Rainier of Antioch

Last updated

Rainier [lower-alpha 1] (died 16 September 1225) was an Italian cleric who served as the vice-chancellor of the Roman church from 1216 until 1219 and the Latin patriarch of Antioch from 1219 until his death.

Nothing much of Rainier's early life is known. He is described as coming from the castle called Castrum Vetus (Old Castle) in the county of Todi in the papal document confirming him as patriarch. [1] He probably received a formal education, most likely in law. He is described by Pope Honorius III as a "man of knowledge" (virum scientia) and a document of 1215 may indicate that he had a university degree. [2]

Before becoming vice-chancellor, Rainier was the prior of the basilica of San Frediano in Lucca, a community of canons regular. He may have been a canon regular himself, but more likely the posting was a sinecure. He probably served in the Roman chancery for some time before his appointment as vice-chancellor. Possibly he met the future Honorius III when the latter was vice-chancellor in 1194–1197, since he became vice-chancellor in 1216 shortly after Honorius III's election as pope. A document of 1215 refers to an apostolic notary called Master Rainier, which may be the future patriarch. [1]

Rainier was consecrated patriarch of Antioch in November 1219. [3] He replaced Peter of Capua, Honorius' previous nominee, who was being promoted to a cardinalate. The pope informed the Antiochene chapter of the change in a letter of December. [4] At Antioch, Rainier quarrelled with Prince Bohemond IV, who was confiscating church properties to make up shortfalls of cash. Himself short of money, Rainier attempted to reignite Antioch's claim to the archdiocese of Tyre, which responded by claiming jurisdiction over the church in the County of Tripoli, which was under Antiochene control. Honorius quashed both claim and counterclaim as unprofitable when most of the territory in question was not even in Christian hands. [5]

Rainier's pontificate saw the reopening of the schism between Latins and Orthodox in the church of Antioch. This was the result of a broken marriage alliance between Antioch and the kingdom of Cilician Armenia. Bohemond IV's son Philip had been married to Queen Isabella, but in 1224 he was imprisoned by Constantine of Baberon and the following year he died. Latin churchmen were expelled from Cilician Armenia, and the Orthodox refused to recognize the Latin patriarch. [5]

At some point Rainier was joined in Antioch by his nephew, Philip, who had probably served under him in the chancery. He experienced bouts of illness in Antioch, and in a letter credits Philip for taking care of him. In 1225, he returned to Italy, leaving Philip in control of the castle of Cursat, where the patriarchal treasury was kept. [3] He died while in Italy, for his death on 16 September is mentioned by Honorius in a letter dated 25 September and news could not have travelled so fast from Antioch to Rome. [6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Italian: Ranieri; Latin: Ranerius, Raynerius
  1. 1 2 Williams 2003, pp. 68–69 & nn.
  2. ↑ Williams 2003, p. 71 n. 34.
  3. 1 2 Williams 2003, pp. 71–72.
  4. ↑ Hamilton 2016, p. 224.
  5. 1 2 Hamilton 2016, pp. 225–226.
  6. ↑ Hamilton 2016, p. 226 n. 7.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

1216 Calendar year

Year 1216(MCCXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Bohemond II was Prince of Taranto from 1111 to 1128 and Prince of Antioch from 1111/1119 to 1130. He was the son of Bohemond I, who in 1108 was forced to submit to the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the Treaty of Devol. Three years later, the infant Bohemond inherited the Principality of Taranto under the guardianship of his mother, Constance of France. The Principality of Antioch was administered by his father's nephew, Tancred, until 1111. Tancred's cousin, Roger of Salerno, managed the principality from 1111 to 1119. After Roger died in the Battle of the Field of Blood, Baldwin II of Jerusalem took over the administration of Antioch. However, he did acknowledge Bohemond's right to personally rule the principality upon reaching the age of majority.

Leo I, King of Armenia

Leo II, also Leon II, Levon II or Lewon II, was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” (1187–1198/1199), and the first king of Armenian Cilicia (1198/1199–1219). During his reign, Leo succeeded in establishing Cilician Armenia as a powerful and a unified Christian state with a pre-eminence in political affairs. Leo eagerly led his kingdom alongside the armies of the Third Crusade and provided the crusaders with provisions, guides, pack animals and all manner of aid. Under his rule, Armenian power in Cilicia was at its apogee: his kingdom extended from Isauria to the Amanus Mountains.

Bohemond III of Antioch Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201

Bohemond III of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the Child or the Stammerer, was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201. He was the elder son of Constance of Antioch and her first husband, Raymond of Poitiers. Bohemond ascended to the throne after the Antiochene noblemen dethroned his mother with the assistance of the lord of Armenian Cilicia, Thoros II. He fell into captivity in the Battle of Harim in 1164, but the victorious Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo released him to avoid coming into conflict with the Byzantine Empire. Bohemond went to Constantinople to pay homage to Manuel I Komnenos, who persuaded him to install a Greek Orthodox patriarch in Antioch. The Latin patriarch of Antioch, Aimery of Limoges, placed Antioch under interdict. Bohemond restored Aimery only after the Greek patriarch died during an earthquake in 1170.

Bohemond IV of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the One-Eyed, was Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233. He was the younger son of Bohemond III of Antioch. The dying Raymond III of Tripoli offered his county to Bohemond's elder brother, Raymond, but their father sent Bohemond to Tripoli in late 1187. Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, conquered the county, save for the capital and two fortresses, in summer 1188.

