Pandulf (Legate)
Pandulf (also Pandulph ) († September 16 or 17, 1226 in Rome ) was a papal legate in England and Bishop of Norwich . Even if he was insignificant as Bishop of Norwich, he played an important historical role as envoy, legate and chamberlain of the Pope, especially in England during the final phase of the reign of John Ohneland and during the minority of Henry III.
origin
Pandulf came from the Italian Verraccio family , who originally came from San Germano not far from the Montecassino monastery . Several of his relatives came to England, including Master Giles († before 1241), Archdeacon of Ely , and his nephew Master Pandulf († before 1231), Treasurer of the Diocese of Chichester . He is often confused with the Italian cardinal Pandulf Masca from Pisa, who, however, died in 1201.
Envoy of the Pope
Pandulf was destined for a spiritual career at an early age, but there is no reliable knowledge about his youth or his education. In April 1211 he is mentioned for the first time as a papal subdeacon who was appointed as envoy by Pope Innocent III. was sent to the excommunicated English King John Ohneland . In July 1211 he reached England, where he met the king in Northampton . At that time the Pope had imposed the interdict on England and Pandulf was to negotiate with the king about compensation for the English bishops who were living in exile. Allegedly he got into a violent argument with the king and threatened to depose him.
In the years that followed, Pandulf continued to play an important role in the negotiations between the King, the Pope and the exiled English bishops. In February 1213 he was again sent to England as papal envoy to convey to the king the pope's conditions for the repeal of the interdict. On his arrival on May 15, Johann submitted to him before numerous English barons at Ewell near Dover . The king offered his kingdom to the Pope as a fief and paid homage to Pandulf as the Pope's representative. Subsequently, Pandulf was involved in England in the collection of St. Peter's penny and the annual tribute that the king had promised the Pope. As the Pope's agent, he negotiated further in 1213 with the Welsh princes and with the King of France, with whom John was at war. To this end, he secured the transfer of benefices in England to clergymen in the service of the Pope. In 1214 he accompanied the king on his failed campaign to Poitou . He then traveled to Rome as the envoy of the papal legate Nicholas of Tusculum . In 1215 Pandulf himself received benefices in the dioceses of Salisbury and Chichester . As a judge on behalf of the Pope, he dealt with a protracted dispute between the Abbeys of Bath and Glastonbury .
In June 1215, Pandulf zu Runnymede testified that King John recognized the Magna Carta . His role in the subsequent negotiations between the rebel barons and the king is controversial. At least one contemporary chronicler gives him and Nikolaus von Tusculum complicity in the fact that the conflict between the aristocratic opposition and the king escalated into a war of barons . Above all, Pandulf's financial demands and his preference for royal candidates in the occupation of vacant dioceses and abbeys led to the failure of negotiations with the king. On July 15, 1215, Pandulf was sent to Oxford to negotiate with the barons. A little later, on July 25th, by intervention of the Pope, he was elected the new Bishop of Norwich. Apparently Pandulf was not present at the election. He did not take up his office in the next few years either, presumably only visiting the area of his diocese briefly once before 1222. Most likely, he deliberately delayed his ordination so that he would remain independent from the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Pope's agent. Norwich was part of the ecclesiastical province of Canterbury , and then Archbishop Stephen Langton was one of the most important supporters of the barons against the king. Together with Peter des Roches , Bishop of Winchester, Pandulf announced in September the excommunication of the rebel barons by the Pope. A little later, Pandulf relieved Archbishop Langton of his office on behalf of the Pope. He then traveled to Rome, where he took part in the Fourth Lateran Council as a representative of King John .
Papal Chamberlain and Legate in England
After the death of Innocent III. in July 1216 his Camerlengo Cencio Savelli was named Honorius III. elected as the new Pope. Pandulf was now appointed as the new papal chamberlain, and he officially carried this title until at least 1222. Pandulf remained at the papal court until 1218 and took care of the papal finances. After a three year absence he returned to England, where he took part in the consecration of Worcester Cathedral on June 7, 1218 . On September 1, 1218, the Pope appointed him to succeed Cardinal Guala Bicchieri as the new papal legate in England. Guala, relieved of his office at his own request, resigned from Reading about November 17th , and on December 3rd Pandulf moved into London as the new legate. As a papal legate, Pandulf was the most important mediator between the Regency Council, which was responsible for the underage Heinrich III. , the son and successor of King John, who led the government, and the Pope, who was officially feudal lord of England. On April 9, 1219 Pandulf stood on the death bed of the previous regent William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , who appointed him his successor as the young king's guardian.
