Pope Victor III
Pope|English name=Victor III|image=
|birth_name=Dauferius|term_start=
May 24,
1086|term_end=
September 16,
1087|predecessor=
Gregory VII|successor=
Urban II|birth_date=
ca. 1026|birthplace=
Benevento,
Italy|dead=dead|death_date=
September 16,
1087|deathplace=
Monte Cassino,
Italy|other=Victor}}
Pope Victor III (
Benevento, 1026? –
September 16,
1087), born
Dauferius,
Pope (
May 24,
1086 until his death), was the successor of
Pope Gregory VII (1073–85). Son of Prince
Landulf V of Benevento, he was born
circa 1026; in his thirtieth year he entered monastic life at
Monte Cassino, changing his name of Dauferius to Desiderius. He soon became
abbot of the monastery, and in
1059 Pope Nicholas II (1059–61) raised him to the
cardinalate.
He rendered many important services to
Pope Gregory VII, who accordingly, on his deathbed, recommended Desiderius to the Cardinals of south Italy as his worthiest successor. Under pressure from Prince
Jordan I of Capua (whom also he had rendered important service), he was elected on May 24, 1086, taking the name of Victor III, but showed genuine reluctance to accept the embarrassing honour thus thrust upon him, and after his tardy consecration, which did not take place until
May 9, 1087, he withdrew at once to Monte Cassino. The countess
Matilda of Tuscany soon afterwards induced him to return to Rome; but, owing to the presence of the
antipope Clement III (1080, 1084–1100), Guibert of Ravenna, who had powerful partisans, Victor III's stay there was short, though with the help of Matilda and Jordan, he took back the
Vatican Hill. That August, he held a
synod of some importance at Benevento, at which Clement III was excommunicated,
lay investiture forbidden, and a kind of
crusade proclaimed against the
Saracens in Africa. During the synod Victor III fell ill, and withdrew to Monte Cassino, where he died on September 16, 1087. His successor was
Pope Urban II (1088–99).
