Editing Pope Sergius III (section)

===Activity in Italy===
Pope Sergius III convoked a synod which annulled all the [[ordination]]s of Formosus and required all [[bishop]]s ordained by Formosus to be reordained. It was alleged that Sergius managed to get the consent of the Roman clergy at the synod by threatening them with exile, violence or through the use of bribery.<ref name='Mann 122'>Mann 1910, p. 122</ref> The decision to require reordination was very unpopular, and those affected at sees distant from Rome not only ignored the synod's instructions but wrote letters both condemning the revoking of ordinations and justifying the validity of the original ordinations.<ref>Mann 1910, pp. 122–125; De Cormenin 1857, pp. 282–283</ref>

Confirming his continued support of the anti-Formosus faction, Sergius honoured the murdered [[Pope Stephen VI]] (896–897), who had been responsible for the "[[Cadaver Synod]]" that had condemned and mutilated the corpse of [[Pope Formosus]], by writing a laudatory [[epitaph]] on Stephen VI's tombstone.<ref>Mann 1910, pp. 83 & 121</ref> For centuries it was believed that Sergius then had the much-abused corpse of Formosus exhumed once more, tried, found guilty again, and beheaded, thus in effect conducting a second Cadaver Synod.<ref>Platina, Bartolomeo, ''The Lives of the Popes From The Time Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII'' Vol. I (1888), pg. 243</ref> However, the source for this was [[Liutprand of Cremona]], who mistakenly placed the cadaver synod in the pontificate of Sergius III, instead of Stephen VI.<ref>Mann 1910, p. 83</ref>

Although neither Sergius nor Theophylact supported the continued nominal rule of Emperor [[Louis the Blind]], they were somewhat unwilling to grant the imperial title to the only other contender, [[Berengar I of Italy]]. On the one occasion that Sergius agreed to crown Berengar in around 906, Berengar was prevented from reaching [[Rome]] by the forces of [[Alberic I of Spoleto]] and Adalbert II of Tuscany, both of whom had been supporters of Sergius, but were unhappy with his decision to support Berengar. Nevertheless, Berengar's unwillingness to control his vassals also contributed to the papal reluctance; when Albuinus, the [[margrave of Istria]], began taking papal territory off [[Pope John X|John]], the [[archbishop of Ravenna]], in 907, Sergius had written to Albuinus asking for him to desist.<ref>Mann 1910, pp. 126–127</ref> When Sergius was ignored, the pope wrote to the [[bishop of Pola]] in 910, making it clear that: "he would never bestow the (imperial) crown on Berenger till he promised to take the (Istrian) March from Albuinus, and give it to some better man."<ref name='Mann 127'>Mann 1910, p. 127</ref>

Sergius rebuilt the [[Lateran Palace]], which had been shattered by an earthquake in 896, and then stripped of its treasures by the Antipope Christopher. Sergius refurbished it with objects, images and crucifixes, and decorated its newly built walls with frescos.<ref>Mann 1910, pp. 134–136; Gregorovius 1895, pp. 245–246</ref> In 905 he provided funds to the [[Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Porto-Santa Rufina|Church of Silva Candida]], which had been devastated by a [[Saracen]] raid.<ref>Mann 1910, pp. 127–128</ref> He also helped with the rebuilding of [[Nonantola Abbey]], which had suffered attacks from the [[Hungarian people|Magyars]],<ref>Mann 1910, pp. 128–129</ref> and finally he granted privileges to some monasteries and churches in [[West Francia|West]] and [[East Francia]].