After being elected Pope, he lived at Rome from November 1181 to March 1182, but dissensions in the city compelled him to pass the remainder of his pontificate in exile, mainly at Velletri, Anagni and Verona.
He disputed with the Emperor Frederick I (1152–1190) the disposal of the territories of the late Countess Matilda of Tuscany. The controversy over the succession to the inheritance of the Countess had been left unsettled by the peace of 1177, and the Emperor proposed in 1182 that the Curia should renounce its claim, receiving in exchange two-tenths of the imperial income from Italy, one-tenth for the Pope and the other tenth for the cardinals. Lucius consented neither to this proposition nor to another compromise suggested by Frederick I the next year; nor did a personal discussion between the two potentates at Verona in October 1184, lead to any definite result.
Meantime other causes of disagreement appeared, in the Pope's refusal to comply with Frederick I's wishes as to the regulation of German episcopal elections which had taken place during the schism, and especially as to the contested election to the see of Treves in 1183.
In pursuance of his anti-imperial policy, he declined finally in 1185 to crown Henry VI (1190–1197) as Frederick I's destined successor, and the breach between the Empire and the Curia became wider on questions of Italian politics.
In 1185 preparations began for the Third Crusade in answer to the appeals of Baldwin IV of Jerusalem (1174–1185). Before they were completed, Lucius died in Verona.
^ This is according to Philippe Levillain, John W. O'Malley , The Papacy. An Encyclopedia, 2002, p. 960. However, the identity of Ubaldo, deacon of S. Adriano, who signed the papal bulls between March 6, 1139 and May 13, 1141 with Ubaldo Allucingoli, who as cardinal priest of S. Prassede subscribed for the first time on June 21, 1141, has not been ascertained (dates of subscribtions according to Jaffé Philipp, Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita Ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII, Berlin 1851, p. 559). The Catholic Encyclopedia indicates that he was created cardinal priest of S. Prassede on February 23, 1141
