Editing Pope Leo IV (section)

===Battle of Ostia=== 
In 849, when a Saracen fleet from [[Sardinia]] approached [[Portus]], Leo IV summoned the [[maritime republics]] – [[Naples]], [[Gaeta]] and [[Amalfi]] – to form a league. The command of the unified fleet was given to [[Caesar of Naples|Cesarius]], son of Duke [[Sergius I of Naples]]. Aided by a fierce storm, the league destroyed the Saracen fleet off [[Ostia (Rome)|Ostia]].<ref name=ce>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09159a.htm Mann, Horace. "Pope St. Leo IV." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017</ref> The Battle of Ostia was one of the most famous in history of the Papacy of the [[Middle Ages]] and is celebrated in a famous [[fresco]] by [[Raphael]] and his pupils in his [[Raphael Rooms|rooms]] of the [[Vatican Palace]] in the [[Vatican City]]. 

[[Raphael]]'s ''[[The Fire in the Borgo]]'' celebrates the incident in which, according to legend, Leo stopped a fire in the pilgrims' district by making the sign of the cross.

Leo IV held three [[synod]]s, the one in 850 distinguished by the presence of [[Emperor Louis II]], but the other two of little importance. In 853, he travelled to [[Ravenna]] to settle a dispute with the archbishop. As the archbishop was on good terms with Emperor [[Lothair I]], the pope had little success.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/landsofstpeterpa0000part/page/75 <!-- quote=Guy III of Spoleto. --> Partner, Peter. ''The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance'', University of California Press, 1972, p. 62], {{ISBN|9780520021815}}</ref> The history of the papal struggle with [[Hincmar of Reims]], which began during Leo's pontificate, belongs properly to that of [[Pope Nicholas I|Nicholas I]]. 

Before his death in 855 the Pope welcomed [[Aethelwulf]] King of Wessex and his sons, including the seven year old [[Alfred the Great]], who at 5 had already met him in 853, as pilgrims to Rome.<ref>Asser, Life of Alfred the Great </ref>