LUCIO III, PAPA. — Ubaldo Allucingoli of Lucca, died at Verona on 25 November 1185. A Cistercian, he was received into the Order by St. Bernardo da Chiaravalle himself. Created cardinal of the Holy Martyrs Giovanni and Paolo in 1141 by Innocenzo II, he became bishop of Ostia and Velletri in 1159. The popes, especially Alessandro III, entrusted him with various political and religious missions. Upon the death of Alessandro III, he was elected pope (1 September 1181) at Velletri and crowned there on 6 September. After a brief residence in Rome (November 1181–March 1182), L. III was forced to leave it forever because of the rebellion of the Romans, to whom he had refused to pay the sum demanded for swearing allegiance to him, and because of the question of Tusculum, which the pope wished to preserve from total destruction.
He subsequently resided at Velletri, Anagni, Segni, Veroli, and Albano, because, with the death of Cristiano, archbishop of Mainz and chancellor of the Empire, he lost the powerful support that would have brought him back to Rome. In the summer of 1184, L. III, passing through Lucca, Bologna, and Modena (for the examination of the body of St. Gemignano), reached Verona on 22 July, where he met with Federico Barbarossa to discuss the great religious and political problems. The meeting, which had the character of a synod, lasted three months, but L. III obtained neither the assistance he had hoped for against the Romans nor a satisfactory solution concerning the possessions of the countess Matilde di Canossa. He refused to crown Barbarossa’s son, Enrico VI, emperor, and opposed his marriage to Costanza, heiress to the Norman kingdom of the Two Sicilies. L. III found Federico in agreement with him only on the severe measures of repression against the heretics, who had become bold and numerous in northern Italy; these measures were sanctioned on 4 November 1184 by the constitution Ad abolendam, which established rules for the investigation and punishment of heretics. Shortly afterward, the aged Pontiff died.