Excommunication of King Peter III

Date: October 18, 1281 • Location: Rome, Italy

Pope Martin IV excommunicates King Peter III of Aragon for usurping the crown of Sicily (a sentence renewed on 7 May and 18 November 1282).

Pope Martin IV, was the head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 until his death on 22 March 1285. He was the last French pope to hold his court in Rome before the papacy moved to Avignon.