Antipope Constantine II

Antipope Constantine II (d. 6 August 768) was an antipope in 767 and 768. He was born in Nepi near Viterbo, a scion, along with his three brothers, of noble Roman family. During the last days of the Pope Paul I in June, his brother Toto of Nepi and a body of Tuscans placed him upon the See of Peter when he was still a layman. It was therefore necessary that he be ordained and then elevated to papal office in rapid succession: although frowned upon by canon law, this approach was far from unknown at the time. Constantine notified his election to the Frankish King, Pepin the Short, but the latter never replied. In spring 768 he was deposed and killed by Lombards, when prisoner in the monastery of San Saba.