The Anagni slap

#OTD in 1303 an army led by Philip the Fair's chief minister, Guillaume Nogaret, and Sciarria Colona, attacked Pope Boniface VIII in his palace at Anagni, next to the cathedral.

The Pope responded on 8 September by excommunicating the two men. When they demanded Boniface's resignation, he replied that he would sooner die. Colonna then struck him in the face, a blow remembered as the 'schiaffo di Anagni' (Anagni slap).

This altercation was the result of Boniface's bitter feud with King Philip, in which they vied over the rights of crown vs pope within France. After being struck, Boniface was held in custody for several days while Philip's men plundered his treasury. He may have been tortured, although the rumours that he gnawed his hands and beat his brains out against the wall are untrue.

The shock alone probably did for him; Boniface died a month later, and was buried in a special chapel that also housed the remains of Pope Boniface IV.