Editing Pope Benedict VI (section)

==Overthrow==
Otto I died soon after Benedict VI's election in 973, and with the accession of [[Otto II]], troubles with the nobility emerged in Germany. With the new emperor so distracted, a faction of the Roman nobility opposed to the interference of the Ottonian emperors in Roman affairs, took advantage of the opportunity to move against Benedict VI. Led by [[Crescentius the Elder]] and Cardinal-Deacon [[Franco Ferrucci]], who had been the preferred candidate of the anti-Ottonian faction,<ref>Gregorovius, pg. 378</ref> Benedict was taken in June 974, and imprisoned in the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]], at that time a stronghold of the Crescentii.<ref>Norwich, pg. 83; Mann, pg. 310</ref> Ferrucci was then proclaimed as the new pope, taking the name [[Boniface VII]].

Hearing of the overthrow of Benedict VI, Otto II sent an imperial representative, Count Sicco, to demand his release. Unwilling to step down, Boniface ordered a priest named Stephen to murder Benedict while he was in prison, strangling him to death.<ref>Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI'', (HarperCollins, 2000), 161.</ref><ref>Mann, pgs. 310-311</ref> Boniface VII is today considered an [[antipope]], with [[Benedict VII]] as the legitimate successor of Benedict VI.