Pope Gregory V
Gregory V,
pope (
996-
999), a grandson of the emperor
Otto I the Great, succeeded
John XV, when only twenty-four years of age, and until the council of
Pavia (997) had a rival in the person of the
antipope John XVI, whom the people of Rome in revolt against the will of the youthful emperor Otto III, Gregory's cousin, had chosen. The most memorable acts of his pontificate were those arising out of the contumacy of the French king, Robert, who was ultimately brought to submission by the rigorous infliction of a sentence of excommunication. He died suddenly, and not without suspicion of foul play, 18th February 999. His successor was
Sylvester II
from the 9th edition (1880) of an unnamed encyclopedia