Bernard (Bishop, Ragusa)

Bernard († before May 26, 1214 ) was a clergyman who was officially Archbishop of Ragusa in Dalmatia from 1189 to 1202 . From 1200 to 1214 he was bishop of the English diocese of Carlisle .

Archbishop of Ragusa and moved to England

The origin of Bernard is unclear. Possibly he came from Italy or from Dalmatia. He is first mentioned on November 19, 1189, when he was ordained Archbishop of Ragusa in Rome . There he could not enforce his rule, so that he had to flee Ragusa around 1194 . Fearing for his life, he refused despite the urging of Pope Celestine III. to return. It is not certain where he stayed in the next few years. Apparently, however, he came into contact with the English King Richard I , so that he came to England before 1198. In May 1199 he was one of the prelates and magnates who received the new King John Ohneland in London . He was also present at the coronation of John on May 27th at Westminster Abbey . The king commissioned him a little later to consecrate Savaric as Bishop of Bath. Subsequently, Bernard, who was designated as Archbishop of Slavonia , apparently continued to serve the king. In November 1200 he was in Lincoln , where the Scottish King William I paid homage to the English king for his possessions in England. He then attended the funeral of Bishop Hugo von Lincoln . Although Bernard was still officially Archbishop of Ragusa, the king made sure that at the end of June 1200 he became the new bishop of the diocese of Carlisle, which had been vacant since 1156 or 1157 . However, Bernard initially did not exercise his office there, but only received the small income that was due to him as bishop. Instead, he served as a representative and quasi- suffragan bishop for Archbishop Geoffrey of York , a half-brother of the king.

Bishop of Carlisle

The new Pope Innocent III. had initially hoped that Bernard would return to Ragusa. In the spring of 1202 he finally allowed the Cathedral Chapter of Ragusa to elect a new archbishop. He then prepared the takeover of the Diocese of Carlisle by Bernard. On May 14, 1203, he informed Archbishop Geoffrey that Bernard was allowed to act as Bishop of Carlisle. However, since Bernard also had the rank of archbishop, he had to promise obedience to Geoffrey as a metropolitan in order to prevent a possible dispute between the two archbishops about their rank. On May 15, 1203, the Pope formally asked the king to hand over the diocese to Bernard, to whom the temporalities were officially handed over on January 10, 1204 . There is no evidence of a formal election of Bernard by the Carlisle Cathedral Chapter, but apparently Bernard subsequently took over the administration of the diocese, as 36 documents received show. In addition, Bernard continued to support Archbishop Geoffrey. As a still poor bishop, Bernard apparently did not have his own bishop's palace, but had to live in the cathedral priory during his stays in Carlisle. The king valued Bernard as a counterweight to the barons of north-west England. That is why he supported Bernard financially in 1205 and 1206 with 20 marks each before granting him the same annual payment on October 15, 1207 for life. After the interdict was imposed on England , Bernard apparently remained one of the few English bishops in his diocese, even after the king was excommunicated in late 1209 .

Bernard was supported by a few officials and the only archdeacon of the diocese, who had already administered the diocese during the vacancy. The archdeacon, officials and deans of the diocese were evidently from north-west England. This and the files that have been preserved show that Bernard, like other English bishops of his time, took proper care of his diocese. Bernard's exact date of death is unknown. On May 26, 1214, the prior of Carlisle was entrusted with the administration of the diocese, which on July 8 was considered vacant. So Bernard died at the beginning of the year.

Web links

• Henry Summerson: Bernard (d.1214). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
vacant	Bishop of Carlisle 1200–1214	Hugh of Beaulieu