X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Pope John XXI


Papal election, 1277

The papal election from May 30, 1277 to November 25, 1277, convened in Viterbo after the death of Pope John XXI, was the smallest papal election since the expansion of suffrage to cardinal-priests and cardinal-deacons, with only seven cardinal electors (following the deaths of three popes who had not created cardinals).

Pope John XXI

After his death, it was rumored that John XXI had actually been a magician (a suspicion frequently directed towards the few scholars among medieval popes even during their papacy; cf. Sylvester II), and that he was writing a heretical treatise in the room that collapsed on him, by an Act of God.



see also