GREGORY V., pope from 996 to 999, a grandson of the emperor Otho the Great, succeeded John XV. when only twenty-four years of age, and until the council of Pavia (997) had a rival in the person of the antipope John XVI., whom the people of Rome in revolt against the will of the youthful emperor Otho III., Gregory's cousin, had chosen. The most memorable acts of his pontificate were those arising out of the contumacy of the French king, Robert, who was ultimately brought to submission by the rigorous infliction of a sentence of excommunication. He died suddenly, and not without suspicion of foul play, 18th February 999. His successor was Silvester II.