Robert of Nantes

Robert of Nantes († June 8, 1254 ) was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Nantes and Patriarch of Jerusalem in the 13th century.

Beginnings

Robert originally came from Apulia and had already held church offices there. After he found himself in the conflict between Pope Gregory IX. and Emperor Frederick II had become hostile to the latter, he was transferred to the French diocese of Nantes in 1236.

Career

On May 15, 1240 Robert was installed in the vacant office of Patriarch of Jerusalem since 1238, for which he was particularly predestined as an opponent of the Emperor. As the father of King Conrad II of Jerusalem, Emperor Friedrich II claimed reign in the kingdom, which was denied to him by the local feudal lords and the Pope. Robert initially designated the Archbishop of Tire , Pierre de Sergines , as his vicar for the time of his absence. In the spring of 1244 he reached the Holy Land and immediately paid a pilgrimage to Jerusalem . This was also the last opportunity for such a trip, because in August 1244 the city was finally wrested from the Christians by an attack by the horde of Choresmir .

Conflicts

Robert came into conflict with Count Walter of Jaffa , who refused to hand over the "Patriarch's Tower" of Jaffa as his official residence, even though this tower was built by his predecessor. According to Joinville , Robert is said to have excommunicated the Count for this. Robert took part in the Battle of La Forbie on October 18, 1244 , in which the Christians and their Muslim allies suffered a crushing defeat against the Sultan of Egypt . He himself was one of the few who were able to escape from the battlefield to nearby Ascalon . In a letter he informed the Pope of the defeat and the accompanying deterioration of the situation for the Christian Outremer. The following year he personally traveled to France to promote a new crusade there at the Council of Lyon . After King Ludwig IX. of France had quickly agreed to lead the crusade, Robert traveled to London in 1247 to meet King Henry III. from England to the taking of the cross. However, he declined to participate, although Robert had given him a Holy Blood relic for Westminster Abbey .

crusade

Robert took part in the following Sixth Crusade and, after its failure in April 1250, got together with King Louis IX. into the captivity of the Egyptian sultan, from which he was soon released. He died in June 1254, a few months after the departure of Louis IX. from the Holy Land.

Letters

Three letters have survived from the Patriarch Robert of Jerusalem, all of which were transcribed into their annals by the monks of St. Modwen's Abbey in Burton-upon-Trent .

• Letter dated late 1244 to Pope Innocent IV about the defeat of La Forbie:
  • Annales monasterii de Burton , ed. by Henry Richards Luard: Annales Monastici in, Rolls Series 36 (1864), Vol. 1, pp. 257-263
• Letter of May 15, 1250 to the College of Cardinals in Rome about the defeat of al-Mansura , the captivity and release of Louis IX:
  • Annales monasterii de Burton , ed. by Henry Richards Luard: Annales Monastici in, Rolls Series 36 (1864), Vol. 1, pp. 285-289
• Letter from the summer of 1251 to Blanka of Castile about the whereabouts of her son Louis IX. and the political situation in Outremer:
  • Annales monasterii de Burton , ed. by Henry Richards Luard: Annales Monastici in, Rolls Series 36 (1864), Vol. 1, p. 296

literature

• Bernard Hamilton: The Latin Church in the Crusader States: The Secular Church (London, 1980)
• Jaroslav Folda: Crusader art in the Holy Land: from the Third Crusade to the fall of Acre, 1187-1291 , Volume 1 (Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Individual proof

1. ↑ This letter was also transcribed by Salimbene of Parma in his Chronica . See, G. Scalia: Scrittori d'Italia (Bari, 1966)

predecessor	Office	successor
Heinrich I.	Bishop of Nantes 1236–1240	Galleran
Gerald of Lausanne	Patriarch of Jerusalem 1240–1254	Jacques Panteléon