BONIFACE VI, POPE. — The death of Pope Formosus, which occurred on 4 April 896, marked the beginning of long and serious disturbances in Rome, caused by the two opposing factions of Arnulf, King of Germany, and Lambert of Spoleto. B., a Roman by birth, was elected by the Spoletan faction and consecrated in April 896. In the Roman Council of 896 under John IX, this partisan election is recalled, deploring the fact that B. had been deposed as subdeacon and as priest. His pontificate was very brief. Stricken with gout, he died a few days after his election and was buried in the portico of the Popes at the Vatican.
BIBL.: *Liber pontificalis*, ed. L. Duchesne, II, Paris 1892, p. 228; L. Duchesne, *Les premiers temps de l'état pontifical*, I, 1911, pp. 299-300.