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Royal control of the church in the twelfth-century kingdom of Sicily

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

G. A. Loud
G. A. Loud*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
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Extract

For the king, after the fashion of tyrants, had reduced the church in his kingdom to slavery’. So John of Salisbury stigmatized king Roger II of Sicily. He continued that ‘instead of allowing any freedom of elections [Roger] named in advance the candidate to be elected, so disposing of all ecclesiastical offices like palace appointments’. This picture has been accepted by modern historians with very few reservations. To quote the standard history of the Norman kingdom of Sicily of Ferdinand Chalandon, still unrivalled after more than seventy years, ce qui caractérise la situation des évêques a l’époque normande, c’est la dépendance absolue où ils se trouvent vis-à-vis du roi.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 18: Religion and National Identity , 1982 , pp. 147 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1982

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References

1 [The] Historia Pontificalis [of John of Salisbury , ed and trans. Chibnall, M.] (London 1956) p 65 Google Scholar.

2 Chalandon, F., [La Domination Normande en Italie et en Sicile], 2 vols (Paris 1907) 2 p 595 Google Scholar.

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11 Cheney, C. R., From Becket to Langton (Manchester 1956) p 23 Google Scholar.

12 Letters 2 pp 376-7 no 219.

13 PL 200 (1854) cols 1459-62 no 96; see also PL 207 (1854) col 259 no 84.

14 Ibid col 1110.

15 [Ottonis et Rahewini] G[esta] F[riderici I Imperatoris, ed Waitz, G. and de Simson, B.], MCH SRC (1912) Bk 1 cap 29 pp 46-7Google Scholar. Radulfus, Niger, Chronica Universali, MGH SS 27 (1885) p 335 Google Scholar. The story probably misinterpreted the concession of the mitre to the abbot of the court monastery of St. John of the Hermits, for which see below n 31.

16 [Ignoti Monachi Cisterciensis S. Mariae de] Ferraria Chron[ica, ed Gaudenzi, A.] (Naples 1888) p 27 Google Scholar. This account dates from the early thirteenth century, but is derived from the lost concluding section of the contemporary chronicle of Falco of Benevento. See Gervasio, E., ‘Falcone Beneventano e la sua cronaca’, BISIMEAM 54 (1939) pp 70-7Google Scholar. Later report exaggerated the incident, see Ex Fragmentis ex Vita Sancti Thomi auctore Herberto de Boseham, MCH SS 27 p 33.

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18 Letters I pp 57-8 no 33. John also records a visit to Apulia in his Policraticus, [ed Webb, C. C. J.], 2 vols (Oxford 1909) 2 pp 270-1Google Scholar.

19 See his epp nos 46, 90 and 93, PL 207 cols 133-7 (to bishop Richard of Syracuse), 281-5, 291-3 (to his brother, for whose career see White, L. T., ‘For the Biography of William of Blois’, EHR 50 (1935) pp 487–490 Google Scholar.

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21 Historia Pontificalis pp 67-8. Policraticus 2 pp 173-4.

22 MGH Const I pp 588-590 no 413, clauses 8 and 11.

23 Benson, R. L., The Bishop Elect (Princeton 8) p 329 n 40 Google Scholar. The passages quoted are commentaries on Gratian, Decretum D 63 c 23 ‘Quod si clero et populo quis eligatur episcopus, nisi a supradicto rege laudatur et investiatur, non consecretur’, and C 16 qu 7 c 12 ‘De manu laici episcopatus vel abbatia suscipi non debet’, Corpus Iuris Canonici, ed Friedberg, E., 2 vols (Leipzig 1879-81) I cols 241, 804Google Scholar.

24 Romauld [of Salerno, Chronicon, ed Garufi, C.A.] (Muratori 2 ed, Citta di Castello 1935) p 256 Google Scholar. Annales Ceccanenses ad annos 1165, 1167, 1176, MGH SS 19 (1866) pp 285-6. John of Salisbury, Letters 2 pp 116–117 no 168 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed. Liber Pontificalis, ed Duchesne, L., 3 vols (Paris 1886-1957) 2 p 414 Google Scholar. For the importance of Sicily to papal finances, Pfaff, V., ‘Die Einnahmen des Romischen Kurie am Ende des 12 Jahrhunderts’, Vierteljahrsschrift fur Sozial und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 40 (Wiesbaden 1953) p 114 Google Scholar.

