diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 917738660..412e84cf6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ In addition to the core functionality, pybind11 provides some extra goodies:
 ## Supported compilers
 
 1. Clang/LLVM (any non-ancient version with C++11 support)
-2. GCC (any non-ancient version with C++11 support)
+2. GCC 4.8 or newer
 3. Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 or newer
 4. Intel C++ compiler 16 or newer (15 with a [workaround](https://github.com/pybind/pybind11/issues/276))
 5. Cygwin/GCC (tested on 2.5.1)
diff --git a/docs/intro.rst b/docs/intro.rst
index 5455dd2b5..2149c18db 100644
--- a/docs/intro.rst
+++ b/docs/intro.rst
@@ -90,6 +90,6 @@ Supported compilers
 *******************
 
 1. Clang/LLVM (any non-ancient version with C++11 support)
-2. GCC (any non-ancient version with C++11 support)
+2. GCC 4.8 or newer
 3. Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 or newer
 4. Intel C++ compiler v15 or newer