Adrian IV
Papacy began	4 December 1154
Papacy ended	1 September 1159
Predecessor	Anastasius IV
Successor	Alexander III
Personal details
Birth name	Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare
Born	c. 1100 Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, Kingdom of England
Died	1 September 1159(1159-09-01) Anagni, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire
Other Popes named Adrian

Pope Adrian IV (c. 1100 – 1 September 1159),^[1] born Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare, was Pope from 1154 to 1159.

Adrian IV has been the only Englishman so far to occupy the papal chair.^[2][3] It is generally believed that Nicholas Breakspear was born at Breakspear Farm^[4][5][6][7] in the parish of Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire and received his early education at the Abbey School, St Albans (St Albans School).

Early life[link]

His father was Robert, who later became a monk at St Albans.^[8] Nicholas himself, however, was refused admission to the monastery, being told by the abbot to "wait to go on with his schooling so that he might be considered more suitable" (Abbey chronicles). In the event, he did not wait and went instead to Paris and finally became a canon regular of the cloister of St. Rufus monastery near Arles. He rose to be prior and soon thereafter was unanimously elected abbot.^[3] This election has been traditionally dated to 1137,^[3] but evidence from the abbey's chronicles suggests it occurred about 1145.^[9]

His reforming zeal as abbot led to the lodging of complaints against him at Rome; but these merely attracted to him the favourable attention of Pope Eugene III, who created him Cardinal Bishop of Albano in December 1149.^[10]

From 1152 to 1154 Nicholas was in Scandinavia as papal legate, organising the affairs of the new Norwegian Archbishopric of Nidaros (now Trondheim). This led him to create the Diocese at Hamar, and, according to tradition, to form Cathedral schools in Norway's bishopric cities. These schools were to have a lasting effect on Norwegian Catholic spirituality and history, even after King Christian III of Denmark ordered the Reformation in his kingdom. A late example is Scandinavia's most creative and forceful Counter-Reformation figure, the Jesuit Laurentius Nicolai Norvegicus, born as Laurids Nielsen after the Reformation, who attended Oslo Cathedral School in his youth. (Today, despite the prestigious prefix Cathedral, these schools have no formal Church ties.) Nicholas made arrangements which resulted in the recognition of Gamla Uppsala (later moved to Uppsala) as seat of the Swedish metropolitan in 1164. As a compensation for territory thus withdrawn, the Danish archbishop of Lund was made legate and perpetual vicar and given the title of primate of Denmark and Sweden.

Accession as Pope[link]

Main article: Papal election, 1154

On his return to Rome, Nicholas was received with great honour by Pope Anastasius IV. On the death of Anastasius, Nicholas was elected pope on 3 December 1154,^[11] taking the name Adrian IV. He at once endeavoured to bring down Arnold of Brescia, the leader of the anti-papal faction in Rome. Disorder within the city led to the murder of a cardinal, causing Adrian, shortly before Palm Sunday 1155, to take the previously unheard-of step of putting Rome under interdict. The Senate (City Council of Rome) thereupon exiled Arnold.

The Byzantine Alliance[link]

Pope Adrian IV cameo.

In 1155, Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenus invaded the Italian peninsula from the south, landing his forces in the region of Apulia. Making contact with local rebels who were hostile to the Sicilian crown, Greek forces quickly overran the coastlands and began striking inland. Pope Adrian IV watched these developments with some satisfaction. The Papacy was never on good terms with the Normans of Sicily, except when under duress by the threat of direct military action. Having the Eastern Roman Empire on its southern border was preferable to Adrian than having to constantly deal with the troublesome Normans. Therefore, negotiations were hurriedly carried out, and an alliance was formed between Adrian and Manuel. Adrian undertook to raise a body of mercenary troops from Campania. Meanwhile, Manuel dreamed of restoration of the Roman Empire; this was, however, at the cost of a potential union between the Orthodox and the Catholic Church. Negotiations for union of the eastern and western churches, which had been in a state of schism since 1054, soon got underway. The combined Papal-Byzantine forces joined with the rebels against the Normans in Southern Italy, achieving a string of rapid successes as a number of cities yielded either to the threat of force or the lure of gold. The future looked bleak for the Sicilians.

