II., pope from 844 to 847, a Roman of noble birth, elected by the clergy and people to succeed Gregory IV., was forthwith consecrated without waiting for the sanction of the emperor Lothair, who accordingly sent his son Louis with do army to punish the breach of faith. A pacific arrangement was ultimately made, and Louis was crowned king of Lombardy by Sergius. He was a man of weak health, suffering much from gout, and abandoned the direction of affairs to unworthy persons, whose administration provoked many complaints. In this pontificate Rome was ravaged, and the churches of St Peter and St Paul robbed, by Saracens (August 846). Sergius was succeeded by Leo IV.