Bucephalus later versions of the Alexander Romance also synchronized the hour of their death. The pair forged a sort of cult in that, after them, it was all but expected of a conqueror that he have a favourite horse. Julius Caesar had one; so too did the eccentric Roman Emperor Caligula, who made a great fuss of his horse Incitatus, holding birthday parties for him, riding him while adorned with Alexander's breastplate, and planning to make him a consul. Bucephalus is referenced in art and literature. Paintings of Charles Le Brun's Alexandrine subjects, including Bucephalus, survive today in the Louvre. One
Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor in 1323, Louis had sent an army to Italy to protect Milan against the Kingdom of Naples, which was together with France the strongest ally of the papacy. But now the Lord of Milan Galeazzo I Visconti was deposed since he was suspected of conspiring with the pope. In January 1328, Louis entered Rome and had himself crowned emperor by the aged senator Sciarra Colonna, called "captain of the Roman people". Three months later, Louis published a decree declaring Pope John XXII ("Jacques Duèze") deposed on grounds of heresy. He then installed a Spiritual Franciscan, Pietro Rainalducci as Nicholas V,