Walter of Palermo

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Walter (right) and Matheus von Salerno (left: Bigamus sacerdos ) in the Liber ad honorem Augusti of Petrus von Eboli

Walter , wrongly of the Mill (neulat. Offamilius , Italian Gualtiero Offamilio ; the autograph form of the name is Gualterius ) (* in Sicily; † after June 1190 in Palermo ) was Archbishop of Palermo from 1169 to 1190 and a leading member of the family college at Wilhelm's court II of Sicily.

Origin and career

The reason for the wrong name on a Greek document from 6681 (= 1172)

An English origin Walter was first postulated by Rocco Pirri in the Sicilia Sacra with the non-contemporary epithet Ophamilius and then generally copied. Already in 1887 (sic!) Wilhelm Behring, grammar school teacher in Elbing , East Prussia , showed that Of the Mill (Ophamilius) was a misinterpretation from the Greek, without this knowledge being received in Italy and Sicily. Almost a hundred years later, an American repeated this observation, and this is gradually gaining ground in the scientific literature, but outside the specialist community, Walter's English origins are an apparently ineradicable myth, even if the English played a role in the history of Sicily in the 12th century to have. However, Πρωτοφαμιλιάριος does not appear as a self-statement. In the autograph signature, Walter only uses the term familiarius if it is not left out at all. The equation with Gualterus Anglicus is untenable, but he can be regarded as the author of a hymn to St. Agatha .

Walter as dean and canon 1167
Walter's handwritten signature on a document from 1182

Walter was archdeacon of Cefalù , then dean of Agrigento , canon of the court chapel and educator of the sons of Wilhelm I, but had to share this task with Peter von Blois in 1166 . The family was based in Sicily, the names of his mother Bona and two brothers are known: Bartholomäus had been Bishop of Agrigento since 1171. Another brother John is attested in 1174. When the family council was reorganized after Stephan von Perche was expelled , he succeeded in largely suppressing the influence of the other family members. Only the magister notarius and later Vice Chancellor Matheus von Salerno could claim a similar influence, so that Richard von San Germano could call the two “pillars of the empire”. Hugo Falcandus declares him the actual ruler in the final sentence of his Historia .

Sarcophagus Walter of Palermo in the cathedral of Palermo

In September 1169 Walter was ordained bishop in Palermo after Pope Alexander III. despite the opposition of Queen Margaret had given his approval. In the control of the church elections, which the King of Sicily had been granted in the Treaty of Benevento , he was the main advisor, in domestic politics he endeavored to balance tensions and avoid conflicts, which is why the epoch of Wilhelm II appeared in a transfigured light. Walter's resistance to the elevation of Monreal to the archbishopric was unsuccessful. He himself founded the Cistercian Abbey of Santo Spirito and built the new cathedral, which was inaugurated in 1185. He also transferred the formerly Greek abbey of S. Trinità di Ligno to the Cistercians .

In foreign policy he promoted the compromise with the western empire through the marriage of Wilhelm's aunt Konstanze with Heinrich VI. The oath of the Sicilian nobility to the eventual succession of the Hohenstaufen dynasty at an imperial assembly in Troia in 1184 goes back to his initiative, whereby he was able to prevail against the vice-chancellor Matheus. After the death of Wilhelm in 1189, his policies that were friendly to the Hohenstaufen did not win a majority, since Pope Celestine III. acted against a successor to Heinrichs. In January 1190 Walter Tankred of Lecce had to crown King in Palermo and leave the field to his old rival Matheus.

Walter died in 1190 and was buried in the cathedral. In 1728 the sarcophagus was transferred to the newly built crypt .

At the end of 1191, his brother Bartholomew was made Archbishop of Palermo with Tankred's consent.

literature

Web links

Commons : Gualtiero di Palermo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Wilhelm Behring, Sicilianische Studien II, 1: About Archbishop Walter von Palermo , in the program of the Kgl. High school in Elbing, Elbing 1887, p. 1f.
  2. ^ Evelyn Jamison : The Sicilian Norman Kingdom in the Mind of Anglo-Norman Contemporaries. In: Proceedings of British Academy 24, 1938, p. 237285.
  3. ^ Richard von San Germano, ed. Arndt MGH SS 19, p. 323
  4. ↑ Falcandus cap. 93
personal data
SURNAME Walter of Palermo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gualterius; Walter Of the Mill; Offamilius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Palermo, Familiar William II of Sicily
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century or 12th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Sicily
DATE OF DEATH after June 1190
Place of death Palermo