Pope Alexander III

A man born in Siena c.1100 named Roland grew up to make significant changes to the Roman Catholic Church. His name was Roland, and he studied theology at (probably) Bologna, according to Robert de Torigni. He was made a cardinal-deacon in October 1150 by Pope Eugene III, and a few years later he was the papal chancellor.

He was very busy in that role He was the leader of the cardinals who opposed Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. He negotiated the treaty between Pope Honorius II and Roger II of Sicily that ended hostilities between them. He was the initiator of a serious diplomatic incident when he delivered a message from the pope declaring that the Holy Roman Emperor as a vassal of the pope.

When Pope Adrian IV died in September 1159, there was disagreement over his successor. Roland was elected pope a week later, and took the regnal name Alexander III. There was, however, a contingent of cardinals who were loyal to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick, and elected a cardinal priest who took the name Victor IV and was an antipope. (This was actually the second "Victor IV" to be declared an antipope. There was another a generation earlier.)

The emperor had a strong presence in Rome, and Alexander had to live outside of the city while fighting to establish his legitimacy. In 1161, the King of Hungary recognized Alexander as the true pope, followed by kings of France and England. Victor died in 1164, and (it is said) Alexander wept real tears for the death of a fellow cleric, scolding his followers who rejoiced at the news.

Victor was replaced, however, by more antipopes with imperial support: Paschal III and Calixtus III. When Frederick was defeated at the Battle of Legnano in 1176, his grasp on politics in the Italian peninsula waned. Alexander returned to Rome on 12 March 1178 to live out the remainder of his pontificate.

He was also now free to make changes, which I'll tell you about tomorrow.