Christ's Faithful People
Christ's Faithful People
1265 - 1268 AD
Clement IV had a rather interesting family history. His father became a Carthusian monk, and the Pope himself had been married and the father of two daughters before he entered the ranks of the clergy. Guy Foulques was born at St. Gilles in France. He followed his father into the profession of law and also into the service of the counts of Toulouse. Later he became a councilor of St. Louis IX. After his wife's death he became a priest and rose rapidly to become bishop of Le Puy, archbishop of Narbonne, and cardinalbishop of Sabina. Distinguished by a love for justice and an aptitude for conciliation, Guy was much in demand as an arbitrator. Urban IV sent him as legate to England to settle the troubles between Henry III and the barons. The barons flushed with their victory, refused to let the legate land in England, and nothing much was accomplished. Guy was on his way back from this mission when he learned that he had been elected pope. He tried to refuse, but since the cardinals would not hear of it, he was crowned at Perugia in February 1265. He took the name Clement IV.
Clement IV was holy and capable, but the Sicilian affair consumed most of his short time. He continued the policy of Urban IV and urged Charles of Anjou to hurry his preparations. Charles eluded a Sicilian fleet, slipped past a boom on the Tiber, and entered Rome on May 23, 1265. The Pope and the Guelfs were overjoyed. Months passed in raising a large enough army, but finally Charles was crowned king of Naples-Sicily on January 6, 1266. He advanced into his kingdom and defeated Manfred near Benevento. Manfred fell and Charles took over with little more trouble. But Charles, grim and dour, and his Frenchmen grew increasingly unpopular. Soon a revolt broke out and the Sicilians invited Conradin (little Conrad) the son of Conrad IV to take the Sicilian throne. Conradin, a youth of fifteen, accepted the call and invaded Italy. Clement, who had warned Charles against harshness, excommunicated Conradin. But the young Hohenstaufen cared as little for papal censures as his grandfather Frederick II. On he came. Rome fell into his hands and hailed him with joy. Ghibellines all over Italy raised their heads in hope. But joy was turned to sorrow when Conradin's army ran into Charles near Tagliacozzo on August 28, 1268. Once more the Hohenstaufen forces went down before the tough Frenchman. Conradin was captured shortly after. In vain Pope Clement pleaded for mercy. The young Conrad fell under the headsman's ax and with him perished the Hohenstaufens.
Clement sent that first-rate diplomat, Cardinal Ottoboni Fieschi, to England to settle the baronial problem. The barons were not talking big now. Prince Edward had defeated them at Evesham and was pushing them hard. Clement repaid the barons' scurvy treatment of him as legate by urging Prince Edward to have mercy on them.
Clement IV died at Viterbo on November 29, 1268.
