Canonist, cardinal-priest, vice-chancellor of Rome, and bishop of Albenga.
He was elected after an interregnum of more than a year and a half while the excommunicated Frederick II was in possession of the Papal States.
In 1244 he entered into an agreement with Frederick who promised to restore the lands and free the prelates.
Frederick however, secretly incited rebellion, and the pope fled to Lyons for six years.
There he convoked the Thirteenth General Council which deposed Frederick.
After Frederick's death, Innocent struggled against Conrad IV and Manfred.
He returned to Rome and made a solemn entry into Naples, but Manfred revolted and defeated the papal troops at Foggia in 1254.
Innocent wrote a commentary on the decretals of Gregory IX.
![[Pope Innocent IV]](pope0180.jpg "17kb jpg detail from the 'Grandes Chroniques de France (XIV Century): Meeting of Pope Innocent IV and Saint Louis at Cluny', Bibliotheque Nationale de France; please do not write to ask about the image")