Editing Pope Adrian IV (section)

==Legacy and assessment==
[[File:Pope Hadrian IV.jpg|thumb|In the 14th century Adrian was recorded in St Albans' Book of Benefactors, which, suggests Bolton, "ensured that the memory of the English Pope would remain forever"]]
{{Quote box|bgcolor=#FFFFF0|quote=The archives of his pontificate are not extensive, but the picture emerges of an assiduous administrator, a man of strange vision and singular purpose, though of balanced judgement, who became something of a role model for later popes.{{sfn|Sayers|2004}}|source=Jane E. Sayers|width=30em}}

In the 14th century Adrian was recorded in St Albans' ''Book of Benefactors'', which, suggests Bolton, "ensured that the memory of the English Pope would remain forever".{{sfn|Bolton|2003a|p=96}} The 19th-century antiquarian [[Bishop Stubbs]] described Adrian IV as, in his view, "a great pope; that is a great constructive pope, not a controversial one, like those who preceded and followed".{{sfn|Stubbs|1887|p=151}} Walter Ullmann argues that Adrian's pontificate "left an imprint upon contemporary Europe which is not yet fully recognised".{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=233}} 

One reviewer has described Adrian's pontificate as, traditionally, "largely remembered as the answer to a trivia question (who was the only English pope?) or as a footnote in Anglo-Irish history".{{sfn|Hakkenberg|2004|p=212}} On the other hand, the [[Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History]], [[Christopher N. L. Brooke]] argues that, on account of the number of different countries he dwelt in over the years, he illustrates the cosmopolitan nature of 12th-century religion.{{sfn|Brooke|2003|p=3}}{{sfn|Brooke|2003|p=6}}

The timing of Adrian's pontificate, suggests Ullmann, was significant because it made him the first pope on which what Ullmann calls "newly released forces"—the recently crowned King Henry and Emperor Frederick.{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=234}}{{refn|Ullmann labels Henry II and Frederick I "classic examples of the reinvigorated royalist-lay ideology".{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=234}}|group=note}} On the other hand, argues Egger, Adrian—by rejecting the request of Kings Louis and Henry to crusade in Spain—undoubtedly prevented the secular power from embarrassing themselves: "one can only speculate about what might have happened, but it is not improbable that Adrian spared the Iberian peninsula a disaster on the scale of the second crusade to the East".{{sfn|Smith|2003|p=39}}

Morris argues that while "in a short pontificate, Hadrian did more than any of his predecessors to secure the papal position in central Italy...he was much less successful in his conduct of relations with the empire".{{sfn|Morris|1989|p=191}} Norwich too strikes a cautionary note. While agreeing that Adrian was "the greatest pope since Urban II", he argues that it would be difficult not to "tower...above the string of mediocrities who occupied the throne of St Peter during the first half of the century, just as he himself is overshadowed by his magnificent successor".{{sfn|Norwich|1970|p=186}} Duggan argues that, although "the future of the papacy was to be determined by other men and other events, but he had played his part in guiding it securely through an extremely critical phase of its long history".{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=155}}

Ullmann has called Adrian "diplomatically very well versed and experienced, dispassionate and purposeful in his government".{{sfn|Ullmann|2003|p=122}} Adrian—"the pope of action", says Ullmann—was Papal theory "become eminently practical".{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=233}} He was not, however, a dictator. Likewise, suggests the historian [[Christopher Tyerman]], Adrian's new approach to drumming up support for a crusade in 1157 became "a pivotal feature of crusading from the reign of Innocent III onwards".{{sfn|Tyerman|1998|p=15}} Innocent himself recognised the debt which he owed to Adrian's pontificate, argues Ullmann.{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=234}} Innocent codified Adrian's changes to the Imperial coronation as official procedure.{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=241}} Even the Besançon affair, suggests Ullmann, casts him in a positive light, and "by his dignified stand against Staufen attacks appears like a rock in comparison with the clamorous Germans".{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=244}}

