Crusade against Francesco Ordelaffi

The crusade against Francesco Ordelaffi (1356–1359) was an international military campaign to restore the temporal power of the Holy See over part of the Romagna.

The crusade was led by Albornoz, who in February ordered it preached in the archdiocese of Ravenna and the patriarchates of Grado and Aquileia.

He was to provide troops to Albornoz upon request and in exchange the pope sanctioned his intervention in the civil war in the Serbian Empire as a crusade.

In response, Bernabò Visconti secretly hired the Great Company of German mercenaries under Conrad of Landau to assist Ordelaffi.

[8] He also detached the Da Polenta from their alliance with Ordelaffi and laid siege to Cesena, which was defended by Francesco's wife, Cia Ubaldini.

During his preaching that month, Albornoz extended the crusade to cover the mercenaries, on the grounds that they were guilty of "aiding heretics" (fautoria heresiae).

In Florence, the bishop of Narni declared in a sermon that the indulgence was available to anyone who paid one twelfth of the salary of a man-at-arms for six months.

On 26 July, after negotiations with the republic of Florence, the bishop announced that all Florentines who confessed their sins within three months would received the indulgence.