It was at this point, just as the war seemed decided in the allies' favour, that things started to go wrong. The Greek commander Michael Palaeologus alienated some of his allies by his arrogance, and this stalled the campaign as rebel Count Robert of Loritello refused to speak to him. Although the two were reconciled, the campaign lost some of its momentum. Yet worse was to come: Michael was soon recalled to Constantinople. Although his arrogance had slowed the campaign, he was a brilliant general in the field, and his loss was a major blow to the allied campaign. The turning point was the Battle for Brindisi, where the Sicilians launched a major counter attack by both land and sea. At the approach of the enemy, the mercenaries who were serving in the allied armies demanded impossible increases in their pay; when this was refused, they deserted. Even the local barons started to melt away, and soon Adrian's Byzantine allies were left hopelessly outnumbered. The naval battle was decided in the Sicilians' favour, and the Byzantine commander was captured. The defeat at Brindisi put an end to the restored Byzantine reign in Italy, and by 1158 the Byzantine Army had left Italy.

Hopes for a lasting alliance with the Byzantine Empire had also come up against insuperable problems. Pope Adrian IV's conditions for a union between the eastern and western church included recognition of his religious authority over Christians everywhere, and the Emperor's recognition of his secular authority; neither East nor West could accept such conditions. Adrian's secular powers were too valuable to be rendered and Manuel's subjects could never have accepted the authority of the distant Bishop of Rome. In spite of his friendliness towards the Roman Church, Adrian never felt able to honour Manuel with the title of "Augustus". Ultimately, a deal proved elusive, and the two churches remained divided.

Adrian IV and the Norman invasion of Ireland[link]

In 1155, three years after the Synod of Kells, Adrian IV published the Papal Bull 'Laudabiliter', which was addressed to the Angevin King Henry II of England. He urged Henry to invade Ireland to bring its Celtic Christian Church under the Roman system and to conduct a general reform of governance and society throughout the island. The authenticity of this grant, the historian Edmund Curtis says, is one of "the great questions of history." He states that the matter was discussed at a Royal Council at Winchester, but that Henry's mother, the Empress Matilda, had protested. In Ireland however, nothing seems to have been known of it, and no provision appears to have been made to defend against the prospect of Angevin Norman aggression, despite their westward expansion throughout England and Wales.^[12] Ernest F. Henderson states that the existence of this Bull is doubted by many^[13] while, in noting that its authenticity has been questioned without success, P. S. O'Hegarty suggests that the question is now purely an academic one. It is notable that decisions of Pope Alexander III, his successor, Pope Lucius III, and King Henry VIII in proclaiming the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 was predicated on this document.^[14] The Normans did in fact invade Ireland, beginning with a small landing of Norman knights in 1169, followed by Henry's landing with a much larger force in 1171.

Barbarossa and the death of Adrian IV[link]

At the diet of Besançon in October 1157, the legates presented to Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor a letter from Adrian IV which alluded to the beneficia or "benefits" conferred upon the Emperor, and the German chancellor translated this beneficia in the feudal sense of the presentation of property from a lord to a vassal (benefice). Frederick was infuriated by the suggestion that he was dependent on the Pope, and in the storm which ensued the legates were glad to escape with their lives, and the incident at length closed with a letter from the Pope, declaring that by beneficium he meant merely bonum factum or "a good deed," i.e. the coronation. The breach subsequently became wider, and the Emperor was about to be excommunicated when Adrian died at Anagni on 1 September 1159, reputedly choking on a fly in his wine, but probably of quinsy.^[5]

His biography was first written by Cardinal Boso in his extension to the Liber Pontificalis.^[15]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Adrian IV

• Nicolas Brakespeare. A very British Pope @ Ward's Book of Days
• POPE ADRIAN IV (1100–1159) BY T. DUNCAN MACKIE (btm format)

