Adrian IV

orig. Nicholas Breakspear

Adrian IV extract from Britannica Online.

(born 1100?, Abbot's Langley, near St. Albans, Hertfordshire, Eng.—died Sept. 1, 1159, Anagni, near Rome [Italy]) Pope (1154–59), the only Englishman ever to hold the office. He served in France and Italy before a successful mission to Scandinavia led to his election as pope. Adrian crowned Frederick I Barbarossa emperor in 1155, after Frederick had turned over Arnold of Brescia, leader of a revolt in Rome. The relationship quickly soured, however, as a result of Adrian's policy toward the Normans of southern Italy and his assertion that Frederick had received the imperial crown as a benefice. His controversial bull Laudabiliter supposedly gave Ireland to Henry II of England, a claim that was later refuted. Adrian's refusal to recognize the king of Sicily, William I, stirred revolt in the Campania.

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