Sylvester IV

Sylvester IV, born Maginulf, was a claimant to the Papacy from 1105 to 1111 in opposition to Paschal II. A priest before his election, he was probably a native of Rome. He had the backing of the Roman militia and initially of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, who later forced him to abdicate. Today he is regarded as an antipope.

Election Before his election as pope, Maginulf was the archpriest of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria, which suggests that he was a native of Rome. He cannot be linked to the line of antipopes—Clement III, Theodoric and Adalbert—who opposed the Reformist papacy from 1080 to 1101. While the elections of Theodoric and Adalbert were relatively minor affairs, the election of Maginulf signalled a crisis in the pontificate of Pope Paschal II and was widely noted in contemporary chronicles: Annales Ceccanenses, Annales Leodienses, the Annalista Saxo, Ekkehard of Aura, Sigebert of Gembloux.

Members of the Roman aristocracy gathered in the Pantheon, then the church of Santa Maria Rotonda, and elected Maginulf in opposition to Paschal II in November 1105. The Annales Romani records the noblemen who supported his election: Stefano Oddone and his brothers, Nicola Cencio Baroncio and his son Pietro, Romano di Romano Baroncio and his brothers and nephews, and Enrico di Sant'Eustachio and his sons.

Sylvester was allowed to live out the rest of his life in Osimo under the protection of Werner. According to the Annales Romani, Werner acted out of pity, but there was probably some political calculation involved in willingness to control an ex-pope.