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Frederick I Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa, middle, flanked by his two children, King Henry VI (left) and Duke Frederick VI (right). From the Welf Chronicle
Holy Roman Emperor
Reign	1155–1190
Coronation	18 June 1155, Rome
Predecessor	Lothair III
Successor	Henry VI
King of Italy
Reign	1155–1190
Coronation	c. 1155, Pavia
King of Germany formally King of the Romans
Reign	1152–1190
Coronation	9 March 1152, Aachen
Predecessor	Conrad III
Successor	Henry VI
King of Burgundy
Reign	1152–1190
Coronation	30 June 1178, Arles
Spouse	Adelheid of Vohburg Beatrice of Burgundy
Issue
with Beatrice Sophie, Beatrice, Frederick, Henry, Conrad, Gisela, Otto, Conrad-Frederick, Renaud, William, Philipp, Agnes
Father	Frederick II, Duke of Swabia
Mother	Judith of Bavaria
Born	1122
Died	10 June 1190 (aged 67–68) Saleph River, Cilicia, Anatolia
Burial	Church of St Peter, Antioch
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Frederick I Barbarossa^[1] (1122 – 10 June 1190) was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March as King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155. Two years later in 1157 the term "sacrum" (i.e. "holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire.^[2] He was then also formally crowned King of Burgundy at Arles on 30 June 1178. The name Barbarossa came from the northern Italian cities he attempted to rule, and means "red beard" in Italian – a mark of both their fear and respect.^[3] In German he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, which has the same meaning.

Before his royal election, he was by inheritance Duke of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III). He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His mother was Judith, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, from the rival House of Welf, and Frederick therefore descended from Germany's two leading families, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's prince-electors.

Life and reign[link]

Early years[link]

Frederick was born in 1122. In 1147 he became Duke of Swabia, and shortly afterwards made his first trip to the East, accompanying his uncle, the German king Conrad III, on the Second Crusade. The expedition proved to be a disaster,^[4] but Frederick distinguished himself and won the complete confidence of the king. When Conrad died in February 1152, only Frederick and the prince-bishop of Bamberg were at his deathbed. Both asserted afterwards that Conrad had, in full possession of his mental powers, handed the royal insignia to Frederick and indicated that Frederick, rather than Conrad's own six-year-old son, the future Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia, should succeed him as king.^[5] Frederick energetically pursued the crown and at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 the kingdom's princely electors designated him as the next German king.^[5] He was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen several days later, on 9 March 1152.^[6] Frederick I was of the Hohenstaufen family on his father's side and of the Welf family on his mother's side. These were the two most powerful families in Germany. The Hohenstaufens were often called Ghibellines, which derives from the Italianized name for the Weibling castle, the family seat in Swabia. The Welfs, in a similar Italianization, were called Guelfs.^[7]

The reigns of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor left the status of the German empire in disarray. Power had waned under the weight of the Investiture controversy. For a quarter of a century following Henry V's death in 1125 the German monarchy was largely a nominal title with no real power.^[8] The king was chosen by the princes, given no resources outside those of his own duchy, and prevented from exercising any real authority or leadership in the realm. The royal title was furthermore passed from one family to another to preclude the development of any dynastic interest in the German crown. When Frederick I of Hohenstaufen was chosen as king in 1152, the royal power had been in effective abeyance for twenty-five years, and to a considerable degree, for more than eighty years. The only real claim to wealth lay in the rich cities of northern Italy, which were still within the nominal control of the German king.^[9] The Salian line had died out with the death of Henry V in 1125. The German princes refused to give the crown to his nephew, the duke of Swabia, for fear he would try to regain the imperial power held by Henry V. Instead, they chose Lothair III (1125–1137), who found himself embroiled in a long-running dispute with the Hohenstaufens, and who married into the Welfs. One of the Hohenstaufens gained the throne as Conrad III of Germany (1137–1152). When Frederick Barbarossa succeeded his uncle in 1152, there seemed to be excellent prospects for ending the feud, since he was a Welf on his mother's side.^[5] But the Welf duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, would not be appeased. He remained an implacable enemy of the Hohenstaufen monarchy. Barbarossa had the duchies of Swabia and Franconia, the force of his own personality, and very little else to construct an empire.^[10]

