Innocent II, pope (1130- 43)

After the death of Honorius II in 1130, the conflict between the faction of the Frangipane, representing the nobility, and that of the Pierleoni, supported by the people, led to the contemporary election of Innocent II and Anacletus II (original name Pietro de’ Pierleoni). Innocent fled to France, while Roger II declared for the antipope Anacletus and was crowned king of Sicily by him, causing the intervention of Emperor Lothair III. Innocent supported the emperor’s two invasions of southern Italy in 1132 and 1137. On Anacletus’s death in 1138, Innocent returned to Rome. After being captured by Roger in 1139, he recognized him as king of Sicily. In 1143 the citizens of Rome rebelled against the pope, constituting, on the Capitoline Hill, a communal government headed by a council called the sacer Senatus. When, on 24 September of that year, Innocent II died, he was succeeded by Celestine II.