BONIFACIO 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 parties of Arnolfo, king of Germany, and Lamberto of Spoleto. B., Roman by birth, was elected by the Spoletan party and consecrated in April 896. In the Roman Council of 898 under Giovanni IX, this partisan election is recalled, deploring the fact that B. had been deposed as subdeacon and as priest. His pontificate was extremely brief. Stricken with gout, he died fifteen days after his election and was buried in the portico of the Pontiffs at the Vatican.
BIBL.: Liber pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, II, Paris 1892, p. 228; L. Duchesne, Les premiers temps de l'état pontifical, there 1911, pp. 299–300. Pietro Goggi