The Germany that Frederick tried to unite was a patchwork of more than 1600 individual states, each with its own prince. Few of these, such as Bavaria and Saxony, were large. Many were too small to pinpoint on a map.^[11] The titles afforded to the German king were "Caesar", "Augustus" and "Emperor of the Romans". By the time Frederick would assume these, they were little more than propaganda slogans with little other meaning.^[12] Frederick was a pragmatist who dealt with the princes by finding a mutual self-interest. Unlike Henry II of England, Frederick did not attempt to end medieval feudalism, but rather tried to restore it. But this was beyond his ability. The great players in the German civil war had been the Pope, Emperor, Ghibellines and the Guelfs. None of these had emerged the winner.^[13]

Rise to power[link]

Eager to restore the Empire to the position it had occupied under Charlemagne and Otto I the Great, the new king saw clearly that the restoration of order in Germany was a necessary preliminary to the enforcement of the imperial rights in Italy. Issuing a general order for peace, he made lavish concessions to the nobles.^[14] Abroad, Frederick intervened in the Danish civil war between Svend III and Valdemar I of Denmark^[15] and began negotiations with the Eastern Roman Emperor, Manuel I Comnenus.^[16] It was probably about this time that the king obtained papal assent for the annulment of his childless marriage with Adelheid of Vohburg, on the grounds of consanguinity (his great-great-grandfather was a brother of Adela's great-great-great-grandmother, making them fourth cousins, once removed). He then made a vain effort to obtain a bride from the court of Constantinople. On his accession Frederick had communicated the news of his election to Pope Eugene III, but had neglected to ask for the papal confirmation. In March 1153, Frederick concluded the treaty of Constance with the Pope whereby, in return for his coronation, he promised to defend the papacy, to make no peace with king Roger II of Sicily or other enemies of the Church without the consent of Eugene and to help Eugene regain control of the city of Rome.^[17]

First Italian Campaign: 1154–55[link]

Frederick undertook six expeditions into Italy. In the first, beginning in October 1154^[18] his plan was to launch a campaign against the Normans under King William I of Sicily.^[16] He marched down and almost immediately began encountering resistance to his authority. Obtaining the submission of Milan, he successfully besieged Tortona in early 1155, razing it to the ground^[19] before moving to Pavia where he received the Iron Crown, and with it, the title of King of Italy.^[20] Moving through Bologna and Tuscany, he was soon approaching the city of Rome. There, Pope Adrian IV was struggling with the forces of the republican city commune led by Arnold of Brescia, a student of Abelard.^[3] As a sign of good faith, Frederick dismissed the ambassadors from the revived Roman Senate,^[16] and Imperial forces suppressed the republicans. Arnold was captured and hanged for treason and rebellion. Despite his unorthodox teaching concerning theology, Arnold was not charged with heresy.^[21]

As Frederick approached the gates of Rome, the Pope advanced to meet him. At the royal tent the king received him, and after kissing the pope’s feet, Frederick expected to receive the traditional kiss of peace.^[22] But Frederick had forgotten to hold the Pope’s stirrup while leading him to the tent, and so Adrian refused to give the kiss until this protocol had been complied with.^[3] Frederick hesitated, and Adrian IV withdrew, and after a day’s negotiation, Frederick agreed to perform the required ritual.^[22] Rome was still in an uproar over the fate of Arnold of Brescia, so rather than marching through the streets of Rome, Frederick and Adrian retired to the Vatican.

