Agapetus II

pope, A.D. 946, was a Roman by birth, and was chosen, like his predecessor, by the faction of Alberic. The first action of the pope was to establish his political rule over the churches of the empire. For this purpose he sent Marinus, bishop of Bormazo, in Tuscany, as a legate to the Emperor Otho I, to assemble a synod. This convention, composed of French and German prelates, was held at Ingelheim, in the church of St. Remi, on the 7th of June, 948, in the presence of Kings Otho and Louis. Marinus presided over it. Notwithstanding the opposition of the synod, the legate re-established in his episcopal dignity Artaud, the former bishop of Rheims, who had been removed from his see by Hugo, count of Paris.

In order to break down the powerful house of Marozia in Italy, Agapetus favored the claims of Otho to the imperial dignity, and was about to summon him to Rome, when the pope himself died, A.D. 955. His successor, John XII, placed the crown of Charlemagne on Otho's head. — Baronius, Annal. 951; Mosheim, Ch. Hist. cent. 10, pt. 2, ch. 2.