Flodoard cast Theodore in a positive light, describing him as "beloved of the clergy, a friend of peace, temperate, chaste, affable and a great lover of the poor." He died in office, though the cause of his death is unknown. Because of this, some writers, such as Wendy Reardon, suggest the possibility of foul play. Horace Kinder Mann offers a different suggestion in his papal history, noting that it is possible that popes who were "infirm or even older than [...] their predecessors" might have been elected intentionally. Theodore was buried at St. Peter's Basilica, but his tomb was destroyed during the demolition of the old basilica in the seventeenth century.