John VIII. died in 882, and we may reckon up ten popes after him, in the course of the eighteen last years of the ninth century; none of whom had time to render themselves illustrious by any very great undertaking. We shall only observe, that the election of Stephen V. in 885, was, after his installation, examined and confirmed by Charles-le-Gros;¹⁰³ that the deposition of this emperor in 887, was pronounced, not by the ecclesiastical authority, but by an assembly of the German and French nobles;¹⁰⁴ that Formosus, in interfering in a dispute between Eudes and Charles the Simple, spoke at least a language more evangelical, and less haughty, than in similar circumstances had been held by Nicholas II. Adrian II. and John VIII. Formosus crowned two emperors, Lambert in 892, Amulf in 896: and in both these ceremonies, the Romans took the oath of fidelity to the prince, ‘saving the faith pledged to the Lord Formosus.’¹⁰⁵ This pope, in other respects, is only famous from the proceedings which his memory, and his corpse, experienced from his successors:—deplorable scenes, which are, however, foreign to the subject of which we treat. ¹⁰³ Art of verifying dates, vol. i. p. 267. ¹⁰⁴ Muratori’s Annals of Italy, year 887. ¹⁰⁵ Liutprand. b.i. c. 8.—-St. Marc. Ab.of Hist of Italy, v.ii. p. 63. In 898, during the pontificate of John IX. Arnulf was declared an usurper of the imperial dignity, and Lambert re-assumed the title of Emperor. The pope held, on this occasion, a council at Ravenna, in which the sovereignty of the Western Emperors over Rome and the Ecclesiastical State, was recognized by many decrees.¹⁰⁶ The following is the most important: “Considering that on the death “of a sovereign pontiff, the Church is exposed to “great and many disorders, when the new pope is “consecrated without the privity of the emperor, “and without waiting for his commissioners, whose “authority might prevent the outrages and irregu− “larities which generally attend on this ceremony; “we desire that for the future the pope be nomi− “nated by the bishops and clergy, on being pro− “posed by the senate and the people; that, after “having thus solemnly and publicly elected him, “they consecrate him in presence of the commis− "saries of the emperor; and, that no person dare, “with impunity, under any pretence whatsoever, “exact of him other promises or other oaths, than “those which have been sanctioned by ancient “usage; so that the church may neither suffer “scandal nor injury, and that the authority of the “emperor may receive no detriment.” ¹⁰⁶ SC Marc. Ab. of Hist of Italy, vol. 2, p. 636—640,