Reigned from 891 to 896. Probably born in Rome, c.816;died there. As Cardinal Bishop of Porto he achieved many important diplomatic missions following the disruption of Charlemagne's empire. He was legate to Bulgaria, and was subsequently sent to France to settle the marital strife between King Lothair and his wife Theutberga. Later he went to Trent where he settled the question of the successor to Louis II by conveying the papal invitation to Charles the Bald to receive the imperial crown. His decision caused dissatisfaction in Rome and he fled. He was excommunicated, 872, when he refused to return. Pope Marinus restored him to his diocese, 883. As pope he preserved the unity of Lombardy by crowning Guido of Spoleto emperor. In the dispute over the Bishopric of Bremen he gave the decision to Archbishop Adalgar of Hamburg. He incurred the enmity of Agiltrude, wife of the deceased Guido, when he crowned Arnulf emperor, 896. She revenged herself after Formosus's death by forcing Pope Stephen (VI) VII to pronounce a condemnatory judgment on his corpse, which was then mutilated and sunk in the Tiber. In 897 Pope Theodore II reinterred the body in Saint Peter's with full honors.