Pope Adrian IV

Uncommon card · No. 79732

Pope Adrian (or Hadrian) IV (Latin: Hadrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); c. 1100 – 1 September 1159) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 until his death in 1159. He is the only pope to have been born in England and one of only two from an English-speaking country, alongside Pope Leo XIV who was elected 871 years later in 2025. Adrian was born in Hertfordshire, England, but little is known of his early life. Although he does not appear to have received a great degree of schooling, while still a youth he travelled to the south of France where he was schooled in Arles, studying law. He then travelled to Avignon, where he joined the Abbey of Saint-Ruf. There he became a canon regular and was eventually appointed abbot. He travelled to Rome several times, where he appears to have caught the attention of Pope Eugene III, and was sent on a mission to Catalonia where the Reconquista was attempting to reclaim land from the Muslim...

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