Editing Pope Formosus (section)

==Papacy==
[[File:Facial Chronicle - b.13, p.507 - Pope Formosus (cropped).gif|thumb|A 16th century depiction of Formosus's Papacy, from the ''[[Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible|Facial Chronicle]]'']]
Shortly after his election, Formosus was asked to intervene in the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]], where [[Photius I]] had been ejected and [[Stephen I of Constantinople|Stephen I]], the son of Emperor [[Basil I]], had taken the office. Formosus refused to reinstate those who had been ordained by Photius, as his predecessor, Stephen V, had nullified all of Photius's ordinations. However, the Eastern bishops determined to recognize Photius's ordinations nonetheless. Formosus also immediately immersed himself in the dispute between [[Odo of France|Odo of Paris]] and [[Charles the Simple]] for the French throne. Siding with Charles, Formosus zealously exhorted Odo to cede the throne to Charles, to no avail.

Formosus was deeply distrustful of [[Guy III of Spoleto]], the reigning emperor, and began looking for support against him.<ref name="lives_of_popes_3"/> To bolster his position, Guy forced Formosus to crown his son [[Lambert II of Spoleto|Lambert]] as co-emperor in April 892. The following year, however, Formosus persuaded [[Arnulf of Carinthia]] to advance to Rome and liberate Italy from Guy's control. In 894, Arnulf's army occupied all the country north of the [[Po River]]. Guy died in December, leaving his son Lambert in the care of his mother, [[Agiltrude]], an opponent of the [[Carolingians]]. In autumn 895 Arnulf undertook his second Italian campaign, progressing to Rome by February and seizing the city from Agiltrude by force on 21 February. The following day, Formosus crowned Arnulf as emperor in [[Old St. Peter's Basilica|St. Peter's Basilica]]. The new emperor moved against Spoleto but was struck with [[paralysis]] on the way and was unable to continue the campaign.

During his papacy, Formosus also had to contend with the [[Saracens]], who were attacking [[Lazio]].{{sfn|Wickham|2014|p=22}} On 4 April 896, Formosus died.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|p=141}} He was succeeded by [[Pope Boniface VI|Boniface VI]], whose papacy lasted 15 days.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|p=141}}