactory for the reason plainly illustrated by the contemporary
Reichenau list.

By the way, John XI's birthdate is not known for certain - his nephew
John XII was known to be 21 at the time of his election as pope, and
this came about because the electors had sworn an oath in the reign of
his predecessor to choose him at the next vacancy. This did not alter
canon law.

Peter Stewart...

Apologies for my absent-mindedness: John XII was known to be 18 when
elected pope.

Peter Stewart

Peter Stewart

Sincerely,
James W
Cummings
Dixmont,
Maine USA