Boniface VII

Boniface VII (born, Rome—died July 985, Rome) was a pope, or antipope, from June to July 974 and from August 984 to July 985; he owed his rule to the support of the Crescentii, a powerful and unscrupulous Roman family. A cardinal deacon, he ordered the murder of his predecessor, Benedict VI, and was installed by Crescentius I. Later, however, he was expelled at the behest of Otto II, the Holy Roman emperor, and was...