Innocent IV, Pope

Innocent IV, Pope (secular name: Sinibaldo Fieschi), b ca 1200 in Genoa, d 7 December 1254 in Naples. He was elected pope in 1243, and in 1245 at the General Council of Lyons called for a crusade to defend eastern Europe against the Tatar invasion, and for negotiations with the Eastern church to end the schism. Archbishop Petro Akerovych from Kyivan Rus’ took part in the council. To establish his influence in eastern Europe the pope made contacts with princes Danylo Romanovych and Vasylko Romanovych, the rulers of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia, through Giovanni da Pian del Carpini, his emissary to the Mongols. In 1246–7 he corresponded with Danylo Romanovych about an anti-Tatar coalition and church union. In 1253 Archimandrite Opizo brought Danylo Romanovych a royal crown from the pope. Although Innocent IV issued a bull calling for a crusade against the Tatars, the campaign did not take place. The pope's letters to the Galician-Volhynian princes have been published in Documenta Pontificum Romanorum Historiam Ucrainae Illustrantia (1075–1700), vol 1 (1953).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]