Pope John XXI ( la, Ioannes XXI; – 20 May 1277), born Pedro Julião ( la, Petrus Iulianus), was head of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and ruler of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

from 8 September 1276 to his death on 20 May 1277. Apart from Damasus I (from

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Lusitania), he has been the only

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

pope.Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of the Popes'', (Harper Collins, 1997), 222. He is sometimes identified with the

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premise ...

ian and herbalist

Peter of Spain __NOTOC__ Peter of Hispania ( la, Petrus Hispanus; Portuguese and es, Pedro Hispano; century) was the author of the ', later known as the ', an important medieval university textbook on Aristotelian logic. As the Latin ''Hispania'' was consider ...

( la, Petrus Hispanus; pt, Pedro Hispano), which would make him the only pope to have been a physician.

Early life

Pedro Julião was born in Lisbon between 1210 and 1220 to Julião Pais Rebolo, a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, and his wife Mor Mendes. He started his studies at the episcopal school of Lisbon Cathedral and later joined the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, although some historians claim that he was educated at Montpellier. Wherever he studied, he concentrated on

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

, and

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

's dialectic. He is traditionally and usually identified with the medical author

, an important figure in the development of logic and pharmacology. Peter of Spain taught at the

University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 1240 ...

in the 1240s and his ' was used as a university textbook on Aristotelian logic for the next three centuries. At the court in Lisbon, he was the councilor and spokesman for King Afonso III in church matters. Later, he became prior of Guimarães. He was Archdeacon of Vermoim (Vermuy) in the Archdiocese of Braga. He tried to become bishop of Lisbon but was defeated. Instead, he became the Master of the school of Lisbon. Peter became the physician of

Pope Gregory X Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...

(1271–1276) early in his reign. In March 1273, he was elected Archbishop of

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, but did not assume that post; instead, on 3 June 1273,

created him Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum (Frascati).

Papacy

After the death of

Pope Adrian V Pope Adrian V (Latin: ''Adrianus V''; c. 1210/1220 – 18 August 1276), born Ottobuono de' Fieschi, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 July 1276 to his death on 18 August 1276. He was an envoy of Pope Cl ...

on 18 August 1276, Peter was elected pope on 8 September. He was crowned a week later on 20 September. One of John XXI's few acts during his brief reign was the reversal of a decree recently passed at the Second Council of Lyon (1274); the decree had not only confined cardinals in solitude until they elected a successor pope, but also progressively restricted their supplies of food and wine if their deliberations took too long. Though much of John XXI's brief papacy was dominated by the powerful Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, who succeeded him as

Pope Nicholas III Pope Nicholas III ( la, Nicolaus III; c. 1225 – 22 August 1280), born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 November 1277 to his death on 22 August 1280. He was a Roman nobleman who ...

, John attempted to launch a crusade for the Holy Land, pushed for a union with the Eastern church, and did what he could to maintain peace between the Christian nations. He also launched a

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

to convert the

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, but he died before it could start. To secure the necessary quiet for his medical studies, he had an apartment added to the papal palace at

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history ...

, to which he could retire when he wished to work undisturbed. On 14 May 1277, while the pope was alone in this apartment, the ceiling collapsed; John was rescued alive from beneath the rubble; however, he died of his serious injuries on 20 May, possibly an early recorded case of

crush syndrome Crush syndrome (also traumatic rhabdomyolysis or Bywaters' syndrome) is a medical condition characterized by major shock and kidney failure after a crushing injury to skeletal muscle. Crush ''injury'' is compression of the arms, legs, or other p ...

. He was buried in the Duomo di Viterbo, where his tomb can still be seen. The original porphyry sarcophagus was destroyed during the cathedral's 16th-century refurbishment, and was replaced with a more modest one in stone with the pope's effigy. In the 19th century, the

Duke of Saldanha Duke of Saldanha (in Portuguese ''Duque de Saldanha'') is a Portuguese title granted by royal decree of Queen Maria II of Portugal, dated from November 4, 1846, to João Carlos Saldanha de Oliveira Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha, João Carlos Saldanha ...

, as Portuguese Ambassador to the Holy See, had the pope's remains transferred to a new sarcophagus sculpted by Filippo Gnaccarini. In 2000, the Lisbon City Council, led by Mayor João Soares, successfully had a new funeral monument built in lioz stone, topped by the original stone effigy of the pope, placed in a more condign location in the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

Legacy

After his death, it was rumored that John XXI had actually been a

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...

(see also

Communion of the Saints The communion of saints (), when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of the Christian Church, living and the dead, but excluding the damned. They are all part of a single " mystical body", with Christ as the head, in which ...

), a suspicion frequently directed towards the few scholars among medieval popes (see, e.g.,

Sylvester II Pope Sylvester II ( – 12 May 1003), originally known as Gerbert of Aurillac, was a French-born scholar and teacher who served as the bishop of Rome and ruled the Papal States from 999 to his death. He endorsed and promoted study of Arab and Gre ...

). It was also said that his death had been an act of God, stopping him from completing a heretical treatise. Odorico Raynaldi, ''sub anno'' 1227, no. 19. Since the works of "Peter of Spain" continued to be studied and appreciated, however,

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

placed "Pietro Spano" in his '' Paradiso's'' Sphere of the Sun with the spirits of other great religious scholars.

References

Bibliography

* Guiraud, J. and L. Cadier (editors), ''Les registres de Grégoire X et de Jean XXI (1271-1277)'' (Paris, 1892–1898) ibliothèque de l'Ecole française à Rome, série 2, 12(in Latin) * Walter, Fritz, ''Die Politik der Kurie unter Gregor X'' (Berlin, 1894) (in German) * Stapper, Richard, ''Papst Johannes XXI. Eine Monographie'' (Münster 1898) irchengeschichtliche Studien, volume 4, no. 4(in German) * Gregorovius, Ferdinand, ''History of Rome in the Middle Ages'', volume V, part 2, second edition, revised (London: George Bell, 1906) * H. D. Sedgwick, ''Italy in the Thirteenth Century'' Volume II (Boston-New York, 1912) * Mazzi-Belli, V., "Pietro Hispano papa Giovanni XXI," ''Rivista di storia della medicina'' 15 (1971), 39–87 (in Italian) * Morceau, Joseph, "Un pape portugais : Jean XXI, dénommé Pierre d'Espagne", ''Teoresi'' 24 (1979), 391–407 (in French) * Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. ''Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the Present'', Thames & Hudson, 2002, p. 119. . * * * Jean Claude Bologne: ''La Naissance Interdite ; stérilité, avortement, contraception au Moyen-Age''. Orban, Paris, 1988 . * * Joachim Telle: ''Petrus Hispanus in der altdeutschen Medizinliteratur und Texte unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Thesaurus pauperum‘.'' 2 vol., Heidelberg, 1972.

External links