Editing Pope Benedict VI

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 973 to 974}}

{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Benedict VI
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = <!-- see [[Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Catholicism/Archive_2020#RfC_on_non-contemporary_images_of_popes]] before adding an image -->
| birth_name = Benedictus
| term_start = 19 January 973
| term_end = June 974
| predecessor = [[Pope John XIII|John XIII]]
| successor = [[Benedict VII]]
| cardinal = 
| created_cardinal_by = 
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = [[Rome]], Papal&nbsp;States
| death_date = June 974
| death_place = Rome, Papal&nbsp;States, Holy Roman Empire
| previous_post = Cardinal-Priest (964–974)
| other = Benedict
}}

'''Pope Benedict VI''' ({{langx|la|Benedictus VI}}; died June 974) was the [[bishop of Rome]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 19 January 973 to his death in 974. His brief pontificate occurred in the political context of the establishment of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], during the transition between the reigns of [[Otto I]] and [[Otto II]], incorporating the struggle for power of Roman aristocratic families such as the [[Crescentii]].

==Early life==
[[File:S Teodoro Tempio di Romolo.jpg|thumb|Benedict VI was [[cardinal deacon]] of [[San Teodoro, Rome]] (18th century image)]]
The son of a Roman of German ancestry named Hildebrand,<ref>Gregorovius, pg. 377</ref> Benedict was born in [[Rome]] in the region called ''Sub Capitolio'' (in what was the old 8th region of Augustan Rome, the [[14 regions of Augustan Rome#VIII: Forum Romanum|Forum Romanum]]). Prior to becoming [[pope]], he was the [[cardinal deacon]] of the church of [[San Teodoro, Rome|Saint Theodore]].<ref>Mann, pgs. 306-307</ref>

==Pontificate==
On the death of [[Pope John XIII]] in September 972, the majority of the electors who adhered to the imperial faction chose Benedict VI to be his successor. He was not consecrated until January 973, due to the need to gain the approval of the [[Holy Roman emperor]], [[Otto I]].<ref>Mann, pg. 307; Gregorovius, pg. 377</ref> Installed as pope under the protection of Otto I, Benedict was seen as a puppet of the emperor by the local Roman aristocracy who resented the emperor's dominance in Roman civil and ecclesiastical affairs.<ref>Roger Collins, ''Keepers of the keys of heaven: a history of the papacy'', (Basic Books, 2009), 187.</ref>

Record of Benedict VI's reign as pope is scant. There is a letter dated to Benedict's reign from [[Pilgrim of Passau]], asking for Benedict to confer on him the [[pallium]], and make him a bishop so that he could continue his mission to convert the [[Hungarian people]] to [[Christianity]]. However, the response from Benedict is considered to be a forgery.<ref>Mann, pgs. 308-309</ref> Benedict VI is also known to have confirmed privileges assumed by certain monasteries and churches. At the request of [[Lothair of France|King Lothair]] and [[Emma of Italy|Queen Emma]] of France, Benedict placed the monastery of Blandin under papal protection. There is also a [[papal bull]] from Benedict in which Frederick, [[archbishop of Salzburg]], and his successors are named [[papal vicar]]s in the former [[Roman Empire|Roman]] provinces of Upper and Lower [[Pannonia]] and [[Noricum]]; however, the authenticity of this bull is also disputed.<ref>Mann, pg. 309</ref>

==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.

==Notes==
{{reflist|30}}

==References==
* Norwich, John Julius, ''The Popes: A History'' (2011)
* Gregorovius, Ferdinand, ''The History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Vol. III'' (1895)
* Mann, Horace K., ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999'' (1910)

==External links==
{{CE1913 poster|Pope Benedict VI}}
*[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9078561 Encyclopædia Britannica]

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{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:974 deaths]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Italian murder victims]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:10th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]