Part 7/8:
Despite the excommunication and Otto's warnings, John XII returned to Rome, rallying his supporters for vengeance against those who had opposed him. The ensuing chaos saw brutal reprisals against dissenters — a bloody end befitting his scandalous reign.
Ultimately, John XII’s life ended as sensationally as he lived it. Accounts of his death alternate between a fatal stroke while in the act with a married woman and being beaten to death by the woman's husband. Regardless of how it occurred, both narratives reflect the tumultuous and irreverent life John XII led.