1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Simplicius (pope)

SIMPLICIUS, pope from 468 to 483. During his pontificate the Western Empire was overthrown, and Italy passed into the hands of the barbarian king Odoacer. In the East, the usurpation of Basiliscus (475-476), who supported the monophysites, gave rise to many ecclesiastical troubles, which were a source of grave anxiety to the pope. The emperor Zeno, who had procured the banishment of Basiliscus, endeavoured to compound with the monophysite party; and the bishop of Constantinople, who had previously fought on the pope's side for the council of Chalcedon, abandoned Simplicius and subscribed to the henoticon, the conciliatory document promulgated in 482 by the emperor. Simplicius died on the 2nd of March 483, but without settling the monophysite question.