Ubaldo Allucingoli was born in Lucca, Italy around the year 1100 and may well have been from a noble family. Pope Innocent III was the first to tap him for a Church position, naming him cardinal-deacon in 1138 and cardinal-priest three years later. He kept moving up when “Yo” Adrian IV made him Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia in 1158. Prior to his election, Ubaldo was serving as the dean of the College of Cardinals and key advisor to his predecessor, Alexander III. 

Pope Lucius III was unanimously elected by his brother cardinals on September 1, 1181 in the first election since the Third Lateran Council laid down its two-thirds majority rule for new popes. He started immediately to work out some lasting peace between the Church and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, considering he’d become progressively more thorny to Peter’s successors as the years dragged on. A meeting known as the Diet of Constance in 1183 brought agreement between the two on preparations for a new crusade. Lucius worked to quash heresy with the papal bull Ad abolendam (“On abolition”), as well as with a Synod at Verona in 1184. Other issues between emperor and pope weren’t able to be resolved as easily. Lucius III died in Verona after a four-year reign. 

Seeing the writing on the wall seemed to be one of Lucius’ strong suits, especially when it came to his political contemporaries. When Barbarossa requested that his son Henry be crowned emperor to insure his family’s succession, Lucius balked. Lucky for him, he had just learned that young Henry had been betrothed to none other than the daughter of Roger II, the former king of Sicily. The arrangement would have made for one family ruling both Germany and Sicily, which would have been no bueno for the papacy. So Lucius backed away verrrry slooowly, while encouraging his successors to do the same. 

Fun Fact: Though many think otherwise, Lucius III didn’t actually establish the Inquisition (dun dun DUN). The Inquisition -- known also as the Holy Office or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- wasn’t created until 1234, by Pope Gregory IX.