The last few days have been the 870th anniversary of the election on December 4th, enthronement on December 5th, and the coronation on December 7th of Pope Adrian IV, who as everybody knows the only Englishman to have been elevated to the Chair of St Peter.
Born Nicholas Breakspear in Hertfordshire he had conducted an important Legatine mission to reorganise the Church in Scandinavia before his relatively brief but active pontificate until his death in 1159. It was a time of conflict with the new Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, Barbarossa, with the King of Sicily and enmeshed in the political and cultural entanglements of the medieval Italian peninsula.
Pope Adrian IV, from a late twelfth century manuscript.
Image: The History Press
Wikipedia offers a biography of considerable length and detail - their articles are definitely improving in their depth and coverage - which can be seen at Pope Adrian IV
His most recent biographer has an introductory essay from his book at Breakspear: More cannons than canon
His tomb in the Vatican is described and illustrated in The Tomb of Hadrian IV - Vatican Grottoes
The verdict of historians appears to be on the whole favourable to him as Pope and as an administrator. For all the issues that confronted him he avoided the schisms in the Papacy of the earlier and later twelfth century, and some have seen him as anticipating the pontificate of Pope Innocent III.
As a son of Hertfordshire he is remembered as a great benefactor of St Albans Abbey. The modern grave of his father, who in late life became a monk there, can be seen under the central tower of what is now the cathedral.
His longest lasting legacy in the British Isles is, of course, the bull Laudabiliter which invited King Henry II to involve himself in Ireland. It was not until 1171, and after Strongbow had secured a foothold in Ireland, that the King followed up the bull with action and leading troops across the Irish Sea.
The text of Laudabiliter can be read in translation at The Avalon Project : The Bull of Pope Adrian IV Empowering Henry II to Conquer Ireland. A.D. 1155
An article which gives additional context can be seen at The controversial pope who gave the King of England permission to invade Ireland
A nineteenth century portrait of Pope Adrian IV
Image: Wikipedia
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