Pontius of Melgueil
Pontius of Melgueil ( Pons de Melgueil - today Mauguio in the Hérault department ) († December 29, 1126 ) was the seventh abbot of Cluny from 1109 .
He came from a Languedoc family (see Melgueil county ) who belonged to the circle of the Counts of Toulouse . He was a lay brother in Saint-Pons-de-Thomières , then prior in Saint-Martial in Limoges and finally became abbot of Cluny.
Pontius de Melgueil was distinguished by exceptional administrative skills. He played an essential role in diplomatic relations between the Pope and the Empire .
According to later news, Pontius of Kalixt II is said to have been appointed cardinal . However, this claim is based only on the poor interpretation of a note from the letter of a monk Hugo to Abbot Pontius; he is nowhere referred to as a cardinal in any documentary evidence that has come down to us.
In 1122 he returned his abbot to the Pope and went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem .
In 1123/1124 Pontius returned from the Holy Land. He went to Cluny and claimed anew, armed. still the office of abbot. Pope Honorius II pronounced the ban against Pontius and "the Pontians". To this, according to Petrus Venerabilis , Pontius replied that no living person, only Peter in heaven, could ban him. Eventually Pontius was arrested and imprisoned. He died in captivity. Despite his behavior, he was given an honorable burial and an entry in the books of the dead of the Cluniacensian monasteries (in the form in which abbots received the entry).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Ganzer, The Development of the Foreign Cardinalate in the High Middle Ages , Max Niemeyer Verlag Tübingen 1963, pp. 80–81
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Hugo I. |
Abbot of Cluny 1109-1122 |
Hugo II |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pontius of Melgueil |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Abbot of Cluny and Cardinal |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 11th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 29, 1126 |