Pope Sylvester III

Christened John, he was born into the powerful Roman patrician family Crescentii. Upon the death of Pope John XIX in October 1032, the papal throne became the subject of dispute between rival factions of nobles. Theophylactus, a youth of about twenty, the son of Alberic III, Count of Tusculum, was supported by the nobles of Tusculum. The nephew and namesake of Pope Benedict VIII, he took the name Benedict IX. The young man was not only unqualified, but led a reportedly dissolute life, and factional strife continued. A revolt in Rome led to Benedict IX being driven from the city in 1044.Lynch and Adamo, p. 156.

==Papacy==

John, bishop of Sabina, was elected after fierce and protracted infighting, c. 21 January 1045.Jaffé, p. 523, calculating backward the 49 days of his papacy, from c. 11 March 1045, the date of his expulsion. He took the name Sylvester III. Benedict IX excommunicated him,McBrien, p. 172. and in March returned to Rome and expelled Sylvester,McLaughlin, p. 63. who himself returned to Sabina to again take up his office of bishop in that diocese.Pham, p. 57. Pope VIctor III, "Dialogues" Book III, in: J. P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae Latinae Tomus CXLIX (Paris), p. 1004: "...alterumque in loco ejus, Joannem videlicet Sabinensem episcopum (non tamen vacua manu) canonica parvipendentes decreta, substituunt; qui tribus non amplius mensibus Romanae usus est cathedrae successione....Urbe cum dedecore pulsus, suum ad episcopatum reversus est."

Nearly two years later, on 20 December 1046, the Council of Sutri, summoned and presided over by the Emperor Henry III, deprived him of his bishopric and priesthood, and ordered him sent to a monastery for the rest of his life.Logan, p. 96. Jaffé, p. 524 and 525. This sentence was suspended, because he continued to function and was recognized as bishop of Sabina until at least 1062.Kelly, p. 144. A successor bishop to the see of Sabina, Hubaldus, is recorded under Pope Alexander II, on October 1063, indicating that John must have died prior to that date.

Though some consider him to have been an antipope, Sylvester III continues to be listed as an official pope (1045) in Vatican lists. A similar situation applies to Pope Gregory VI (1045–1046). Sylvester's pontifical name was used again by Antipope Theodoric because at that time he was not considered a legitimate pontiff.

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• {{cite book|author=Philipp Jaffé|editor=G. Wattenbach|title=Regesta pontificum romanorum: ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9VAAQAAMAAJ|edition=2nd|volume=Tomus I|year=1885|publisher=Veit|location=Leipzig|language=la|pages=523–525}}
• J.N.D. Kelly and Michael J. Walsh, A Dictionary of Popes, second edition, Oxford University Press, 2010.
• F. Donald Logan, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages, 2nd edition, Routledge, 2013.
• Joseph H. Lynch, and Philip C. Adamo, [https://books.google.com/books?id=I2gKBAAAQBAJ&dq=Pope+Sylvester+III&pg=PA156 The Medieval Church], Routledge, 2014. {{ISBN|9781317563334}}
• Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, HarperCollins, 2000.
• Megan McLaughlin, Sex, Gender, and Episcopal Authority in an Age of Reform, 1000-1122, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• John-Peter Pham, Heirs of the Fisherman : Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession, Oxford University Press, 2004.

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Category:Popes

Category:Italian popes

Category:Cardinal-bishops of Sabina

Category:11th-century archbishops

Category:1000s births

Category:1060s deaths

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:11th-century popes