Bohemond VI, also known as the Fair, was the prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli from 1251 until his death. He ruled while Antioch was caught between the warring Mongol Empire and Mamluk Sultanate. In 1268 Antioch was captured by the Mamluks, and he was thenceforth a prince in exile. He was succeeded by his son, Bohemond VII.

Raymond-Roupen was a member of the House of Poitiers who claimed the thrones of the Principality of Antioch and Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. His succession in Antioch was prevented by his paternal uncle Bohemond IV, but his maternal granduncle Leo I of Cilicia recognized him as heir presumptive to Cilicia and pressed his claim to Antioch. In 1211 Raymond-Roupen was crowned junior king of Cilicia, and was finally installed as Prince of Antioch in 1216. The War of the Antiochene Succession ended with Leo's death in 1219, shortly before Raymond-Roupen was ousted from Antioch. He then pursued his claim to Cilicia, which Leo had unexpectedly willed to his daughter Isabella on his deathbed, but was defeated and imprisoned until death.

Latin Patriarchate of Antioch

The Latin patriarch of Antioch was a prelate of the Latin Church created in 1098 by Bohemond I of Taranto, founder of the Principality of Antioch, one of the crusader states.

Isabella, Queen of Armenia Queen regnant of Cilician Armenia

Isabella, also Isabel was queen regnant of Armenian Cilicia from 1219 until her death.

Philip of Antioch, also called Philip of Tripoli, was a member of the House of Poitiers who ruled as king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from 1222 to 1224 as the first husband of Queen Isabella.

Aimery of Limoges

Aimery or Aymery of Limoges, also Aimericus in Latin, Aimerikos in Greek and Hemri in Armenian, was a Roman Catholic ecclesiarch in Frankish Outremer and the fourth Latin Patriarch of Antioch from c. 1140 until his death. Throughout his lengthy episcopate he was the most powerful figure in the Principality of Antioch after the princes, and often entered into conflict with them. He was also one of the most notable intellectuals to rise in the Latin East.

Koz Castle

Koz Castle, or Kürşat Castle is a castle in the Altınözü district of the Hatay Province of Turkey, built on a small hill where the Kuseyr Creek starts. It was built by the Principality of Antioch out of ashlar. The castle used to have a gate to the north, but this gate no longer exists and the eastern side of the castle has been leveled, with some original barns left. Some bastions of the castle stand to this day.

Opizzo Fieschi, also known as Opizo or Opiso dei' Fieschi, was a 13th-century Italian cleric from the powerful Genovese Fieschi family. Following his uncle Sinibaldo's election as Pope Innocent IV, Opizzo was appointed the Catholic Church's patriarch of Antioch.

War of the Antiochene Succession War in Syria between 1201 and 1219

The War of the Antiochene Succession, also known as the Antiochene War of Succession, comprised a series of armed conflicts in northern Syria between 1201 and 1219, connected to the disputed succession of Bohemond III of Antioch. The Principality of Antioch was the leading Christian power in the region during the last decades of the 12th century, but Armenian Cilicia challenged its supremacy. The capture of an important fortress, Bagras, in Syria by Leo II of Cilicia gave rise to a prolonged conflict already in the early 1190s. Leo tried to capture Antioch, but the Greek and Latin burghers formed a commune and prevented the Armenian soldiers from occupying the town. Bohemond III's eldest son, Raymond, died in 1197, leaving an infant son, Raymond-Roupen. The boy's mother, Alice of Armenia, was Leo I's niece and heir presumptive. Bohemond III and the Antiochene noblemen confirmed Raymond-Roupen's right to succeed his grandfather in Antioch, but the commune preferred Bohemond III's younger son, Bohemond, Count of Tripoli.

Timeline of the Principality of Antioch chronological list of events of the history of the Principality of Antioch

The timeline of the Principality of Antioch is a chronological list of events of the history of the Principality of Antioch.

Philip of Tripoli

Philip of Tripoli, sometimes Philippus Tripolitanus or Philip of Foligno, was an Italian Catholic priest and translator. Although he had a markedly successful clerical career, his most enduring legacy is his translation of the complete Pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum secretorum from Arabic into Latin around 1230.

Thomas of Capua

Thomas of Capua, also called Tommaso di Eboli, was an Italian prelate and diplomat. He served as the archbishop-elect of Naples from 1215 until 1216 and then as a cardinal until his death. He administered the diocese of Albano between 1218 and 1222 and was the papal legate in the kingdom of Italy from November 1236 until October 1237. He was the most important of Pope Gregory IX's negotiators with the Emperor Frederick II between 1227 and 1237.

Latin Diocese of Tortosa in Syria was a Roman Catholic diocese established in the Syrian city of Tartus after the First Crusade. It had a resident bishop between 1128 and 1291. The cathedral of Tortosa became the site of a Marian shrine.

Peter of Capua, known in Italian as Pietro Capuano, was an Italian theologian and clergyman who taught at the University of Paris from 1206 to 1218, was briefly patriarchate-designate of Antioch in 1219 and was then cardinal-deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro from 1219 until his death. The scion of an illustrious family from the Kingdom of Sicily and educated at Paris, he became known in Rome as a friend of the French church and of the Holy Roman Emperor.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.