ALEXANDER IV, POPE. — At the death of Innocent IV, which occurred in Naples where he had gone to defend the rights of the Holy See over the Kingdom, the cardinals who had accompanied him were obliged to proceed with the election of his successor in that very city.
At the same time, two Roman nobles, Napoleone Orsini and Riccardo Annibaldi, were elected senators.
Meanwhile, another event had occurred to complicate the affairs of Europe. In 1256 Emperor William of Holland had died; Alexander had opposed the candidacy of Conradin; the German princes were divided: some elected Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III of England, while others chose Alfonso X the Wise, King of Castile, but neither of the elected candidates gained credibility in Germany. Alexander, initially hesitant, showed himself favorable to Richard and had him appointed lifetime senator of Rome in 1261, in the hope that he might counterbalance the power Manfredi had by then acquired in Italy.
Like Gregory IX, Alexander showed great favor toward the Franciscans; he canonized St. Clare, condemned William of Saint-Amour, a Parisian doctor who had dared to write against the privileges of the Mendicants, and restored the Mendicants to the chairs they had been deprived of in those universities. Alexander died in Viterbo on 25 May 1261.