Pope Honorius II (9 February 1060 – 13 February 1130), born Lamberto Scannabecchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 December 1124 to his death in 1130. Although from a humble background, his obvious intellect and outstanding abilities saw him promoted up through the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Attached to the Frangipani family of Rome, his election as pope was contested by a rival candidate, Celestine II, and force was used to guarantee his election. Honorius's pontificate was concerned with ensuring that the privileges the Roman Catholic Church had obtained through the Concordat of Worms were preserved and, if possible, extended. He was the first pope to confirm the election of the Holy Roman emperor. Distrustful of the traditional Benedictine order, he favoured new monastic orders, such as the Augustinians and the Cistercians, and sought to exercise more control over the larger monastic centres of Monte Cassino and Cluny Abbey. He also approved the new military order of the Knights Templar in 1128. Honorius II failed to prevent Roger II of Sicily from extending his power in southern Italy and was unable to stop Louis VI of France from interfering in the affairs of the French church. Like his predecessors, he managed the wide-ranging affairs of the church through Papal Legates. With his death in 1130, the Church was again thrown into confusion with the election of two rival popes, Innocent II and the antipope Anacletus II. Early life Lamberto was of simple rural origins, hailing from Fiagnano in the Casalfiumanese commune, near Imola in present-day Italy. Entering into an ecclesiastical career, he soon became archdeacon of Bologna, where his abilities eventually saw him attract the attention of Pope Urban II, who presumably appointed him cardinal priest of an unknown church, in c. 1099, though S. Prassede has been discussed. His successor, Pope Paschal II, made Lamberto a Canon of the Lateran before elevating him to the position of cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1117. Lamberto was one of the cardinals who accompanied Pope Gelasius II into exile in 1118–19 and was at his bedside when Gelasius died. With Gelasius's death at Cluny on 28 January 1119, Cardinal Lamberto and Cardinal Cono (Bishop of Palestrina) conducted the election of a new pope according to the canons. Cardinal Lamberto carried out the coronation of Guy de Bourgogne at Vienne on 9 February 1119, and became a