User:Kansas Bear/Urban IV

Pope Urban IV (Urbanus IV; c. 1195 – 2 October 1264), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death. He was elected pope without being a cardinal, as it happened in very few cases ever since (Gregory X, Urban V and Urban VI).

Early career
Jacques Pantaléon was the son of a cobbler of Troyes, France. He studied theology and common law in Paris and was appointed a canon of Laon and later Archdeacon of Liège.

At the First Council of Lyon (1245) he attracted the attention of Pope Innocent IV, who sent him on two missions to Germany. On the first mission, Jacques negotiated the Treaty of Christburg between the pagan Prussians and the Teutonic Knights in 1249. The other mission, he reinforced papal favour of William of Holland's candidature against Conrad IV.

Jacques became Bishop of Verdun in 1253 and by 1255, Pope Alexander IV made him Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Jacques was at Viterbo seeking help for the oppressed Christians in the East when Alexander IV died. After a three-month vacancy, the eight cardinals of the Sacred College chose him to succeed Alexander IV in a papal election on 29 August 1261. He chose the regnal name of Urban IV.

Pontificate
A month before Urban's election, the Latin Empire of Constantinople fell to the Byzantines, led by Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. In a series of letters, Urban commanded that a crusade be proclaimed throughout Europe and promised that anyone who joined the mission to recover Constantinople would get the same forgiveness of sins as those who traveled to the Holy Land. Georgius Pachymeres reports that Urban flayed one of Michael's envoys alive. Following the Byzantine reconquering of Constantinople, the city of Genoa signed the Treaty of Nymphaeum, to which Urban IV excommunicated the Genoese and placed the city under interdict.

Urban excommunicated the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1262, over a debt of 4,000 marks. As a result, twenty-three years passed before the archbishop was finally buried after dying in 1265. Following the Ghibelline victory at Montaperti, Siena and Florence found themselves furnished with pro-Emperor regimes. Urban finding himself facing enemies surrounding him, excommunicated both cities.

In order to commemorate his patron saint, St. Urban, Urban IV declared the construction of a cathedral in his hometown. The site for the church was the Abbey of Notre-Dame-aux-Nonnains. The nuns of the abbey were troubled by this announcement and construction of the basilica may have started by 1263. Following Urban's death in 1264, the construction was supervised by his nephew, Cardinal Ancher.

Urban instituted the festival of Corpus Christi ("the Body of Christ") on 11 August 1264, with the publication of the papal bull Transiturus. Urban asked Thomas Aquinas, the Dominican theologian, to write the texts for the Mass and Office of the feast. This included such famous hymns as the Pange lingua, Tantum ergo, and Panis angelicus.

Urban became involved in the affairs of Denmark. Jakob Erlandsen, Archbishop of Lund, wanted to make the Danish Church independent of the Royal power – which put him in direct confrontation with the Dowager Queen Margaret Sambiria, acting as regent for her son, King Eric V of Denmark. The Queen imprisoned the Archbishop, who responded by issuing an interdict. Both sides sought the Pope's support. The Pope agreed to several requests from the Queen. He issued a dispensation to alter the terms of the Danish succession to allow women to inherit the Danish throne. However, the main reasons of he cnflict remained unsolved by Urban's death, with the case continuing at the papal court in Rome. The exiled Archbishop Erlandsen come personally to Italy to seek a solution.

The convoluted affairs of Denmark were a minor concern to the Pope. His attenton was focussed on Italian affairs. During the previous pontificate, the long confrontation with the late Hohenstaufen German Emperor Frederick II had given rise to clashes between cities dominated by pro-Imperial Ghibellines and those dominated by pro-papal Guelf factions. Frederick II's heir Manfred was absorbed in these confrontations.

Urban's military captain was the condottiere Azzo d'Este, who led a loose league of cities including Mantua and Ferrara. The Hohenstaufen in Sicily had claims over the cities of Lombardy. To counter the influence of Manfred, Urban supported Charles of Anjou in seizing the Kingdom of Sicily, because he was amenable to papal control. Charles was Count of Provence due to marriage and was very powerful.

Urban negotiated with Manfred over two years to seek his support to regain Constantinople in exchange for the papal recognition of his Kigdom. At the same time, the pope promised ships and men to Charles through a crusading tithe. In exchange, Charles's promised not to lay claims on Imperial lands in northern Italy, nor in the Papal States. Charles also promised to restore the annual census or feudal tribute due the Pope as overlord, some 10,000 ounces of gold being agreed upon, while the Pope would work to block Conradin's election to King of the Germans.

Urban IV died at Perugia on 2 October 1264, before Charles' arrival in Italy. His successor was Pope Clement IV, who provided continuity to his agreements.

Legend of Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser, a prominent German Minnesänger and poet, was a contemporary of Urban. Two centuries after the respective deaths, Urban IV became a major character in a legend about the Minnesänger, which was first attested to exist in 1430 and became established in in ballads from 1450.

According to this account, Tannhäuser was a knight and poet who discovered Venusberg, the underground home of Venus, and spent a year there worshipping the goddess. After leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser was filled with remorse and traveled to Rome seeking Pope Urban IV's absolution of his sins. Urban replied that forgiving him would be as impossible as for papal staff to grow leaves. Three days after Tannhäuser's departure, Urban's staff began growing leaves. The pose sent messengers seeking the knight, but he had already returned to Venusberg, never to be seen again. The Pope, for refusing a penitent, received an eternal damnation.