Who he was
Nicholas Breakspear was born in England, probably at Abbots Langley near St Albans, and went abroad as a poor scholar. He became a canon and then abbot of St Rufus near Avignon; Eugene III made him Cardinal-Bishop of Albano and sent him as legate to Scandinavia, where he set up the archbishopric of Trondheim for Norway. He was elected pope the day after Anastasius IV died.
What he is remembered for
Hailed in Rome as the Apostle of the North, he placed the rebellious city under interdict and crowned Frederick Barbarossa emperor in 1155 only after Frederick paid the customary homage; relations between them later broke down. He came to terms with William I of Sicily in 1156 and died at Anagni. He is well remembered in Ireland because John of Salisbury records that he granted Ireland to Henry II of England; the authenticity of the bull Laudabiliter connected with that grant has long been debated.
Sources
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