The next day, 18 June 1155, Adrian IV crowned Frederick I Holy Roman Emperor at St Peter's Basilica, amidst the acclamations of the German army.^[23] The Romans began to riot, and Frederick spent his coronation day putting down the revolt, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Romans, and many more thousands injured. The next day, Frederick, Adrian and the German army travelled to Tivoli. From there, a combination of the unhealthy Italian summer and the effects of his year long absence from Germany meant he was forced to put off his planned campaign against the Normans of Sicily.^[23] On their way northwards, they attacked Spoleto, encountered the ambassadors of Manuel I Comnenus, who showered Frederick with costly gifts, and at Verona, Frederick declared his fury with the rebellious Milanese before finally returning to Germany.^[24]

Disorder was again rampant in Germany, especially in Bavaria, but general peace was restored by Frederick's vigorous, but conciliatory, measures. The duchy of Bavaria was transferred from Henry II Jasomirgott, margrave of Austria, to Frederick's formidable younger cousin Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, of the House of Guelph, whose father had previously held both duchies.^[25] Henry II Jasomirgott was named duke of Austria in compensation for his loss of Bavaria. As part of his general policy of concessions of formal power to the German princes and ending the civil wars within the kingdom, Frederick further appeased Henry by issuing him with the Privilegium Minus, granting him unprecedented entitlements as Duke of Austria. This was a large concession on the part of Frederick, who realized that Henry the Lion had to be accommodated, even to the point of sharing some power with him. He could not afford to make an outright enemy of Henry.^[26]

On 9 June 1156 at Würzburg, Frederick married Beatrice of Burgundy, daughter and heiress of Renaud III, thus adding to his possessions the sizeable realm of the County of Burgundy. In an attempt to create comity, Emperor Frederick proclaimed the Peace of the Land,^[27] written between 1152–1157, which enacted punishments for a variety of crimes, as well as systems for adjudicating many disputes. He also declared himself the sole Augustus of the Roman world, ceasing to recognise Manuel I at Constantinople.^[28]

Frederick Barbarossa in a 13th century chronicle

Second, Third and Fourth Italian Campaigns: 1158–1174[link]

The retreat of Frederick in 1155 forced Pope Adrian IV to come to terms with King William I of Sicily, granting to William I territories that Frederick viewed as his dominion.^[29] This aggravated Frederick, and he was further displeased when Papal Legates chose to interpret a letter from Adrian to Frederick in a manner that seemed to imply that the imperial crown was a gift from the Papacy and that in fact the Empire itself was a fief of the Papacy.^[30] Disgusted with the pope, and still wishing to crush the Normans in the south of Italy, in June 1158, Frederick set out upon his second Italian expedition, accompanied by Henry the Lion and his Saxon troops.^[31] This expedition resulted in the revolt and capture of Milan,^[32] the Diet of Roncaglia that saw the establishment of imperial officers in the cities of northern Italy,^[33] and the beginning of the long struggle with Pope Alexander III.

Pope Adrian IV’s death in 1159 saw the election of two rival popes; Alexander III and the antipope Victor IV. Both sought Frederick’s support,^[34] Frederick, busy with the siege of Crema, appeared unsupportive of Alexander III, and after the sacking of Crema demanded that Alexander appear before the emperor at Pavia and to accept the imperial decree.^[35] Alexander refused, and Frederick recognised Victor IV as the legitimate Pope in 1160.^[36] In response, Alexander III excommunicated both Frederick I and Victor IV.^[37] Frederick attempted to convoke a joint council with King Louis VII of France in 1162 to decide the issue of who should be pope.^[36] Louis came near the meeting site but, when he became aware that Frederick had stacked the votes for Alexander, Louis decided not to attend the council. As a result the issue was not resolved at that time.^[38]

The political result of the struggle with Pope Alexander was that the Norman state of Sicily and Pope Alexander III formed an alliance against Frederick.^[39] In the meantime, Frederick had to deal with another rebellion at Milan, which saw the city surrender on 6 March 1162, and much of it destroyed three weeks later on the emperor’s orders.^[40] The fate of Milan saw the submission of Brescia and Placentia and many other northern Italian cities.^[41] Returning to Germany towards the close of 1162, Frederick prevented the escalation of conflicts between Henry the Lion from Saxony and a number of neighbouring princes who were growing weary of Henry's power, influence and territorial gains. He also severely punished the citizens of Mainz for their rebellion against Archbishop Arnold. The third visit to Italy in 1163 saw his plans for the conquest of Sicily ruined by the formation of a powerful league against him, brought together mainly by opposition to imperial taxes.

