Alexander IV

Timeline

1. 1254–1256Naples · CampaniaAfter Innocent IV died in December 1254, Rinaldo Conti was elected Alexander IV. He continued the excommunication and military pressure against the Hohenstaufen, active between Rome and Naples in the mid-1250s, trying to prevent Manfred from unifying southern Italy and to restore papal suzerainty over Sicily.
2. 1257–1260Rome · LazioAfter Manfred formally took the crown in 1258, Alexander IV intensified diplomacy and military alliances, repeatedly organizing crusades against Sicily. The papal-Hohenstaufen seesaw in southern Italy continued through the late 1250s, laying the groundwork for Urban IV's later introduction of the French Angevin family.