c. 1100–1181 · Pope (1159–1181)
Pope Alexander III
Pope who waged a long struggle with Frederick Barbarossa, convened the Third Lateran Council in 1179, and renewed crusade appeals to aid the Latin East.
BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER
Life and historical role
Life and political setting
Rolando of Siena rose as a canon lawyer and papal chancellor and was elected pope in 1159. For about twenty years he fought antipopes backed by Barbarossa; by the Peace of Venice in 1177 the emperor recognised him as legitimate pope.
Role in the Crusades
In 1165 and 1169 he issued bulls calling for help for the Holy Land; his bull Cor nostrum of 1181 also drew attention to the plight of the Latin East. The Third Lateran Council, held in March 1179, banned the sale of arms and ship materials to Muslims and tried to define the limits of the military orders' privileges against bishops.
Historical significance and source problems
Alexander was an influential pope in the development of canon law and papal government, but because of conflicts among Western rulers his appeals did not turn into a great crusade. He died in 1181. The council's decrees and papal letters are assessed together with William of Tyre's attendance at the council.
Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.