When Adam left Oxford he moved to Rome, talent spotted by the Benedictine Pope Urban V. He took over from his friend and fellow student Thomas Brinton but his stay in Rome was not destined to last. In 1368 he returned to England where he joined up with Simon Langham, former Archbishop of Canterbury and now the cardinal of St Sixtus. From this moment, right until the end of his life the vagaries of church politics governed Adam's life.