JOHN XXII., pope from 1316 to was born at Cahors, France, in 1249. His original name was Jacques Duese. After studying with the Dominicans at Cahors, he studied law at Mont pellier, and law and medicine in Paris, and finally taught at Cahors and Toulouse. At Toulouse he became intimate with the bishop Louis, son of Charles II., king of Naples. In 1300 he was elevated to the episcopal see of Frejus by Pope Boniface VIII. at the instance of the king of Naples, and in 1308 was made chancellor of Naples by Charles, retaining this office under Charles's suc cessor, Robert of Anjou. In 1310 Pope Clement V. summoned Jacques to Avignon, and instructed him to advise upon the affair of the Templars and also upon the question of condemning the memory of Boniface VIII. Jacques decided on the legality of suppressing the order of the Templars, holding that the pope would be serving the best interests of the church by pronounc ing its suppression; but he rejected the condemnation of Boni face as a sacrilegious affront to the church and a monstrous abuse of the lay power. On Dec. 23, 1312, Clement appointed him cardinal-bishop of Porto. Clement had died in April but the cardinals assembled at Carpentras were unable to agree as to his successor. The cardinals reassembled (June 28, 1316) at Lyons, and after deliberating for more than a month they elected Robert of Anjou's candidate, Jacques Duese, who was crowned on Sept. 5. He arrived at Avignon in October, and remained there for the rest of his life.
For the restoration of the papacy to its old independence and for the execution of the vast enterprises which the papacy deemed useful for its prestige and for Christendom, considerable sums were required ; and to raise the necessary money John burdened Christian Europe with new taxes and a complicated fiscal sys tem. The essentially practical character of his administration has led many historians to tax him with avarice, but later re search on the fiscal system of the papacy of the period, particu larly the joint work of Samaran and Mollat, enables us very sensibly to modify the severe judgment passed on John by Gre gorovius and others.
John's pontificate was continually disturbed by his conflict with Louis of Bavaria and by the theological revolt of the Spirit ual Franciscans. In Oct. 1314 Louis of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria had each been elected German king by the divided electors. John affected to ignore the successes of Louis, and on
Oct. 8, 1323, forbade his recognition as king of the Romans. After demanding a respite, Louis abruptly appealed at Nuremberg from the future sentence of the pope to a general council (Dec. 8, 1323). The conflict then assumed a grave doctrinal character. The doctrine of the rights of the lay monarchy sustained by Occam and John of Paris, by Marsilius of Padua, John of Jandun and Leopold of Bamberg, was affirmed by the jurists and theo logians, penetrated into the parlements and the universities, and was combated by the upholders of papal absolutism, such as Alvaro Pelayo and Alonzo Trionfo. Excommunicated on March 21, 1324, Louis retorted by appealing for a second time to a gen eral council, which was held on May 22, 1324, and accused John of being an enemy to the peace and the law, stigmatizing him as a heretic on the ground that he opposed the principle of evangelical poverty as professed by the strict Franciscans. On July II, 1324, the pope laid under an interdict the places where Louis or his adherents resided, but this bull had no effect in Germany.
Louis penetrated into Italy and seized Rome on Jan. 7, 1328, with the help of the Roman Ghibellines led by Sciarra Colonna. Louis got himself crowned by the deputies of the Roman people ; instituted proceedings for the deposition of John, whom the Roman people declared to have forfeited the pontificate (April 18, 1328) ; and finally caused a Minorite friar, Pietro Rainalucci da Corvara, to be elected pope under the name of Nicholas V. After Louis left Rome and Italy (1329) the antipope was aban doned by the Romans and handed over to John, who forced him to make a solemn submission with a halter round his neck (Aug. 15, 1330). Nicholas was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and died in obscurity at Avignon; while the Roman people sub mitted to King Robert, who governed the church through his vicars. In 1317, in execution of a bull of Clement V., the royal vicariate in Italy had been conferred by John on Robert of Anjou, and this appointment was renewed in 1322 and 1324, with threats of excommunication against anyone who should seize the vicariate of Italy without the authorization of the pope.