1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Agapetus (pope)

AGAPETUS, the name of two popes:—

Agapetus I., pope from 536 to 536. He was an enlightened pontiff and collaborated with Cassiodorus in founding at Rome a library of ecclesiastical authors. King Theodahad sent him on an embassy to Constantinople, where he died, after having deposed Anthimus, the monophysite bishop of that town, and ordained Menas his successor.

Agapetus II., pope from 946 to 955, at the time when Alberic, son of Marozia, was governing the independent republic of Rome under the title of “prince and senator of the Romans.” Agapetus, a man of some force of character, did his best to put a stop to the degradation into which the papacy had fallen, the so-called “Pornocracy,” which lasted from the accession of Sergius III. in 904 to the deposition of John XII. in 963. His appeal to Otto the Great to intervene in Rome remained without immediate effect, since Alberic’s position was too strong to be attacked, but it bore fruit after his death. Agapetus died on the 8th of November 955.