URBAN III, Pope. - Uberto Crivelli, formerly archbishop of Milan, was elected pope at Verona on 25 Nov. 1185 and consecrated on the 1st of September; but his pontificate was not long, for he died on 20 Oct. 1187.

Political events did not allow him to set foot in Rome; the dispute with the emperor Frederick Barbarossa over the domains of the Roman Church, which he unjustly held, became more acute. To the Holy Pontiff's embitterment were also added veiled threats. Frederick in retaliation resorted to ill-advised measures: exit from Verona, where the pontifical Court was staying, was forbidden, and if any curial official ventured outside the walls, he was seized by the imperial troops and subjected to cruel torture.

U. III intended to launch excommunication against his persecutor; but the Veronese, fearing Frederick's wrath, induced him to leave the city. He then decided to take refuge in more hospitable lands and to reach Venice, where he would have found every security against the imperial intrigues; but he got no farther than Ferrara, where his funeral monument still stands. Under his pontificate the centralization of the Church was notably accentuated; the collection of his letters is testimony to the multiplicity of his interventions in ecclesiastical affairs, and the Decretals contain a considerable number of decisions issued by him. His power over Christendom also manifested itself through the action of permanent legates.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: I. M. Watterich, Pontif. Roman... ab exeunte saec. IX usque ad finem saec. XIII vitae ab aequalibus conscriptae, II. Leipzig 1862, pp. 663-83; PL. 202; Lib. Pont., II. p. 451; Jaffé-Wattenbach, II. pp. 492-528; E. Jordan, L'Allemagne et l'Italie aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles, in G. Glotz, Histoire du moyen âge, I, Paris 1939, pp. 136-49; Ch. Diehl - L. Oeconomos - R. Guilland - R. Gousset, L'Europe orientale de 1081 à 1453, ibid., IX, I, ivi 1945.

Guglielmo Mollat

@incollection{ec12_urbano_iii_papa, author = {Mollat, Guglielmo}, title = {Urbano III, papa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {906--907}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/urbano-iii-papa} }

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Urban III, Pope

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