At the beginning of his abbacy he vigorously protested the policies of Pope Leo III (795–816), which had resulted in the abbey's loss of property.
[3] In 817 Pope Stephen IV issued a bull claiming that Farfa's lands lay within the Papal patrimonium sabinense (Sabine patrimony) and under Papal ius (jurisdiction), and that therefore the abbey owed the Holy See an annual rent (pensio) of ten gold solidi.
[4] In 824, on the occasion of the promulgation of the Constitutio Romana, the king and his father, the Emperor Louis I, responded with a privilege for Farfa.
In the next pontificate, that of Paschal I (817–24), this claim to an annual rent was withdrawn, but in January 829 Farfa's advocate, Audolf, accused Leo III and the earlier Adrian II of having invaded the monastery's properties with force.
[5] Although Ingoald presented charters from Duke Theodicius of Spoleto and Queen Ansa with confirmations from King Desiderius and Charlemagne, and the tribunal found in Farfa's favour, Gregory IV "refused to do anything" (facere noluit).