IV, PAPA

IV, POPE. — Goffredo Castiglioni, a Milanese, son of Giovanni and Cassandra Crivelli, sister of Urban III (d. 1187). A disciple of St Galdino, he was canon and chancellor of Milan, a monk in the Cistercian monastery of Hautecombe, where he wrote the history of the kingdom of Scotland. In 1227 Gregory IX created him cardinal of S. Marco, and he later became bishop of Sabina. At the death of Gregory IX (21 Aug. 1241), the ten cardinals present in Rome, under the impression of the political difficulties of the moment, could not agree on the choice of a successor; to force a decision, the people of Rome shut them up in the Septizonium. Out came Pope Castiglioni, now old and infirm (25 Oct. 1241), so much so that he died only seventeen days later (10 Nov. 1241). He was buried in St Peter’s Basilica.