Maurice Bourdin

Also known as

  • Maurice Burdanus
  • Gregory VIII


Cluniac monk. Archbishop of Braga, Portugal in 1111, but was suspended by Pope Paschal II in 1114. In 1117 he crowned the papal enemy, Henry V as emperor; for this he was excommunicated. After Paschal‘s death Henry had him proclaimed pope, 1118, and he became known as Anti-pope Gregory VIII. He was later forced to flee to Sutri, Italy, where Pope Saint Callistus II captured him and imprisoned him in a monastery.