Editing Pope Adrian IV (section)

== Imperial claims to north Italy ==
Adrian's opposition to Guido of Biandrate's appointment had so incensed the Emperor that he no longer placed the Pope's name before his own in their correspondence, as had been a traditional sign of honour.{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=134}} Furthermore, he began aggressively asserting his claims over [[Lombardy]],{{sfn|Whalen|2014|p=127}} and in 1159 the [[Diet of Roncaglia]]{{sfn|McBrien|1997}} issued a series of decrees claiming extensive lands in north Italy.{{refn|The basis of the Emperor's claims was, in Duggan's words, the belief that "virtually all civic administration was deemed to be derived from, and thus subject to, imperial authority".{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=135 n.147}}|group=note}} This caused sufficient concern that the cities of [[Milan]]{{sfn|Barber|1992|p=103}}—which Barbarossa had already "half-destroyed", says Ullmann{{sfn|Ullmann|2003|p=124}}—[[Brescia]], [[Piacenza]]{{sfn|Barber|1992|p=103}} and [[Crema, Lombardy|Crema]] (which had also suffered a "brutal siege", notes Duggan){{Sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=137}} approached Adrian for aid.{{sfn|Barber|1992|p=103}} Since the lands concerned were part of the Papal fiefdom,{{sfn|McBrien|1997}} Adrian, in [[Bologna]],{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=134}} rejected Barbarossa's claim and gave him 40 days in which to withdraw them, on pain of excommunication.{{sfn|Barber|1992|p=103}} However, Adrian's intervention in a quarrel between the Emperor and the Lombard towns may, suggests the classicist [[Peter Partner]], "may have been inevitable, but it was to be one of the most explosive issues of its age".{{sfn|Partner|1972|p=200}}

Duggan has emphasised the severity of the situation facing Adrian: accepting Frederick's claims, she says, would have entailed Adrian effectively "abandoning the whole Italian church".{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=137}} Adrian also had counter-demands. Frederick was to desist from sending envoys to Rome without papal permission, that he should only be paid the Imperial tax from his Italian lands while in Italy and that those papal lands in north Italy be returned to the church. Adrian, says Duggan, "received short thrift".{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=136}} In the event Adrian died before his 40-day term expired.{{sfn|Barber|1992|p=103}} As relations between Emperor and Pope worsened, Barbarossa took to placing his own name before that of Adrian in their correspondence, as well as addressing the Pope [[Royal we|in the singular]].{{sfn|Freed|2016|p=110}} By now, suggests Duggan, Adrian was viewed with contempt by the Emperor.{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=138}}