Adrian II maintained, but with less energy, the policies of his predecessor,
Nicholas I. King
Lothair II of Lotharingia, who died in 869, left Adrian to mediate between the
Frankish kings with a view to secure the imperial inheritance to Lothair's brother,
Louis II of Italy. Adrian sought to maintain good relations with Louis, since the latter's campaigns in southern Italy had the potential to free the papacy from the threat posed by the Muslims. Patriarch
Photius I of Constantinople, shortly after the council in which he had pronounced sentence of deposition against
Pope Nicholas I, was driven from the patriarchate by a new
Byzantine emperor,
Basil the Macedonian, who favoured Photius' rival,
Ignatius. The
Fourth Council of Constantinople was convoked to decide this matter. At this council, Adrian was represented by
legates who presided at the condemnation of Photius as a heretic, but did not succeed in coming to an understanding with Ignatius on the subject of jurisdiction over the
Bulgarian Church. Adrian supported the work of
Cyril and Methodius in
Moravia, and authorized the use of the new Slavic liturgy. He subsequently ordained Methodius a priest. In 869, he consecrated Methodius archbishop and Metropolitan of
Sirmium. Like Nicholas I, Adrian was forced to submit in temporal affairs to the interference of Emperor Louis II, who placed him under the surveillance of Bishop Arsenius of
Orte, his confidential adviser, and Arsenius' nephew,
Anastasius the Librarian. Arsenius' son Eleutherius married Adrian's daughter, having withheld the fact that he was already espoused to another. In 868, he abducted and murdered Adrian's wife and daughter. Eleutherius was condemned to death for his crimes. Adrian died on 14 December 872, after exactly five years of pontificate. ==References==