Anagni, near Rome. Frederick Barbarossa had to wait here to be received by Pope Adrian IV, who demanded the gift of the stirrup, with which the emperor was supposed to help the pontiff mount his horse, thus acknowledging himself as a servant of the Church. To appease the Pope, Frederick had the preacher Arnold of Brescia arrested, whom the Pope disliked for preaching a poor and reformed Church. Handed over to the prefect of Rome, he was hanged, his body burned, and his ashes scattered in the Tiber. All this to appease the Pope and allow Frederick’s coronation.