Over the next three years, Pandulf formed a triumvirate with Justiciar Hubert de Burgh and Bishop Peter des Roches , which ruled England. The three of them often argued. As early as April 1219, des Roches and de Burgh limited Pandulf's access to the royal funds, as they feared that Pandulf would use the king's income primarily for the benefit of the Church and the Pope. Pandulf then demanded control of the royal seal. The crisis of the Regency Council was only resolved in June 1219 by a council meeting in Gloucester . After that, Pandulf became more and more a supporter of Hubert de Burgh and an opponent of des Roches. He himself only intervened little in the government, but kept away from the royal court, with which he only kept contact through letters. However, he spent most of his time in England, complaining in at least one letter about the climate in London, which was bad for his health. In the summer and autumn of 1219 he was involved in negotiations with the Welsh princes and with King Alexander II of Scotland. However, on the orders of the Pope, Pandulf played an important role in the recovery of royal castles and crown property that have been administered by various barons since the Barons' War. Among other things, he was involved in the recovery of Tickhill , Bristol and Castle Bytham . In addition, he appeared as a representative of the Pope in church processes and in tax estimates that the Pope raised from the church for the financing of the Fifth Crusade . He supported the recognition of the Bishop of Ely elected John of Fountains , and Carlisle he took a division of church property between the bishop and the cathedral chapter before. In addition, the Pope entrusted him with the control of a number of episcopal elections in Ireland and Scotland. In 1220 he supported the negotiations that extended the armistice between England and France. In May 1220 Pandulf took part in the renewed, solemn coronation of the king in Westminster Abbey and in July 1220 in the transfer of the relics of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. In April 1221, as the Pope's representative, he laid the first foundation stone for Salisbury Cathedral . In January 1221 he participated in the resignation of Bishop William de Ste Mère-Église of London and prepared with the consecration of his successor Eustace de Fauconberg on April 25th.
Bishop of Norwich
When Stephen Langton , the Archbishop of Canterbury, returned to England from Rome in July 1221 and insisted that the Pope not appoint another legate to England during his lifetime, Pandulf resigned as papal legate on July 26, 1221 at Westminster. Shortly afterwards he was sent to Poitou as envoy to Hugo X of Lusignan , Count of La Marche . From there he traveled to Rome, where he resigned from his post as papal chamberlain. Back in England, he was finally ordained Bishop of Norwich on May 29, 1222. In 1223 he took part in the funeral of the French king Philip II in Paris. In vain he urged Philip's successor, Louis VIII , to return Normandy to England. In 1224 he took part in the collection of taxes that England had to pay the Pope, but after that he withdrew again to Italy in the winter of 1224. He reached Rome on February 17, 1225. He stayed in or around Rome until his death in September 1226.
Even during his tenure as Bishop of Norwich, Pandulf mostly stayed away from his diocese. He was represented by officials, but after his death his body was returned to England and buried in Norwich . His entourage included a number of Italian clergymen, whom he provided with offices and benefices in English churches.
As bishop he gave the income from various churches to religious orders, including part of the Church of Holkham in Norfolk , which he donated to the monastery of San Martino al Cimino in Viterbo in 1219 . In his will he donated a substantial sum for a crusade.
literature
- Nicholas Vincent: The election of Pandulph Verraccio as bishop of Norwich (1215) . In: Historical Research, 68 (1995), pp. 143-163
Web links
- Nicholas Vincent: Pandulf (d. 1226). 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
- Catholicity: Pandulph
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| John de Gray |
Bishop of Norwich 1215-1226 |
Thomas de Blundeville |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pandulf |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Pandulph; Pandulf Verrachio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | papal legate in England and Bishop of Norwich |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 12th Century |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 16, 1226 or September 17, 1226 |
| Place of death | Rome |