Antipope Gregory VIII

Who was Antipope Gregory VIII?

Gregory VIII, born Mauritius Burdinus, was antipope from 10 March 1118 until 22 April 1121.

He was born in the Limousin, part of Occitania, France. He was educated at Cluny, at Limoges, and in Castile, where he was a deacon at Toledo. In 1098/1099 his Cluniac connections recommended him as Bishop of Coimbra. After a four year pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was made Archbishop of Braga in 1111. There he was one of the principal agents of the Burgundian Henry, Count of Portugal, in his reorganization of the Portuguese church.

Portugal was then a fief of León, and the ambitious Count Henry pursued a vigorous program of ecclesiastical and political autonomy. By 1114, Mauritius had become embroiled in a dispute with the Spanish primate and papal legate in Castile, Bernard of Toledo, to the extent that he was called to Rome and suspended by Pope Paschal II. Nevertheless, he found favor at the papal court, and in 1116, when Emperor Henry V invaded Italy during the ongoing confrontations over the Emperor's rights of investiture of clerics, Paschal II sent Mauritius on an embassy to him, while the Pope and the Curia fled south to Benevento. Mauritius defected to the Emperor's side. Henry V went to Rome, and on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1117, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Mauritius. Paschal II deposed and excommunicated Henry V and removed Mauritius from office.