He remained in England for several years as thepapal legate, serving from October 1265 to July 1268. His diplomatic position was such that his name is still on the oldest extant piece ofEnglishstatute law, theStatute of Marlborough of 1267, where the formal title mentions as a witness "the Lord Ottobon, at that time legate in England". (Also on this legation was a young diplomat, the futureBoniface VIII.) In April 1268 he issued a set ofcanons, which formed the basis of church law in England until theProtestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.
In theDivine Comedy,Dante Alighieri meets Pope Adrian V in the fifth terrace ofPurgatorio (reserved for the avaricious and the prodigal) where Adrian V cleanses for the vice of avarice (Purgatorio 19.79-145). Since the souls in this terrace purge their vices by facing down on earth and fixing their eyes on the ground, Adrian V’s identity is not revealed by facial recognition but through indirect inference. His papal identity is inferred from his Latin phrase,scias quod ego fui successor Petri ("I was Peter’s successor,"Purgatorio 19.99), and by his wordsfuiroman pastore ("I was a Roman shepherd,"Purgatorio 19.107). These phrases reveal the papal identity of Adrian V, given that popes are successors of the first pope,Saint Peter, and shepherds of the church in the teachings of theCatholic Church. Adrian V also describes his family name as being descended from those that reside betweenSestri andChiavari (Purgatorio 19.100-102). This reveals his family title,Fieschi, as the family held extensive land between the two cities.[4]
There exists a lack of historical evidence about Adrian V’s avaricious behavior. Some scholars believe that Dante’s view of Adrian V emanated from reading excerpts fromJohn of Salisbury'sPolicraticus, in which the author anonymously attributed the behavior of avarice toAdrian IV. Dante likely interpreted the excerpts as referring to Adrian V instead of Adrian IV.[4]
Despite the possible misinterpretation of Adrian V’s character, his presence in theComedy help to understand Dante’s views about the Church and the role of women in achieving man’ssalvation. Pope Adrian V’s representation of avarice reflects the zealous ambition for earthly power and goods.[5] Adrian V describes that he had to detach himself from the love of worldly things that came to be after he was assigned the papal sit in the short period he was a pope (Purgatorio 19.106-114).[5] This symbolizes Dante’s view of how avarice was at the heart of the church and popes in the Middle Ages were excessively drawn to earthly things and preoccupied with exercising power.[5] Moreover, Adrian V outlines not only his avarice but also the corrupt nature of his family, with the exception of his niece,Alagia Fieschi (Purgatorio 19.142-145). In a melancholic tone, Adrian V expresses how Alagia is the only remaining virtuous woman whose extension of prayer can help his journey of salvation. Alagia's portrayal reflects Dante’s view of how Christian women play a miraculous role in men’s achievement of salvation through their prayer.[6]
^ab This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Loughlin, James (1907). "Pope Adrian V". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Howell, Margaret (1998). "Eleanor of Provence: Queenship in 13th Century England", p. 154. Blackwell Publishing, Malden Massachusetts.ISBN0-631-17286-6
^Brunel, Ghislain (2002). "Hadrian V". In Levillain, Philippe (ed.).The Papacy: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 2: Gaius-Proxies. Routledge. p. 685.ISBN0-415-92229-1.
^abDante Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis Group, 2000.
^abcScott, John A. 1932- (John Alfred).Dante's Political Purgatory. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1996.
^Paolucci, Anne.The Women in Dante's Divine Comedy and Spenser's Faerie Queene. Griffon House Publications, Dover, Del, 2005.
Cristofori, Francesco (1887).Le tombe dei pape in Viterbo. Siena 1887.
Sternfeld, Richard (1905).Der Kardinal Johann Gaetan Orsini (Papst Nikolaus III.) 1244-1277. Berlin: E. Ebering 1905.
Gregorovius, Ferdinand (1906).History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Volume V.2 second edition, revised. London: George Bell, 1906.
Schöpp, Natalie (1916).Papst Hadrian V (Kardinal Ottobuono Fieschi). Heidelberg; C. Winter 1916.
Gatto, Ludovico (2000). "Adriano V,"Enciclopedia dei papi (ed. Manlio Simonetti et al.) Vol. I (Roma 2000), pp. 425–427.
Maxwell-Stuart, P. G.Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the Present. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002, pp. 117–118.ISBN0-500-01798-0.
Paravicini Bagliani, A. (1972).Cardinali di curia e familiae cardinalizie dal 1227 al 1254, Padova 1972, pp. 358–365
