Adrian

Adrian, the name of six popes (see POPE), none of them very remarkable. Adrian IV. was by birth an Englishman, the only one that ever sat upon the papal chair. His name was Nicolas Breakspear. He was a native of Langley, near St Albans, became first a lay-brother or servant in the monastery of St Rufus, near Avignon, and in 1137 was elected its abbot. His zeal for strict discipline raised a combination to defame his character, and he had to appear before Eugenius III. at Rome. Here he not only cleared himself of all charges, but acquired the esteem of the pope, who appointed him cardinal-bishop of Albano in 1146. In 1154 he was raised to the papal see, one of his early acts being to grant Ireland to Henry II. Adrian was at first on friendly terms with the Emperor Frederick I.; but his high notions of the papal supremacy, as high even as Gregory VII.'s, led to the beginning of that long contest of the popes against the house of Hohenstaufen, which ended in the destruction of the dynasty. He was about to excommunicate Frederick, when he died at Anagni, 1159.—For the Emperor Adrian, see HADRIAN.