Sinibaldo Fieschi, Pope Innocent IV

Sinibaldo Fieschi (c. 1195–1254), son of Count Ugo Fieschi, was the pope who deposed Emperor Frederick II. He was made a cardinal in 1227. Elected pope in 1243 as Innocent IV, he inherited the dispute over lands Frederick had seized from the Church.

Talks collapsed in 1244 when a meeting at Narni looked like a trap; Innocent left Civitavecchia disguised as a soldier and made his way to Lyon. There the council that opened in June 1245 confirmed Frederick's excommunication and deposed him. In 1252 his bull Ad extirpanda authorised torture of heretics.

Frederick died in 1250, and Innocent returned to Italy in 1251 to face his sons Conrad IV and Manfred. In May 1254 he invested Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England, with Sicily; Manfred submitted only to gain time. Innocent died at Naples on 7 December 1254 with Sicily still unsettled.