Albert, Antipope

ALBERTO, ANTIPOPE. — He was bishop of Sabina and was elected in February or March 1102 at St Peter’s by the supporters of the emperor Henry IV, in opposition to the legitimate pontiff Paschal II; the violence of the investiture struggle explains this schism and the disgusting scenes that followed. Indeed, A. was taken to the church of St Marcellus under the protection of a certain Giovanni, son of Odolindo, but the latter allowed himself to be bribed with money by Paschal’s partisans and handed the antipope over to his enemies. Riots ensued; A. was driven out, his pallium was torn from him, he was insulted, and finally loaded onto a horse and taken to the Lateran, where he was imprisoned. Later A. was transferred to the monastery of St Lawrence, where he ended his life as a monk.