ABSTRACT
Pope Adrian IV illustrates to a quite exceptional degree the cosmopolitan nature of twelfth-century religious culture. He was born in England, near the western edge of Christendom, yet passed his early maturity in Provence, as canon and abbot of Saint-Ruf at Avignon. As such he was a leading member of one of the most rapidly expanding religious orders, which expressed in a complex of fashions the religious impulses of the age throughout western Christendom. From Saint-Ruf he was called to the centre of the western church, to Rome itself, as cardinal; from there he was sent for a while to the northern frontier, to Scandinavia, on a crucial mission. Finally, in 1154, he was elected pope.
