Clement III

(Paolo Scolari)

died 1191, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 1187-91.

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▪ pope

original name  Paolo Scolari 

born , Rome

died March 20, 1191, Rome

      pope from 1187 to 1191. He was cardinal bishop of Palestrina when elected pope on Dec. 19, 1187. In October 1187 Jerusalem fell to Saladin, the leader of the Muslim armies, and Clement called the Western princes to undertake the Third Crusade (Crusades), the results of which were disappointing. In Italy the marriage of the German king Henry VI with Constance, the daughter of King Roger II of Sicily, threatened to unite south Italy with the German crown. Clement tried to avert this union by investing Count Tancred of Lecce with the fief of Sicily. He released the Scottish Church from the jurisdiction of the English see of York (1188), and the church became directly dependent on Rome. He also settled the long-running dispute with the commune of Rome.

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