Gregory IX elected pope

1227

A cousin of Innocent III and nearly eighty years old, Ugolino of Ostia took the name Gregory IX and brought the papacy's war with Frederick II to white heat. He would live another fourteen years, long enough to preside over the Inquisition's formalization. His personal friendship with Francis of Assisi had not softened his temper, and he wielded excommunication like a blunt instrument against imperial ambition.