 The rest of the year was spent establishing control of northern Italy, and in early 1117 the pair advanced on Rome itself.Paschal fled when Henry and Matilda arrived with their army, and in his absence the papal envoy Maurice Bourdin, later the Antipope Gregory VIII, crowned the pair at St Peter's Basilica, probably that Easter and certainly (again) at Pentecost.Matilda used these ceremonies to claim the title of the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.