Innocent IV., Pope, 1243–1254

The Emperor held Rome besieged for some weeks, until the cardinals besought him to put an end to his devastations, as they wished to proceed with the papal election. He had released Cardinal Oddo as early as August of the preceding year; he now set free Jacopo of Praeneste, as well as several other prelates who had been imprisoned, and returned to the kingdom in the middle of June, in order to await the result of the election. The election, however, we are led to believe, had already been arranged between him and the cardinals. The Cardinal of S. Lorenzo in Lucina was finally proclaimed Pope in Anagni on June 25, 1243. Sinibald Fieschi belonged to the Genoese house of the counts of Lavagna, who, invested with feudal titles by the Emperor, were regarded as nobles of the empire. Although he had failed to distinguish himself in the political affairs of the Church, the new Pope was considered one of the first jurists of his time. The recollection of the unfortunate battle at sea on May 3 was the true cause of the election of Innocent IV.–a Fieschi–to the Papacy. Amends were thus made to Genoa, while Innocent received a powerful support in the naval strength of his ancestral city.