Pope Urban III

Infobox Pope
English name=Urban III


birth_name=Uberto Crivelli
term_start=November 25 1185
term_end=October 20, 1187
predecessor=Lucius III
successor=Gregory VIII
birth_date=???
birthplace=Cuggiono, Italy
dead=dead|death_date=death date|1187|10|20|mf=y
deathplace=Ferrara, Italy
other=Urban

infobox popestyles
papal name=Pope Urban III
dipstyle=His Holiness
offstyle=Your Holiness
relstyle=Holy Father
deathstyle= none

Pope Urban III (died October 20, 1187), born Uberto Crivelli, was Pope from 1185 to 1187. He was made cardinal and archbishop of Milan by Pope Lucius III (1181–85), whom he succeeded on (November 25, 1185). He vigorously took up his predecessor's quarrels with the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (1152–90), including the standing dispute about the succession of territories of the countess Matilda of Tuscany. Even after his elevation to the Papacy he continued to hold the archbishopric of Milan, and in this capacity refused to crown as King of Italy Frederick I's son Prince Henry, who had married Constantia, the heiress of the kingdom of Sicily. While Henry in the south cooperated with the rebel senate of Rome, Frederick I in the north blocked the passes of the Alps and cut off all communication between the Pope, then living in Verona, and his German adherents. Urban III now resolved on excommunicating Frederick I, but the Veronese protested against such a proceeding being resorted to within their walls; he accordingly withdrew to Ferrara, but died before he could give effect to his intentions. His successor was Gregory VIII (1187).

According to legend, he died of grief upon hearing news of the Crusader defeat in July of 1187 at the Battle of Hattin.

References

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