[1] In these circumstances Adrian IV decided to break the alliance with the Emperor and to make peace with William I of Sicily by signing the Treaty of Benevento (1156).

The "Sicilian" party, led by chancellor Rolando of Siena and Camerlengo Boso, supported the pro-Sicilian policy of Adrian IV.

[17] It is believed that both factions made some preparations to the election in the last months of the pontificate of Adrian IV, although these attempts are known only from the hostile accounts produced for the polemical purposes during the subsequent schism and it is impossible to verify their accuracy.

The adherents of Victor IV accused "Sicilians" of receiving the bribes from the king William I of Sicily and the anti-Imperial cities of Brescia, Milan and Piacenza.

On the other hand, "Sicilians" accused imperialists of hatching a plot with the imperial envoy Otto von Wittelsbach, who was present at Rome at the time of the election and gave the significant support to Victor IV in taking control over the Patrimony of St.

[5] It is known that the secular adherents of Cardinal Ottaviano de Monticelli, who was related to the powerful family of the counts of Tusculum, were prepared for the armed confrontation in Rome.

[22] The electors of Cardinal Rolando, immediately after proclaiming him Pope, attempted to place upon him the purple mantle which symbolized the assumption of the papal office, but then the election entered the tumultuous stage.

Cardinal Ottaviano Monticelli snatched the mantle from Alexander's back and his armed bands burst into the basilica.

In their absence, the few cardinals who remained in basilica elected Ottaviano of S. Cecilia to the papacy and enthroned him as Victor IV.

[17] The exact number of his electors is not known, but there are good reasons to believe that it was six, including Ottaviano himself, since only five cardinals signed the manifest in his favour in the following month.

[23] Pope Alexander III remained in the citadel for a week until he was rescued and escorted from Rome by Odo Frangipane, and on September 18 he was eventually bestowed with the purple mantle.

[25] Victor IV was consecrated on 4 October in the abbey of Farfa by Cardinal-Bishop Imar of Tusculum, dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, assisted by the bishops Ubaldo of Ferentino and Riccardo of Melfi.

[28] Supporters of Victor IV, admitting that they were in minority, justified their action by the fact that the opposite faction broke the rule of unanimity and – in consequence – the election of Rolando was invalid.

The opposite party claimed that the principle of unanimity had been breached by the obstructive conduct of merely three cardinals of the Imperial faction, who stubbornly refused to recognize the candidate desired by the rest of the Sacred College.

At the council of Pavia in February 1160 Emperor Frederick I declared himself in favour of Victor IV, and the episcopate of the Empire followed him, with the significant exception of archbishop of Salzburg Eberhard I von Hilpolstein-Biburg and his suffragans.

[36] The rest of Europe, namely France, England, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, Hungary, Sicily and the Latin territories in Outremer, recognized Alexander III as true Pope, even if in some of these countries there were a significant Victorine minorities in episcopates or among feudal rulers.