Adrian III

Adrian III.: Pope 884-885. He was a Roman by birth, the son of Benedict. The story of severe punishments inflicted by him points to revolts in the city during his rule. The assertion of the untrustworthy Martinus Polonus that he decreed that a newly elected pope might proceed at once to consecration without waiting for imperial confirmation, and that the imperial crown should thenceforth be worn by an Italian prince, are confirmed by no contemporary evidence. He died near Modena Aug., 885, on his way to attend a diet at Worms on the invitation of Charles the Fat, and was buried at Nonantula. [He was the first pope to change his name on election, having previously been called Agapetus.]

(Carl Mirbt.)

Bibliography: Epistola, in Bouquet, Recueil, ix. 200, and in MPL, cxxvi.; Bulla anni 885, in Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ä d. Geschichte, xi. (1885) 374, 376; Vita, in Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii. (1892) 225, and in L. A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, III. ii. 440-446, 25 vols., Milan, 1723-51; Annales Fuldenses, in MGH, Script., i. (1826) 375-395 (separately in Script. rer. Germ., ed. F. Kurze, Hanover, 1891); Chronica Benedicti, in MGH, Script., iii. (1839) 199; J. M. Watterich, Pontifcum Romanorum vitæ, i. 29, 650, 718, Leipsic, 1862; P. Jaffé, Regesta, i. 426-427; Bower, Popes, ii. 293-294; R. Baxmann, Die Politik der Päpste von Gregor I. bis auf Gregor VII., ii. 60 sqq., Elberfeld, 1869; E. Dümmler, Geschichte les Ostfränkischen Reiches, ii. 247, 248, Berlin, 1888; J. Langen, Geschichte der römischen Kirche von Nikolaus I. bis Gregor VII., pp. 298 sqq., Bonn, 1892; T. R. v. Sickel, Die Vita Hadriani Nonantulana und die Diurnus Handschrift, in Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ä. d. Geschichte, xviii. (1892) 109-133.