Pope Alexander III

Born Roland in Siena sometime in the early 1100s, he rose through the Church and was elected pope on 7 September 1159 — but the election was contested. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa backed a series of rivals, forcing Alexander to spend much of his pontificate outside Rome itself. He rejected an offer from Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos to heal the East–West Schism, sanctioned the Northern Crusades, and convened the Third Council of the Lateran. He canonized both Thomas Becket and Bernard of Clairvaux. The northern Italian city of Alessandria still carries his name. He died on…