Charlemagne did lead an army south of Rome against
Hadrian’s hostile Lombard neighbors.
Hadrian’s relations with Charlemagne were strained
by their different understanding of the privileges and
duties of bishops in important Italian sees and were
further complicated by Hadrian’s involvement in Byz-
antine affairs. Although his papal documents were the
fi rst to abandon Byzantine dating systems, Hadrian
did not neglect the Byzantine world. He participated
vigorously in the dispute over icons in the Byzantine
empire; he corresponded with the Byzantine emperor
and empress; and papal envoys were prominent at the
second Nicaean council, which discussed the worship
of icons. This openness to Byzantium irritated Char-
lemagne, who was scandalized by the Nicaean canons;
the Latin translation of these canons, prepared in Rome,
was garbled (exchanging proskinesis for adoratio) and
elicited a strong response from Charlemagne’s court in
the form of the Libri Carolini. Though Hadrian defended
the second Nicaean Council in a letter to Charlemagne,
he was unable to avert the condemnation of its decrees
by the Council of Frankfurt (794).
Hadrian was a lover of churches, and he built ex-
tensively in Rome. His building program included not
only churches but also refurbished aqueducts, restored
walls, and a portico joining Saint Peter’s to the Tiber.
He also founded four new domuscultae, partly on his
family’s property north of Rome, to furnish the church
with victuals and to nourish the poor. Hadrian was the
fi rst pope to mint coins and one of very few popes to
put a portrait bust on his coinage.
Hadrian died on Christmas day, or the day after, in
- Charlemagne, whose ascendancy had infl uenced
Hadrian’s pontifi cate deeply, is reported to have wept
on learning of his death. The metrical epitaph the king
sent to Rome for the tomb of his “father” can be seen
today in the portico of Saint Peter’s.
Some of Hadrian’s letters (forty-eight) are in Codex
Carolinus; two other letters are in Monumenta Ger-
maniae Historica Epistularum, 5; still others (some
spurious) are in Migne. A poem by Hadrian is in Monu-
menta Germaniae Historica Poetarum Latinorum, 1. For
synods and councils held during Hadrian’s pontifi cate,
see Mansi. A translation of his epitaph is in Gregorovius
(1903).
See also Charlemagne
Further Reading
Primary Sources
Codex Carolinus, ed. W. Gundlach. Monumenta Germaniae
Historica Epistularum, 3. Berlin, 1892, pp. 469–657.
Gregorovius, F. The Tombs of the Popes, trans. R. Seton-Watson.
Westminster, 1903. pp. 20–23. Liber Pontifi cate, ed. L. Duch-
esne. Paris, 1886, Vol. I, pp. 486–514.
Mansi, J. Concilia, 12, cols. 850–1153.
Migne, J. Patrologia Latina, 96, cols. 1203–1242.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica Epistularum, 5, ed. K. Hampe.
Berlin, 1889, pp. 3–57. Monumenta Germaniea Historica
Poetarum Latinorum, 1. Berlin 1880, pp. 90–91.
Studies
Bertolini, O. Roma di fronte a Bisanzio e ai Longobardi. Rome,
1941.
Classen, P. Karl der Grosse, das Papstum, und Byzanz. Düs-
seldorf, 1968.
Drabeck, A. Die Vertrage der frankischen und deutschen
Herrscher mit dem Papstum von 754 bis 1020. Vienna,
1974.
Engels, O. “Zum Papstlich-frankischen Bundnis im VIII. Jahr-
hundert: Ecclesia und Regnum.” In Festschrift F. Schmale, ed.
D. Bergu. Bochum, 1989, pp. 21–38.
Gero, S. “The Libri Carolini and the Image Controversy.” Greek
Orthodox Theological Review, 18, 1973, pp. 7–34.
Hallenbeck, J. “The Election of Pope Hadrian I.” Church History,
37, 1968, pp. 261–270.
Herrin, J. The Formation of Christendom. Princeton, N.J.: Princ-
eton University Press, 1988.
Hodgkin, T. Italy and Her Invaders, Vol. 7. Oxford 1899.
Mann, H. Lives of the Popes of the Early Middle Ages, Vol. 1,
part 2. London, 1903, pp. 394–497.
Noble, Thomas F. X. The Republic of Saint Peter. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.
Stevens Sefton, D. “Pope Hadrian I and the Fall of the Kingdom
of the Lombards.” Catholic Historical Review, 65, 1979, pp.
206–220.
Paolo SquatritiHADRIAN IV, POPE
(c. 1100–1159, r. 1154–1159)
Almost nothing is known about the birth, parentage,
or childhood of Pope Hadrian IV (Adrian IV; Nicholas
Breakspear or Brekespear). Most of our information
derives from two sources: Cardinal Boso and John of
Salisbury.
Boso wrote a vita (life) of Hadrian, which is in the
collection of Nicolas Roselli, cardinal of Aragon, in- According Boso, Hadrian was born in England
near Saint Albans and went to Aries in France to study
early in his boyhood. At the monastery of Saint Rufus
near Avignon, it is recorded that he took the vows and
habit of an Augustinian. After a short time, he was
elected abbot of Saint Rufus. On a trip to Rome on
business for the monastery, he endeared himself to
Pope Eugenius III, who made him cardinal bishop of
Albano in 1146.
John of Salisbury adds to our knowledge of Hadrian’s
life at this point, and mentions that Hadrian’s father was
Robert Brekespear and that Hadrian’s original name was
Nicholas Brekespear. Another source corroborating this
information is in Norway, where Hadrian established
an independent archiepiscopal see at Trondheim and
made Saint Olaf its patron saint. As a papal legate in
1152, Hadrian also tried to establish an archiepiscopal
HADRIAN I, POPE