The Life Of Pope Adrian Iv-00-5878

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Born in 1100, he died in 1159 and was Pope from 1154 until his death. Pope Adrian IV, born Nicholas Breakspear, was born at Breakspear Farm in Abbots Langley and is so far the only Englishman to boast a place in the infamous papal chair.

Early years

He was educated in Abbey School in nearby St. Albans and his father was a monk. When Nicholas tried to follow his father into the monastery, the abbot advised that he was better focusing on his schooling before he would be considered eligible to become a monk. But Nicholas' passion for joining a monastery saw him flee to Paris where he became a canon regular in St. Rufus, just a few miles from Arles. He worked his way up to prior status before being crowned abbot in 1145.

In 1949, Pope Eugene III (who reigned as Pope from 1145-1153) made Nicholas the cardinal bishop of Albano and from 1952-1954 he was sent to Scandinavia as papal legate where he was in charge of organising the affairs of the Norwegian archbishop of Nidaros. He assisted the archbishop to erect the Oslo Cathedral School in 1953 and the school still stands today. It is highly regarded as one of ...
... the most prestigious in the country.

Becoming Pope

In 1954, Nicholas went to Italy where he was inundated with great honours from Pope Anastasius IV, who reigned as Pope from 1153-54. Upon his death, Nicholas was elected to take over as Pope on December the 3rd, 1954 and his first mission was to take down the head of the anti-papal group that were based in Rome, Arnold of Brescia. This created much friction in Rome and the chaos culminated in the death of a cardinal and Nicholas swiftly put Rome under interdict in a bid to quell the trouble. The Senate (the City Council of Rome) extradited Arnold and Nicholas began his reign as Pope Adrian IV.

In 1155, Pope Adrian IV dealt with invasion of Italy by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenus by joining alliances with Manuel as the Papacy did not get on with the Normans of Scilly and the invasion was encouraged by the Pope. The allure of gold or threat of force saw many areas yield to the Papal and Byzantine forces who had by now also recruited the help of local rebels. Unfortunately for the Pope and his allies, the Sicilians were more resilient than what they first allowed for and soon launched numerous counter attacks that saw the removal of the Byzantine Army in 1158.

Pope Adrian IV demanded that a union between the east and west churches had to include the acceptance of the Pope's religious authority over all Christians all over the world but neither church would accept his demands. Adrian was friendly to the Roman Church but still refused to honour Manuel with the valued title of ‘Augustus' and this lead to the breakdown of communication between the two churches and they have remained on bad terms ever since.

Adrian's death

In 1157, during the Diet of Besancon Adrian caused major upset and insult to Barbarossa after sending a letter through which the point was misconstrued. Barbarossa mistakenly accused the Pope of insinuating that he depended on him but the actual meaning of the Pope's letter was simply lost in translation as he explained later. But the gap had been formed and Barbarossa refused to listen to explanations and when Pope Adrian IV decided to excommunicate Barbarossa he died in Anagni in September of 1159 after what some claim a freak accident after choking on a fly but others claim he died from quinsy.

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