Birthplace
Gaeta
Pope from
24 January 1118
Pope until
29 January 1119
Died
29 January 1119
Who he was
John of Gaeta, probably of the Gaetani family, was a monk of Monte Cassino and so fine a Latinist that he served several popes as chancellor; he shared Paschal II's captivity. The cardinals elected him secretly in January 1118 to forestall the emperor, while he was still only a deacon.
What he is remembered for
Within days the noble Cencio Frangipani seized and beat him, until the Roman people forced his release. Henry V then set up the antipope Gregory VIII, and Gelasius fled by sea to Gaeta and later took refuge in France. He died at Cluny after a reign of a year and five days, one of the most troubled of any pope.
Sources
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