In 1164 Frederick took what are believed to be the relics of the "Biblical Magi" (the Wise Men or Three Kings) from Milan and gave them as a gift (or as loot) to the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel. The relics had great religious significance and could be counted upon to draw pilgrims from all over Christendom. Today they are kept in the Shrine of the Three Kings in the Cologne cathedral. The death of the antipope Victor IV saw Frederick give his support to a new antipope, Paschal III, but he was soon driven from Rome which once again saw the return of Pope Alexander III in 1165.^[42]

Frederick in the meantime was focused on restoring peace in the Rhineland, where he organized a magnificent celebration of the canonization of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) at Aachen, done under the authority of the antipope Paschal III. Concerned over rumours that Alexander III was about to enter into an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I,^[43] in October 1166, he embarked on his fourth Italian campaign, hoping as well to secure the claim of Paschal III, and the coronation of his wife Beatrice as Holy Roman Empress. This time, Henry the Lion refused to join Frederick on his Italian trip, tending instead to his own disputes with neighbors and his continuing expansion into Slavic territories in northeastern Germany. He began besieging Ancona in 1167, which had acknowledged the authority of Manuel I;^[44] at the same time, Frederick's forces achieved a great victory over the Romans at the Battle of Monte Porzio.^[45] Heartened by this victory, he lifted the siege of Ancona and hurried to Rome where he not only had his wife crowned empress, but he also received a second coronation at the hands of Paschal III.^[45] Unfortunately, his campaign was stopped by the sudden outbreak of an epidemic (malaria or the plague), which threatened to destroy the Imperial army and drove the emperor as a fugitive to Germany,^[46] where he remained for the ensuing six years. During this period, Frederick decided conflicting claims to various bishoprics, asserted imperial authority over Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, initiated friendly relations with Manuel I, and tried to come to a better understanding with Henry II of England and Louis VII of France. Many Swabian counts, including his cousin the young Duke of Swabia, Frederick IV, died in 1167, so he was able to organize a new mighty territory in the Duchy of Swabia under his reign in this time. Consequently, his younger son Frederick V became the new Duke of Swabia in 1167,^[47] while his eldest son Henry was crowned King of the Romans in 1169, alongside his father who also retained the title.^[46]

Later years[link]

With an increasing anti-German sentiment sweeping through Lombardy, which culminated in the restoration of Milan in 1169,^[48] in 1174, Frederick made his fifth expedition to Italy but was opposed by the pro-papal Lombard League (now joined by Venice, Sicily and Constantinople) which had previously formed to stand against him.^[49] The cities of northern Italy had become exceedingly wealthy through trade, and represented a marked turning point in the transition from medieval feudalism. While continental feudalism had remained strong socially and economically, it was in deep political decline by the time of Frederick Barbarossa. When the northern Italian cities inflicted a defeat on Frederick at Alessandria in 1175, the European world was shocked that such a thing could happen.^[50] With the refusal of Henry the Lion to bring help to Italy, the campaign was a complete failure. Frederick suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Legnano near Milan, on 29 May 1176, where he was wounded and for some time was believed to be dead.^[51] This battle marked the turning point in Frederick's claim to empire.^[52] He had no choice other than to begin negotiations for peace with Alexander III and the Lombard League. In the Peace of Anagni in 1176, Frederick recognized Alexander III as Pope and in the Peace of Venice, 1177, Frederick and Alexander III were formally reconciled.^[53] The scene was similar to that which had occurred between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor at Canossa a century earlier.