18 June 1276. On 18 May 1276, Pope Innocent V notified King Philip III of France that he had appointed his friend Fr. Guy de Sully, OP, the Dominican Provincial of Paris (a post that Innocent himself had held until 1272, when he was appointed Archbishop of Lyon), to the see of Bourges. A noteworthy feature of his brief pontificate was the practical form assumed by his desire for reunion with the Eastern Church. He wrote to Michael VIII Palaeologus, the Byzantine emperor, informing him of the death of Gregory X, and apologizing for the fact that the Emperor's representatives, George, the Archdeacon of Constantinople, and Theodore, the Dispensator of the Imperial Curia, had not yet been released to return to Constantinople. He was proceeding to send legates to the Emperor in connection with the recent decisions of the Second Council of Lyons, hoping to broker a peace between Constantinople and King Charles I of Naples. King Charles, however, was interested in conquest, not in concord. Innocent was interested in sending people to negotiate the reunion. He appointed Fr. Bartolommeo, O.Min., of Bologna, a Doctor of Sacred Scripture, to travel to the East, but he ordered him to come to Rome first, so that a suitable suite could be chosen for him. Death intervened. Pope Innocent V died at Rome on 22 June 1276, after a reign of five months and one (or two) days. He was buried in the Lateran Basilica, in a magnificent tomb built by King Charles. Unfortunately, the tomb was destroyed by the two fourteenth century fires at the Basilica, in 1307 and 1361. Innocent V had created no new cardinals at all, and therefore the participants at the Conclave of July 1276, was the same as in January. King Charles, however, was in Rome the entire time, and was in the position as Senator of Rome, to be the Governor of the Conclave. His wishes could not be ignored. Writings Pope Innocent V was the author of several works of philosophy, theology, and canon law, including commentaries on the Pauline epistles, and on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. He is sometimes referred to as famosissimus doctor. Beatification Pope Leo XIII beatified Innocent V on 9 March 1898, on account of his reputation for holiness. See also List of popes External links Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from