25 Kehr, P. F., ‘Das Briefbuch des Thomas von Gaeta’, QFIAB 8 (1905) pp 59–61 no 14 Google Scholar.

26 Historia Pontificalis pp 65-6.

27 Ferraria Chron p 27.

28 Among the sees with unconsecrated prelates were the archbishoprics of Palermo, Messina, Trani and Sorrento, and the bishoprics of Catania, Cefalu, Troia, Teano, Trivento, Chieti and Valva.

29 Kehr, (P. F.,] I[talia] P[ontificia], 10 vols (Berlin 1905-74) 8 p 391 no 15Google Scholar. Codice Diplomatico Brindisiano I [(492-1299) ed Monti], G.M (Bari 1940) pp 29–31 no 16Google Scholar. Both archbishops remained in office for more than twenty years.

30 Romuald p 228. Ferraria Chron p 28. Lucius issued five bulls to south Italian churches, only three of which have exact dates, the earliest being to Montecassino issued on 10 October 1144, IP 8 p 179 no 252.

31 These are recorded in Roger’s diploma ofthat month, Pirro, R., Sicilia Sacra, 2 vols (Palermo 1733) 2 pp 1100–1112 Google Scholar. A papal peace move in 1148 is reported in a letter to the exiled Prince Robert II of Capua, Monumenta Corbeiensia, ed Jaffé, P., Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, (Berlin 1864) p 229 Google Scholar.

32 IP 8 pp 178-180 nos 248-254, 256-7. Rainald was appointed cardinal by March 1142, Fabiani, L., La Terra di S. Benedetto, 2 vols, Miscellanea Cassinese 33-4 (Montecassino 1968) 1 pp 424-5 no 3Google Scholar.

33 The legations were (1) that of Hubald of St. Praxedis and John of SS. Sergius and Bacchus 1154-8 (2) that of Bernard of Porto and Manfred of St. George ad Velum Aureum 1166 (3) Manfred of Praeneste, Peter of St. Susanna and Hyacinth of St. Maria in Cosmedin 1177 (4) John of St. Maria in Porticu, at some uncertain date after 1163, IP 8 pp 257 nos 9-11; 9 p 148 no 12; p 225 no 2; p 296 nos 25-6.

34 Edited Brandileone, F., Il Diretto romano nelle legge normanne e sueve del regno di Sicilia (Turin 1884) pp 94-138Google Scholar. Note especially assize 2 of the Vatican MS ‘De privilegio sanctarum ecclesiarum’, p 96.

35 Knöpfer, J., ‘Papsturkunden des 12, 13 und 14 jahrhunderts aus dem Germanischen Nationalmuseum in Nürnburg’, HJch 24 (1903) pp 766-7 no 2Google Scholar.

36 Liber Augustalis 1.45, Die Konstitution Friedrichs II von Hohenstaufen fur sein Königreich Sizilien , ed Conrad, H., Buyken, T.von der Lieck and Wagner, W. (Cologne 1973) p 70 Google Scholar. See also Clementi, D. R., ‘The Italian Register of Henry VI’, QFIAB 35 (1955) pp 133-5 no 41 (1195)Google Scholar.

37 Holtzmann, W., ‘Kanonistische Ergänzungen zur Italia Pontificia’, QFIAB 38 (1958) pp 122-3 no 158 Google Scholar.

38 Kamp I pp 61-2. Licentiae eligendi also survive for the abbeys of Montecassino and Carpineto, Chalandon 2 pp 591-2 n 2, Holtzmann, [W.], ‘The Norman Royal] Charters [of S. Bartolomeo di Carpineto’, Papers of the British School of Rome 24] (London 1956) p 99 no 3 Google Scholar. For the continuation of this practice in the Staufen period, Richard of Germano, S., Chronicon, ed Garufi, C. A. (Muratori 2 ed, Bologna 1938) pp 191-2Google Scholar.

39 For example, The Chronicle of jocelin of Brakelond, ed and trans Buder, H. E. (London 1953) pp 16, 21Google Scholar.

40 Holtzmann, ‘Charters’ pp 96 and 99 no 4.

41 For example, (1) from local knightly families: William I, bishop of Caiazzo (province of Capua) 1152-68, Matteo-Cerasoli, L., ‘Di alcuni vescovi poco noti’, Archivio storico per le provincie napoletane 43 (Naples 1918) pp 372-3Google Scholar; Boniface, bishop of Canne (province of Bari) 1182-8, Kamp 2 p 620 (2) local noble connections: Pandulf, bishop of Sora (exempt see) 1188-1217, related to the lords of Aquino; Peter, bishop of Telese (province of Benevento) 1178-90, a protegé of the counts of Caserta, Kamp I pp 98-9, 291-2 (3) local bourgeois family: Unfridus, bishop of Sarno (province of Salerno) 1181-1202, Kamp 1 pp 477-8 (4) from the chapter, Lambert, bishop of Aversa (province of Naples) c 1192; Peter, archbishop of Brindisi 1183-96, Kamp I pp 339-341, 2 p 664 n 12.

