The Emperor's machinations aroused a good deal of anti-papal feelings in Italy, particularly in the Papal States, and imperial agents encouraged plots against papal rule. Realizing how untenable his position in Rome was growing, Innocent IV secretly and hurriedly withdrew, fleeing Rome on 7 June 1244.Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum II (Berlin 1875), p. 969. Traveling in disguise, he made his way to Sutri and then to the port of Civitavecchia, and from there to Genoa, his birthplace, where he arrived on 7 July. On 5 October, he fled from there to France, where he was joyously welcomed. Making his way to Lyon, where he arrived on 29 November 1244, Innocent was greeted cordially by the magistrates of the city.
