Urban IV, d. 1264, pope (1261–64), a Frenchman (b. Troyes) named Jacques Pantaléon; successor of Alexander IV. In the pontifical service he was sent on missions into N Germany; then he was made bishop of Verdun (1253) and Latin patriarch of Jerusalem (1255). On his election he inherited the struggle between the Hohenstaufen and the church, which he continued with vigor and success. It was Urban who dealt the Hohenstaufen the fatal stroke by a definite renewal of the offer of the Sicilian throne to Charles of Anjou. Urban restored the papal finances to solvency, and he established the feast of Corpus Christi. He was succeeded by Clement IV.
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