Gérard of Sées

Gérard († 1157 ) was a bishop of Sées in the 12th century.

Gérard was elected bishop by the chapter of the Cathedral of Sées in 1144 . This resulted in a harsh reaction from Gottfried Plantagenet , who had conquered Normandy at the same time and now wanted to assert his ducal authority to the full. The Duke of Normandy had the right to approve the election of new bishops, but this was ignored in this case. After Gérard was found guilty in a trial before a church court, Gottfried Plantagenet had him castrated . This sentence was condemned by contemporary chroniclers as an injustice and an illegitimate act of violence, less because of the type of punishment than because of the social status of the delinquent, who, as a cleric, was actually beyond punishment by a secular ruler. According to a biographer of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket , the member ( membra ) Gérards was presented to the Duke in a bowl and Giraldus Cambrensis described the treatment of the bishop as the greatest crime committed by the Plantagenet family besides the murder of the Archbishop of 1170 Canterbury.

Through his mediation, Pope Eugene III. At Easter 1146 in Paris a reconciliation between Gottfried Plantagenet and Bishop Gérard, who got his diocese confirmed.

literature

• Manuel Braun, Cornelia Herberichs: Violence in the Middle Ages: Realities, Imaginations (2005), p. 95

Individual evidence

1. ^ According to a letter from Bishop Arnoul von Lisieux to Pope Eugene III. from 1146 Bishop Gérard had voluntarily presented himself to the ecclesiastical court. But he also condemned his subsequent punishment as "injustice" and as "inconvenience". See: The Letters of Arnulf of Lisieux , ed. by Frank Barlow, Camden Third Series 61 (London, 1939), No. 3, p. 5
2. ^ Willelmus Filius Stephani, Vita Sancti Thomae, Cantuariensis Archiepiscopiet et Martyris , in: Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury (MTB) , ed. by James Craigie Robertson, Rolls Series 67, Volume 3 (London, 1877), p. 65
3. ↑ Giraldus Cambrensis, De instructione principis , in: Opera , ed. by George F. Warner, Rolls Series 21, Volume 8 (London, 1891), p. 301
4. ↑ Radulfus de Diceto, Abbrevationes Chronicorum , in: Opera Historica , ed. by William Stubbs, Rolls Series 68, Volume 1 (London, 1876), p. 265

predecessor	Office	successor
Jean de Neuville	Bishop of Sées 1144–1157	Froger