mail: Bill Thayer

Italiano

Help

Up

Home

List of Popes: Problems Encountered

Here were some of the problems encountered in drawing up what should have been a simple list of popes:

Sources disagree on the dates and places of birth, election, and death, even on quite recent popes. (Pius II, one source actually has him die in Rome).

The older popes, noone knows.

Dates of election, consecration (confirmation by Holy Roman Emperor), coronation, differ.

Some legitimate popes became popes by processes not involving any of those.

Names are spelled differently (or first names reversed).

What language should I list them in?

What version of the language (modern French? old French?)

Most popes stayed pope til they died, but some not; some, it is not known.

Some popes, it is not certain whether they were popes or antipopes.

Some popes were misnumbered (Marinus/Martin; John) or the numbering was mixed in with that of antipopes.

Dates in Greeley seem to have been given in Julian calendar.