Adrian IV The English Pope (1154-1159)

The year 2000 witnessed the 900th anniversary of the birth of Adrian IV, the only Englishman to sit on the papal throne. His short pontificate of four and a half years, distracted by crisis and controversy and followed as it was by an 18-year schism, could be judged a low point in the history of the papacy. The studies in this book challenge the view that Adrian was little more than a cipher, the...