Pope Gelasius II elected and attacked

1118

The elderly curial administrator Giovanni di Gaeta was elected pope and immediately kidnapped by Henry V's Roman supporters, the Frangipani. He was rescued, fled to France, and died at Cluny within a year. Such was the normal condition of the Roman papacy in this century, when election to the throne of St. Peter was as likely to bring exile as it was to bring spiritual authority.