BONIFACIO VII, ANTIPOPE. - D. in 985; antipope in June–July 974, and again from Aug. 984 to July 985.
Taking advantage of the absence of Emperor Ottone II, engaged in the struggle against the Duke of Bavaria and other vassals, Crescenzio di Teodora stirred up a revolt in Rome. The imperial pope, Benedetto VI, was seized, imprisoned in Castel S. Angelo, and replaced by a “national” pope, the deacon Francone, son of Ferruccio, who took the name of B. VII (June 974). The intervention of Count Sicco, missus imperiale, was at first futile; indeed, it precipitated events, for Benedetto VI was strangled in prison. But Sicco subsequently gained the upper hand, and Benedetto VII was elected pope, while B. succeeded in fleeing to Constantinople with the treasure of the Church.
When Ottone II died, leaving the empire to a three-year-old son, B. believed that the time had come to return. In Apr. 984 he seized Giovanni XIV, who had succeeded Benedetto VII in 983, and shut him up in Castel S. Angelo, where he died four months later of hunger or poison. B.’s rule, however, was brief and shrouded in obscurity; moreover, the one who truly governed was Crescenzio il Nomentano. Nevertheless, the sources attribute savage acts of vengeance to B. He died suddenly in July 985, perhaps a violent death. His corpse was dragged through the streets of Rome and cast before the equestrian statue of Marco Aurelio. On the following morning some members of his household gave him Christian burial.