Pope Paschal II

Born Raniero Raineri di Bleda sometime between 1050 and 1055, he took vows as a monk at the Abbey of Cluny. In 1073 Pope Gregory VII elevated him to cardinal-priest of San Clemente. He rose to the papacy on 19 August 1099, six days after his predecessor Urban II died, and inherited a church still vibrating from the crusade's success. His pontificate stretched almost twenty years—until his death on 21 January 1118—a run of unusual endurance for the age, outlasting emperors and weathering the pressures that came with ruling both souls and the Papal States.