PASCHAL III, Antipope. - Guido da Crema, as cardinal-priest of the title of St. Callixtus, when he took part in the election of Sept. 1159; and he was one of the two electors of the antipope Victor IV (V), upon whose shoulders he placed the red papal cloak. When the antipope died (Apr. 20, 1164), the emperor Frederick Barbarossa was inclined to negotiate with Alexander III; but the chancellor Rainald of Dassel brought pressure to bear on a college composed of two cardinals, two German bishops and the prefect of Rome, who voted for Guido da Crema (Apr. 22).

Consecrated at Lucca on Apr. 26 by Henry, bishop of Liège, the elect soon saw an Italian league forming against him at Verona; meanwhile the Romans joyfully welcomed Alexander III (Nov. 23, 1165). Barbarossa reacted and at the Diet of Würzburg (May 1165) swore an oath never to recognize Alexander III, but only P. III. Four princes did the same, and also a certain number of German bishops, because they were forced to. Moreover the oath was made obligatory for all those absent; even the ambassadors of England joined the intruder.

P. III seemed bound to triumph when, in July 1167, Barbarossa penetrated into Rome, while Alexander III fled disguised in the habit of a pilgrim. The antipope, on Aug. 1, consecrated the Emperor and his wife Beatrice, and the Romans swore an oath of fidelity to him. But the plague, which broke out suddenly, decimated the imperial army, forcing it to withdraw. P. III shut himself up in a fortified tower in Trastevere; he died on Sept. 20, 1168, when Denmark was defecting and the King of England began to show himself neutral between him and Alexander III.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: J. M. Watterich, Pontificum Romanorum... vitae, Leipzig 1862; H. Beuter, Gesch. Alexanders III. und der Kirche seiner Zeit, 3 vols., Leipzig 1860-64 (very important); A. Hauck, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, IV, Leipzig 1906; MGH, Leges, I and II, ibid. 1925; Hefele-Leclercq, V, pp. 1003-1004, 1011-27.

Guglielmo Mollat

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Paschal III, Antipope

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