PASQUALE III, ANTIPAPA. – Guido da Crema, as cardinal-priest of the title of S. Callistus, when he took part in the election of Sept. 1159; and he was one of the two electors of the antipope Vittore IV (V), upon whose shoulders he placed the red papal cope. When the antipope died (20 Apr. 1164), the emperor Federico Barbarossa was inclined to negotiate with Alessandro III; but the chancellor Rinaldo di Dassel exerted pressure on a college composed of two cardinals, two German bishops, and the prefect of Rome, who voted for Guido da Crema (22 Apr.).
Consecrated at Lucca on 26 Apr. by Enrico, bishop of Liège, the elected pope soon saw an Italian league form against him at Verona, while the Romans joyfully welcomed Alessandro III (23 Nov. 1165). Barbarossa reacted, and at the Diet of Würzburg (May 1165) swore never to recognize Alessandro III, but only P. III. Four princes and also a certain number of German bishops did the same, because they were compelled to do so. Moreover, the oath was made obligatory for all those absent; even the ambassadors of England joined the intruder.
P. III seemed destined to triumph when, in July 1167, Barbarossa entered Rome, while Alessandro III fled disguised in a pilgrim’s habit. The antipope, on 1 Aug., consecrated the Emperor and his wife Beatrice, and the Romans swore allegiance to him. But the plague,
which suddenly broke out, decimated the imperial army, forcing it to withdraw. P. III shut himself up in a fortified tower in Trastevere; he died on 20 Sept. 1168, when Denmark was defecting and the King of England was beginning to show himself neutral between him and Alessandro III.