FORMOSUS  ,

pope from 891 to 896, the successor of Stephen V . (or VI.) . He first appears in history when, as bishop of Porto, he was sent on an embassy to the Bulgarians . Having afterwards sided with a faction against John VIII., he was excommunicated, and compelled to take an oath never to return to Rome or again to assume his priestly functions . From this oath he was, however, absolved by Marinus, the successor of John VIII., and restored to his dignities; and on the death of Stephen V. in 891 he was chosen pope . At that time the Holy See was engaged in a struggle against the oppression of the princes of Spoleto, and a powerful party in Rome was eager to obtain the intervention of Arnulf, king of Germany, against these dangerous neighbours . Formosus himself shared this view; but he was forced to yield to circumstances and to consecrate as emperor Lambert, the young son of Guy of Spoleto . Guy had already been consecrated by Stephen V., and died in 894 . In the following year . Arnulf succeeded in seizing Rome, and Formosus crowned him emperor . But, as he was advancing on Spoleto against Lambert, Arnulf was seized with paralysis, and was forced to return to Germany . Overwhelmed with chagrin, Formosus died on the 4th of April 896 .

The discords in which he had been involved continued after his death . The validity of his acts was contested on the pretext that, having been originally bishop of Porto, he could not be a legitimate pope . The fundamental

factor in these dissensions was the rivalry between the princes of Spoleto and the Carolingian house, represented by the king of Germany . The body of Formosus was disinterred in 897 by Stephen VI., and treated with contumely as that of a usurper of the papal throne; but Theodore II. restored it to Christian burial, and at a council presided over by John IX. the pontificate of Formosus was declared valid and all his acts confirmed . (L .