commemorated a few days prior to Gherardo's consecration. Pontificate Relations with England and Portugal Lucius was involved in the usual running of church business throughout medieval Christendom. In England, he granted a number of privileges to bishops, monasteries and churches, including exempting the monastery of St. Edmund from all subjection to the secular authorities. He also dispatched a papal legate, Igmarus (or Hincmar), to England, charged to investigate the request of Bernard, Bishop of St David's, to elevate his see to the rank of metropolitan bishop, and to take the pallium to Archbishop William of York. Regarding the political situation in England, he took the side of the Empress Matilda over the rights to the English crown. Early in his reign, Lucius received a request from prominent members of the town of Lucca to become the suzerain of the castle within the town in order to protect it from the war between Lucca and Pisa. Lucius received it on 18 March 1144 and, for a payment of ten pounds of gold, agreed to defend it on his behalf. Lucius then returned the castle to them as a fief. Meanwhile, in Portugal, King Afonso I, eager to maintain the newly established independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León, offered to do homage to Lucius, as he had done to Pope Innocent II, and to make the pope the feudal suzerain of his lands. He offered Lucius his territory and a yearly tribute of four ounces of gold in exchange for the defence and support of the Apostolic See. Although Lucius accepted Afonso's feudal homage on 1 May 1144, and excused him from appearing in person, he did not acknowledge Afonso as King of Portugal, but instead as Dux Portugallensis. The royal title would eventually be conferred by Pope Alexander III. Finally, the city of Corneto, formally belonging to the Papal States, was restored to the papacy during Lucius’ pontificate by a formal deed on 20 November 1144. Conflict with Roger II of Sicily Although Lucius had been the friend of King Roger II of Sicily and godparent to one of his children, the situation between the two deteriorated. The two parties met at Ceprano in June 1144 to clarify the duties of Roger as a vassal of the Holy See. Lucius demanded the return of the principality of Capua, while Roger instead wanted additional territory that formed part of the