42 On the mainland Frigento, Bisceglie, Ugento and the archbishopric of Rossano, in Sicily itself Lipari, Catania and the archbishopric of Monreale. Cefalu was held by an Augustinian canon, and Oderisius of Forcone may also have been a canon regular, Kamp I pp 17, 259; 2 pp 566, 739, 873; 3 pp 1046, 1079, 1186, 1205.

43 Ughelli, F., Italia Sacra, 10 vols, (2 ed Venice 1717-21) 7 cols 497–504 Google Scholar lists three monastic bishops for this see in the twelfth century. Though the first two may be the same man, two other bishops had connections with the abbeys of Carbone and La Cava.

44 Cefalu had an Augustinian chapter. White, Latin Monasticism pp 77-100, 105-117, 132-145, 187-201.

45 Brentano, R., Two Churches. England and Italy in the Thirteenth Century (Princeton 1968) pp 219–220 Google Scholar. Kamp 2 p 907.

46 Fiorentino was suppressed C1400, Canne in 1425, Volturara and Montecorvino were united in 1433. Lesina was suppressed in 1551, IP 9 pp 150-1, 161-2, 289.

47 In the early fourteenth century, when the first figures of episcopal income appear Capua was worth 1000 unciae a year. Its suffragans varied from Caserta and Teano, worth 100, to Calvi worth only 30. Rationes Decimarum Italiae. Campania, ed Sella, P., Inguanez, M. & Matteo-Cerasoli, L., Studi e Testi 97 (Vatican City 1942) pp 67, 113, 181, and 213Google Scholar.

48 Alexander of Telese, Gesta Rogerii Regis Siciliae bk 3 caps 30-1, del Re, G., Cronisti e scrittori sincroni napoletani 1 (Naples 1845) pp 143-4Google Scholar. Haskins, C. H., ‘England and Sicily in the Twelfth Century’, EHR 26 (1911) p 643 Google Scholar.

49 Ex Thomae Historia Pontificum Salonitanorum et Spalatinorum, MGH SS 29 (1892) p 573. Kamp 2 pp 531-2.

50 Diceto, Ralph, Ymagines Historiarum, ed Stubbs, W., RS, 2 vols (1876) 2 p 37 Google Scholar, and see n 20 above. But Walter, archbishop of Palermo 1168-90, and his brother and successor Bartholomew, previously bishop of Agrigento, were not English as was once supposed, Loewenthal, L.J. A., ‘For the biography of Walter Ophamil, archbishop of Palermo’, EHR 87 (1972) 75–82 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

51 Kamp 2 pp 548-9. Another relative was to be a justiciar under Frederick II.

52 ‘De sanctis martyribus Mauro episcopo, Pantaleemone et Sergio. Historia inven-tionis primae, auctore Amando Episcopo Vigiliensi’, ASB July 6 (1868) p 368. Kamp 2 pp 545-7.

53 PL 200 col 332. For Florius’s career, Jamison, E. M., ‘The Norman Administration of Apulia and Capua, more especially under Roger II and William I, 1127-1166’, Papers of the British School at Rome 6 (1913) pp 365-6, 478-480CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 For his career see Garufi’s introduction to Romuald pp x-xxiv.

55 Kamp I pp 425-432.

56 John, bishop of Catania 1167-9 was a brother of Matthew of Ajello, and Peregrinus, bishop of Umbriatico c1179 had been a royal notary, White, Latin Monasticism pp 114-15, Kamp 1 p 911. But by contrast the archbishoprics of Brindisi and Naples seem to have escaped curialist appointments.

57 Kamp I pp 50, 391-3.

58 Gerard, the archbishop-elect, appears to have been the choice of the canons of Oria, and was opposed by the canons of Brindisi, Codice Diplomatico Brindisiano 1 pp 61-2 no 33 Google Scholar; 63-4 no 35.

59 This paper was written before the publication of Enzensberger, H., ‘Der “böse” und der “gute” Wilhelm. Zur Kirchenpolitik der normannischen Konige von Sizilien nach dem Vertrag von Benevent (1156)’, Deutsches Archiv 36 (1980) pp 385–432 Google Scholar. Enzensberger treats the procedure in episcopal elections at some length, without differing very much from my own conclusions.