The period immediately preceding Adrian's pontificate, argues [[Malcolm Barber]], was one where "even without a direct imperial threat, Roman feuds, Norman ambitions and incompetently led crusades could reduce grandiose papal plans to ashes".{{sfn|Barber|1992|p=99}} The Papacy itself was one of permanent struggle and conflict, although scholars disagree as to the degree of culpability the papacy had for this. Duggan suggests that "no fair judgment should be reached without recognising the vulnerability" of the papacy itself. His policy, if he can be said to have one, she says, was shaped by events rather than shaping them.{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=109}} Ullmann argues that there was "a perfect concordance between Adrian's symbolic actions and his acts of government".{{sfn|Ullmann|1955|p=239}} Adrian and his pro-Scicillian cardinals, suggests Duggan, became scapegoats in 1159 for the subsequent conflict.{{sfn|Duggan|2003a|p=107}}

Sayers describes Adrian IV as "a true son of the reforming papacy".{{sfn|Sayers|2004}} However, the [[Gregorian Reform|Papal reform movement]] does not appear to have had faith that Adrian would carry out its program, as leading reformers of the day—such as [[Gerhoh of Reichersberg]] and [[Hildegard of Bingen]], for example—sought the church's renewal other ways.{{sfn|Daniel|2004|p=8}} Chris Wickham credits Adrian with beginning the process by which the popes expanded their Patrimony. Adrian brought Rome brought back under firm Papal control{{sfn|Wickham|2015|pp=39, 51}}—with considerable success, argues Wickham,{{sfn|Wickham|2015|p=419}} and also expanded the Papal estate around the city, particularly in the northern [[Lazio]] region.{{sfn|Wickham|2015|pp=39, 51}}

Although his Papacy was shorter than either Eugenius III or Alexander III he bought more castles and lordships within papal jurisdiction than either of them, and in a more onerous political context.{{sfn|Bolton|2003b|p=178}} He was also a tougher pope than his two immediate predecessors, says Wickham{{sfn|Wickham|2015|p=445}} and his was an "extremely formative" Papacy, says Sayers, and his policy of reform was a legacy taken up again by reforming popes of the 13th century.{{sfn|Sayers|2004}} His Papacy though, suggests Eden, was "fraught with political intrigue and conflict".{{sfn|Eden|2006|p=293}} Adrian has been described as having "theocratic pretensions",{{sfn|Pixton|2001|p=727}} although it was also during his pontificate that the term "Vicar of Christ" became a common synonym for the Pope.{{sfn|McBrien|1997}}

Henry Summerson suggests that on his death, Adrian "left a high reputation", and quotes the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'' in saying that he also became "something of a role model for later popes".{{sfn|Summerson|2004}} The scholar Michael Frassetto suggests that blame for the poor relations between Adrian and Frederick can be placed as much upon their advisors—Roland and Reinald specifically—who both "stressed principle over compromise".{{sfn|Frassetto|2001|p=296}} Summerson also notes that although England provided no subsequent popes, relations between that country and the Papacy remained strong after Adrian's death and into the 13th century.{{refn|Culminating, suggest Summerson, after [[John of England|King John]] made the country a Papal fief in 1215.{{sfn|Summerson|2004}}|group=note}} Adrian's generous treatment of St Albans also had repercussions. He had granted it privileges of such breadth and grandeur—which were confirmed by his successors—that they caused rancour and jealousy in the English church.{{sfn|Bolton|2003a|p=95}}

Ullman suggests that it was Adrian who began the restoration of the [[Papal monarchy]] that would reach its apotheosis under Innocent III,{{sfn|Ullmann|2003|p=122}} while Bolton argues that "only Innocent, the great Roman, realised the value to the papacy of following where Adrian, the unique Englishman, had led".{{sfn|Bolton|2003b|p=178}}

For centuries, Adrian was the only [[pope]] native to the [[English-speaking world]], until the [[2025 papal conclave|2025 election]] of [[United States|American]]-born [[Pope Leo XIV|Leo XIV]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-papacy-of-leo-xiv-begins/ |title=The papacy of Leo XIV begins |website=CBS News |accessdate=May 12, 2025}}</ref>

[[Nicholas Breakspear School]] in St Albans, England, built in 1963, is named in his honour.{{sfn|Breakspear School|2022}}