(Nicholas Breakspear, d. 1159)
Pope from 1154, and the only Englishman to have achieved that position. Born near St Albans, and believed to have been the son of a monk, he made his way as a boy to France and was probably never again in England. He was long believed to have granted a bull to *Henry II allowing him to conquer *Ireland, but this is now thought to have been a forgery.
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