Pope Adrian II ( la, Adrianus II; also Hadrian II; 79214 December 872) was the

bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

and ruler of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

from 867 to his death. He continued the policy of his predecessor, Nicholas I. Despite seeking good relations with

Louis II of Italy Louis II (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louis's usual title was ''imper ...

, he was placed under surveillance, and his wife and daughters were killed by Louis' supporters.

Family

Adrian was a member of a noble Roman family. In his youth, he married a woman named Stephania and had a daughter with her. Adrian was selected to become

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

on 14 December 867. He was already at an advanced age, and objected to assuming the papacy. His wife and daughter moved with him to the

Lateran Palace The Lateran Palace ( la, Palatium Lateranense), formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran ( la, Palatium Apostolicum Lateranense), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome. Located on St. ...

Pontificate

Adrian II maintained, but with less energy, the policies of his predecessor, Nicholas I. King

Lothair II of Lotharingia Lothair II (835 – 8 August 869) was the king of Lotharingia from 855 until his death. He was the second son of Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours. He was married to Teutberga (died 875), daughter of Boso the Elder. Reign For politi ...

, who died in 869, left Adrian to mediate between the Frankish kings with a view to secure the imperial inheritance to Lothair's brother,

. Adrian sought to maintain good relations with Louis, since the latter's campaigns in southern Italy had the potential to free the papacy from the threat posed by the Muslims. Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople, shortly after the council in which he had pronounced sentence of deposition against

Pope Nicholas I Pope Nicholas I ( la, Nicolaus I; c. 800 – 13 November 867), called Nicholas the Great, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority, exerting d ...

, was driven from the patriarchate by a new

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

, Basil the Macedonian, who favoured Photius' rival, Ignatius. The Fourth Council of Constantinople was convoked to decide this matter. At this council, Adrian was represented by legates who presided at the condemnation of Photius as a heretic, but did not succeed in coming to an understanding with Ignatius on the subject of jurisdiction over the Bulgarian Church. Like Nicholas I, Adrian was forced to submit in temporal affairs to the interference of Emperor Louis II, who placed him under the surveillance of Bishop Arsenius of

Orte Orte is a town, '' comune'', former Catholic bishopric and Latin titular see in the province of Viterbo, in the central Italian region of Lazio, located about north of Rome and about east of Viterbo. Geography Orte is situated in the Tiber va ...

, his confidential adviser, and Arsenius' nephew, Anastasius the Librarian. In 868, Adrian's wife and daughter were carried off and murdered by Arsenius' son Eleutherius, who had forcibly married the daughter.Riche, Pierre, ''The Carolingians'' Adrian died on 14 December 872, after exactly five years of pontificate.

References

External links

Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adrian 02 Popes Italian popes Adrian II Adrian II 9th-century archbishops Married Roman Catholic bishops 9th-century popes Burials at St. Peter's Basilica

Family

Pontificate

See also

References

Further reading

External links