(9) 1. BREAKSPEAR, Can. Reg. of Saint-Ruf of Avignon, Nicholas (ca. 1100/1120-1159)

Birth. Ca. 1100/1120, Bedmond, parish of Abbot's Langley, near St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. His father was Robert de Camera, probably of the family of Gilbert Breakspeare, who had two sons; Robert worked at and was a member of the monastery of St. Albans. His last name is also listed as Breakspeare.

Education. Received his initial education at the monastery; he was not very studious and when he sought admission to the monastery, the abbot refused because of his educational shortcoming and told him to study further elsewhere. He went to Paris and studied at the university; he studied under Marianus, a Scottish monk; one of his condisciples was John of Salisbury, later secretary to Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury; he left Paris around 1125 and studied at the Premonstratense house at Melgoirum (later Montpellier). Cleric of Saint-Pierre, Mauguis, diocese of Maguelone. He entered the house of the Canons Regular of Saint-Ruf in Avignon; became a servitor, did his novitiate, professed and received the sacred orders.

Priesthood. Ordained, (no date found), Avignon. Prior, and later abbot general of his order in 1137; the community, unhappy for his excessive strictness, decided to appeal to Pope Eugenius III, who was exiled in Paris; a group of the unhappy canons went to see the pontiff; Abbot Breakspear accompanied them seeking to preserve the peace of charity and to observe perfectly the vow of poverty, avoiding the expense of a personal party; the pope decided in favor of the abbot and did not dismiss the parties until he had assured himself that the canons were truly reconciled with their superior. A few years later, probably around 1146, new complaints arose; again, the abbot accompanied the canons to see the pope, who was now in Rome; the pontiff asked the canons to return home and elect a new abbot because he was retaining Abbot Breakspear in the papal court in Rome. Shortly after, he was promoted to the cardinalate.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal bishop of Albano in a consistory celebrated in 1146 (1). Consecrated (no information found). Accompanied Pope Adrian IV to France in 1147. Subscribed papal bulls issued between January 30, 1150 and March 1, 1152; November 16 and 30, 1154. Legate in Sweden and Norway in 1152; his mission was to settle the dynastic fights and reorganize the ecclesiastical hierarchy; he established the metropolitan see of Trondheim and made the Norwegian hierarchy independent from the metropolitan Danish see of Lund; he convoked a counil in Linköping, Sweden in February 1153; besides the bishops, in the council also intervened the king and the feudal lords, who did not succeed in their effort to have an ecclesiastical province established; on his return, he visited Denmark and arrived in Rome on November 28, 1153, and was greeted as the "Apostle of the North". Participated in the papal election of 1154 and was elected pope.

Papacy. Elected pope on December 4, 1154. Took the name Adrian IV. He was crowned on December 5, 1154 at the patriarchal Vatican basilica by Cardinal Odone Fattiboni, protodeacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro. He created twenty three cardinals in three consistories. First and so far, the only English pope.

Death. September 1, 1159, Anagni. Buried in the grotto of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, next to the tomb of Pope Eugenius III; in 1607, his body, which was found incorrupt, was transferred to the left nave of the crypt of the basilica and placed in a red marble sacophagus with the simple inscription Hadrianus Papa IIII; a marble plaque was placed on his tomb on February 6, 1925.

Bibliography. Baxter, Dudley. England's cardinals. With an appendix showing the reception of the sacred pallium by the archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster. London : Burns & Oates ; New York : Benzinger, 1903, p. 2-10; Bellenger, Dominc Aidan and Stella Fletcher. Princes of the church. A history of the English cardinals. Phoenix Mill, Gloucestershire : Sutton Publishing Ltd., 2001, p. 5-6; Bolton, Brenda : Duggan, Anne. Adrian IV, the English Pope, 1154-1159 : studies and texts. Aldershot, Hampshire, England ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, 2003. (Church, faith, and culture in the Medieval West); Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 2, 64-67; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, I, col. 1044-1045 and 1055-1070; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1928. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1928, p. 137; Heseltine, George Coulehan. The English cardinals. With some account of those of other English-speaking countries. London : Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1931, p. 5-11; Ilari, Annibale. Monsignor governatore di Roma. Rome : Istituto di Studi Romani Editore, 1972, p. 28-30; Isaacson, Charles S. The story of the English cardinals. London : Elliot Stock, 1907, p. 7-18; Kelly, John Norman Davidson. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 174-175; Lamma, Paolo. "Adriano IV". Enciclopedia dei papi. 3 vols. Roma : Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2000, II, 286-29; Mann, Horace Kinder. Nicholas Breakspear (Hadrian IV) A.D. 1154-1159, the only English pope. London : K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1914; Quinlan, John. Our English cardinals, including the English pope. Alcester ; Dublin : C. Goodliffe Neale, 1972, p. 5-14; Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab conditio Ecclesia. Ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. 2 v. Reprint. Originally published : Lipsiae : Veit et comp., 1885-1888. Original t.p. included : Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia : ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam edidit Philippus Jaffè ; auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach; curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald, II, 20 and 89; Schofield, Nicholas ; Skinner, Gerard. The English cardinals. Oxford, UK : Family Publications, 2007, p. 18-21; Williams, Robert Folkestone. Lives of the English cardinals, including historical notices of the papal court, from Nicholas Breakspear (Pope Adrian IV) to Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal Legate. 2 vols. Westmead, England : Gregg International, 1969. Responsibility: London, Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1868, I, 81-140.

Webgraphy. Biography by Paolo Lamma, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 1 (1960), Treccani; biography by Arthur Ua Clerigh, in English, The Catholic Encyclopedia; biography, in English, Encyclopaedia Britannica; biography, in English, Oxford bnb; biography, in English, speroforum.com; biography, in English, www.churchinhistory.org; his engraving, bibliography and biography, in English, St Albans Cathedral; biography, in English, p. 53-54, ccel.org; his image and biography, in Italian, Cronolgia Leonardo; his engraving, effigy on a cameo and biography, in English, Wikipedia; Pope Adrian IV: The Lothian Essay by Mackie, John Duncan, Oxford : Blackwell ; London : Simpkin, Marshall, 1907; five engravings, Bildarchiv Austria, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his engraving, Biblioteca dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna; his engraving, Araldica Vaticana; his tomb, grotto of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, tuttipai.it.

(1) This is according to "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIIè siècle", Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1928, p. 137. Kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, p. 174, says that he was created cardinal in 1149.

(10) 2. BERNARD, O.S.B.Cas. (?-?)

Birth. (No date or place found).

Education. Entered the Order of Saint Benedict (Benedictines) in Montecassino.

Priesthood. Ordained (no further information found).

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in a consistory celebrated in 1146; his title is not known.

Death. (No date or place found). Buried (no information found).

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 2, ; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, I, col. ; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1928. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1928, p. 137.

(11) 3. GREGORIO (?-1153)