c. 1170–1241 · Pope (1227–1241)
Pope Gregory IX
Pope who excommunicated Frederick II in 1227 for delaying his crusade, refused to recognise the emperor's acquisition of Jerusalem by treaty, and in 1234 issued the call that led to the Barons' Crusade.
BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER
Life and historical role
Life and political setting
From the family of the counts of Segni, Ugolino was a relative of Innocent III and, as cardinal bishop of Ostia, protector of the Franciscan order. He was elected pope in March 1227.
Role in the Crusades
When Frederick II turned back shortly after setting out in September 1227, citing illness, Gregory excommunicated him. The emperor went on the Sixth Crusade excommunicate and took Jerusalem by treaty in 1229; the pope refused to recognise this success and had the emperor's Italian lands attacked. Reconciled by the Peace of San Germano in 1230, the pope issued a new crusade call in 1234 with the bull Rachel suam videns, which led to the Barons' Crusade of 1239–1241.
Historical significance and source problems
Under Gregory the idea of crusade also began to be used against heretics in the West and against the emperor. He excommunicated Frederick again in 1239 and died in 1241 while the imperial army was besieging Rome. The papal registers and the chronicle of Richard of San Germano are the main sources.
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.