Pope Innocent II
?–1143 CE · Rome
Gregorio Papareschi, a Roman of the Papareschi family, was elected Innocent II in 1130 by part of the cardinals, while another faction chose Anacletus II, producing an eight-year schism that divided Europe. Backed decisively by Bernard of Clairvaux, whose advocacy swayed kings and bishops, Innocent ultimately prevailed after Anacletus's death. He convened the Second Lateran Council in 1139, which annulled his rival's acts and issued reform canons. His reign also saw conflict with the Norman king Roger II of Sicily, who briefly captured him. The schism revealed how reform-era electoral rules could still fracture under aristocratic and ideological rivalry.
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RomeרומאItaly
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Rome in this era
Between the 8th and 15th centuries Rome was the seat of the popes and capital of the Papal States, which grew from the Frankish king Pepin's grant of 756; Charlemagne was crowned emperor in St Peter's in 800. The city shrank far below its ancient size, and from 1309 to 1377 the popes resided at Avignon before returning to Rome.
About Rome
Rome, on the Tiber in central Italy, grew from an Iron Age settlement into the capital of the Roman Republic and then of an empire that by the 1st century CE ruled the whole Mediterranean. Its Jewish community, attested from the 2nd century BCE, is among the oldest in Europe. Christian tradition holds that the apostles Peter and Paul died there, and the city became the seat of the popes. After the Western Empire ended in 476 it passed to Gothic kings, to Byzantium and then to papal rule as capital of the Papal States, until it became the capital of unified Italy in 1871. Vatican City, independent since 1929, lies within it.
In Rome at the same time
Pope Gregory VIII, Pope Celestine II, Pope Honorius II, Pope Callixtus II, Pope Gelasius II
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Pope Innocent II’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Pope Gregory VIII, Pope Celestine II, Pope Honorius II, Pope Callixtus II, Pope Gelasius II
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Pope Innocent II’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.