Arnold of Brescia

Arnold of Brescia (c. 1100–50), Italian religious reformer and political activist who strongly opposed the temporal power of the pope. He was a supporter of Peter Abelard, with whom he was condemned at the Council of Sens in 1140. In 1147 Arnold, a great orator, became leader of the rebellion that had suppressed papal authority in Rome and replaced it by a republic. On the collapse of the republic, Arnold fled to Campania but was captured, delivered to the pope by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and executed as a heretic.