and cardinals had to flee from Rome before the imperial prefect of the Eternal City, and at Terracina, in spite of all protests, Victor laid aside the papal insignia and once more retired to Monte Cassino, where he remained nearly a whole year. In the middle of Lent 1087, the pope-elect assisted at a council of cardinals and bishops held at Capua as "Papal vicar of those parts" (letter of Hugh of Lyons) together with the Norman princes, Cencius the Consul and the Roman nobles. Here, Victor finally yielded and "by the assumption of the cross and purple confirmed the past election". How much his obstinacy had irritated some of the prelates is evidenced in the letter of Hugh of Lyons preserved by Hugh of Flavigny. Desiderius was elected on 24 May 1086, taking the throne name of Victor III, but his consecration did not take place until 21 March 1087 owing to the presence of the Antipope Clement III in Rome. After celebrating Easter of 1087 in his monastery, Victor proceeded to Rome. After the Normans had driven the soldiers of the Antipope Clement III out of St. Peter's, he was consecrated and enthroned on 21 March 1087. He only remained eight days in Rome and then returned to Monte Cassino, though with the help of Matilda and Jordan, he took back the Vatican Hill. Before May was out he was once more in Rome in answer to a summons for the countess Matilda of Tuscany, whose troops held the Leonine City and Trastevere. By the end of June Clement III once more gained possession of St. Peter's, Victor again withdrew at once to his Monte Cassino abbey. Synod and death In August 1087, a synod was held at Benevento which renewed the excommunication of the Antipope Clement III, the condemnation of lay investiture, proclaimed a crusade against the Saracens in northern Africa, and anathematised Hugh of Lyons and Richard, Abbot of Marseilles. After three days, Victor became seriously ill and retired to Monte Cassino to die. He had himself carried into the chapter-house, issued various decrees for the benefit of the abbey, appointed with the consent of the monks the prior, Cardinal Oderisius, to succeed him in the abbacy, just as he himself had been appointed by Stephen IX, and proposed Odo of Ostia to the assembled cardinals and bishops as the next pope. He died on 16