Pope JOHN XII

Pope JOHN XII, a native of Cahore, originally called James d'Euse, was well skilled in the civil and canon law, and was elected pope after the death of Clement V. on the 7th of August 1316. He published the constitutions called Clementine, which were framed by his predecessor; and drew up the other constitutions called Extravagantes. When Louis of Bavaria was a candidate for the imperial crown, John XII. opposed him in favour of his competitor; which made much noise, and was attended with fatal consequences. That prince, in 1320, caused the antipope Peter de Corbiero, a Cordelier, to be elected, who took the name of Nicolas V. and was supported by Michael de Cesenne, general of his order; but that antipope was the following year taken and carried to Avignon, where he begged pardon of the pope with a rope about his neck, and died in prison some

years afterwards. Under this pope arose the celebrated question among the Cordeliers, called "the bread of the Cordeliers;" which was, whether those monks had the property of the things given them, at the time they were making use of them; that is, whether the bread belonged to them when they were eating it, or to the pope, or to the Roman church. This frivolous dispute gave great employment to the pope, as also did those which turned upon the colour, form, and stuff, of their habits, whether they ought to be white, gray, or black; whether the cowl ought to be pointed or round, large or small; whether their robes should be full, short, or long; of cloth, or of serge. The disputes on these minute trifles were carried so far between the minor brothers, that some of them were burned upon the occasion. Pope John died at Avignon in 1334, aged ninety.