Urban IV | Biography, Pope, & Facts (2024)

Urban IV (born c. 1200, Troyes, Champagne [France]—died October 2, 1264, Perugia, Papal States [Italy]) pope from 1261 to 1264.

Urban was of humble origin. He was first a priest at Lyon and then professor of canon law at Paris before being elevated to the bishopric of Verdun in 1253. Two years later he was made patriarch of Jerusalem by Pope Alexander IV. Despite not having been made a cardinal, he succeeded Alexander as pope on August 29, 1261. Urban was faced with three tasks: freeing the Kingdom of Sicily, a papal fief, from domination by the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire; reasserting papal influence in Italy, where it had diminished because of Alexander’s vacillation on the Sicilian problem; and restoring order in Rome, which suffered such civil unrest that Urban never resided there as pope.

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In 1262 Urban negotiated with Manfred, son of the late Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, over Manfred’s claim to the throne of Sicily. Manfred had resisted Alexander’s attempt by military intervention to install Edmund, son of Henry III of England, on the throne in 1255 and had effectively served as king since 1258. Manfred’s ascent to power coincided with the rise in Tuscany and Lombardy of the Ghibellines, an antipapal and pro-imperialist political party that Manfred protected; together these developments appeared to Urban to pose a critical threat to the church. In 1263 Urban offered the crown of Sicily to Charles of Anjou, the able and ambitious brother of King Louis IX of France. Later negotiations between Urban and Louis over the installation of Charles and the marginalization of Manfred were tedious. Concurrent intrigue, including the suspicion of a plot to assassinate both Urban and Charles, caused Urban to leave for Perugia, where he died. His successor, Clement IV, continued negotiations between Charles, who ultimately took the crown as Charles I, and Manfred, who died in battle in 1266.

Urban’s papacy is notable for the establishment of the Feast of Corpus Christi as a major festival of the Roman Catholic Church. The feast, held in honour of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost and the day of the Feast of the Holy Trinity), had begun in 1246 as a local celebration founded by the bishop of Liège. It found favour with Urban, who issued a bull in 1264 instituting it as a moveable feast (a holiday whose date is not fixed but is set according to the date of Easter) that was to be celebrated throughout the church. Because of Urban’s early death, the order was ignored in most countries until after its confirmation by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne in 1311–12.

Urban is associated with the German legend of Tannhäuser, a minnesinger (court poet-musician) and, by some subsequent accounts, a knight who fought in the Crusades. According to the legend, Tannhäuser discovered the Venusberg, the mountain home of the Roman goddess Venus, and worshipped her there for a year (or, in some versions of the legend, seven years). Stricken with remorse and seeking to atone for his apostasy, Tannhäuser made a pilgrimage to meet Urban and ask for forgiveness. Urban said that his papal staff would bloom before Tannhäuser would be forgiven. Tannhäuser left dejected and returned to Venusberg, but three days after he left Urban’s staff bloomed. Urban dispatched messengers to find Tannhäuser, but he was never seen again.