Bishop Benedetto of Cephalonia, 1207–post 1239

Abstract

A fresh look at the few sources concerning Bishop Benedetto of Cephalonia, within the context of the recently revised history of the rule of Count Maio on the island, reveals that this first Latin bishop was a relative of the count who had an eventful and colourful rule lasting over 32 years. This chronological survey of Benedetto’s tenure illustrates the transition from a Greek to a Latin episcopacy in Frankish Greece, the restructuring of the Church following the Fourth Lateran Council, the shifting allegiances of the secular powers, and finally the problems caused by the frequently unlettered and scandalous resident prelates who ruled during the first decades after the Fourth Crusade: Benedetto was accused of simony, ignorance, negligence and sexual incontinence.

Keywords:

• Benedetto of Cephalonia
• Count Maio
• Cephalonia
• Zakynthos
• Frankish Greece
• clerical abuses

Notes

1. The general bibliography on the ecclesiastical history of early Frankish Greece, usually with passing references to Cephalonia, includes Gerland, Neue Quellen; Norden, Das Papsttum und Byzanz; Santifaller, Beiträge zur Geschichte des lateinischen Patriarchats; Wolff, “The Organization of the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople”; Brown, “The Cistercians in the Latin Empire”; Setton, The Papacy and the Levant; Fedalto, La Chiesa latina in Oriente, vol. I; Kordoses, Southern Greece under the Franks; Richard, “The Establishment of the Latin Church”; and Coureas, “The Latin and Greek Churches”. See also the pertinent sections of, especially, Longnon, L’Empire latin de Constantinople; Bon, La Morée franque; Ilieva, Frankish Morea; and Van Tricht, The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium.

2. See Schabel, “Antelm the Nasty”; Claverie, Honorius III et l’Orient; Claverie, “Une source négligée”; and Bullarium Hellenicum.

3. Die Register Innocenz’ III. 10. Band, 54–5, no. 33: “. . Monopolitano, . . Poligmanensi, et . . Conversanensi episcopis. Per suas nobis dilecti filii nobilis vir Maio comes, clerus, et populus insule Kefalonie litteras intimarunt quod, eiusdem insule sede pontificali vacante, dum de preficiendo sibi pastore Latino diligentem habuissent tractatum, omnes unanimi voluntate ac pari consensu Benedictum presbiterum, quem de discretione ac honestate plurimum commendarunt, in episcopum elegerunt, nobis humiliter supplicantes ut, cum sedes metropolitana sit viduata pastore, ad quam, etiamsi non vacaret, non possent habere recursum, cum adhuc eadem Sedi Apostolice sit inobediens et rebellis, electionem ipsam dignaremur auctoritate apostolica confirmare. Quocirca fraternitati vestre per apostolica scripta mandamus quatinus, eundem presbiterum facientes vestro conspectui presentari, de litteratura, vita, natalibus, et aliis que circa idoneitatem persone ipsius inquirenda fuerint inquiratis diligentius veritatem, et, si eundem idoneum inveneritis, electionem ipsam auctoritate Sedis Apostolice confirmantes, ipsum vice nostra in episcopum consecretis, recipientes ab eo pro nobis et successoribus nostris fidelitatis et obedientie iuramentum, quod feceritis nobis fideliter rescribentes. Datum Laterani, X Kalendas Aprilis, anno decimo.” We do not necessarily follow the punctuation of the editions.

4. See Kiesewetter, “Megareites di Brindisi, Maio di Monopoli”, 69–75. A slightly modified version of this article was published as “Preludio alla Quarta Crociata?” Kiesewetter traces the other version of Maio’s story starting from Hopf, “Hr. Olshausen”, 225. For the Chronicle, see Libro de los Fechos et Conquistas del Principado de La Morea, 53, §§236–9.

5. Following the traditional story of Maio, Innocenzo da Modugno, a Latin priest of Cephalonia, in his Cefalonia cattolica, 61, believes that Benedict was not the first Latin bishop of the island, reading the papal document in a totally different way.

6. The story of what happened in Hagia Sophia is well known; see the works cited earlier in note 1. For Patras, see Die Register Innocenz’ III. 8. Band, 269–71, no. 154 (153).

7. This procedure parallels the best example we have for Frankish Cyprus, with the election of the Greek bishop of Lefkara around 1300: see Griechische Briefe, 226–7, no. 94 and 236–7, no. 104.

8. Bees, “Ein politisches Treubekenntnis von Benedictus”, 166.

9. Hopf, “Hr. Olshausen”, 225.

10. Kieseweter, “Margareites di Brondisi, Maio di Monopoli”, 71–3. Nor are Maio’s successors called “Orsini” in the sources: Kiesewetter, “Il trattato del 18 ottobre 1305”, 195, n. 90. According to a Latin bishop of Zakynthos, Remondini, De Zacynthi antiquitatibus, 237, the ruling family’s surname is unknown. Nor does the name Orsini appear in Το Πρακτικόν της Λατινικής Επισκοπής Κεφαλληνίας του 1264.

11. On whom see Bullarium Hellenicum, 45, 75 n. 114, and 223 n. 1, and Claverie, “Une source négligée”, 134.

12. The sources for the murder are vague on the date: Nicetas Choniates, Χρονική Διήγησις, §638; Michael Acominatos Choniates, Τα σωζόμενα, vol. II, 170.21–4. Ateses, Επισκοπικοί κατάλογοι της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος, 175, has Nicholas II ruling in 1204–8.

13. See Eubel, Hierarchia catholica, 181; Fedalto, La Chiesa latina in Oriente, vol. II, 72; Pentogalos, “Λατίνοι επίσκοποι Κεφαλονιάς-Ζακύνθου”, 148–9.

14. Acta Innocentii III, 425–7, no. 192: “Gualtero Corinthiensi archiepiscopo eiusque successoribus canonice substituendis in perpetuum … tuam volentes personam propensius honorare, propriis manibus consecravimus in pontificem …” Walter was removed in the aftermath of the Fourth Lateran Council and Eudes of Villehardouin was transferred to Corinth from Coron: Schabel and Tsougarakis, “Pope Innocent III”, 750; Bullarium Hellenicum, 223 n. 1.

15. ASV, Reg. Vat. 8, f. 93r, no. 63, tacitly correcting Patrologia Latina, vol. 216, col. 589: “Episcopo de Iatinco. Cum venerabilem fratrem nostrum Corinthiensem archiepiscopum ad propria cum gratie nostre plenitudine remittamus, fraternitati tue per apostolica scripta precipiendo mandamus quatinus eidem tanquam metropolitano tuo debitam obedientiam et reverentiam impendere non omittas, alioquin noveris nos venerabili fratri nostro episcopo Cephalonie et dilectis filiis archidiacono et magistro L. canonico de Andrevilla in mandatis dedisse ut te ad id, monitione premissa, per censuram ecclesiasticam, appellatione remota, compellant. Datum Laterani, XV Kalendas Junii, pontificatus nostri anno quintodecimo. – Scriptum est super hoc eisdem ut si dictus episcopus de Iacincto quod mandatum est ei neglexerit adimplere, ipsi eum ad id, monitione premissa, per censuram ecclesiasticam, appellatione remota, compellant. Quod si non omnes etc., tu ea, frater episcope, cum eorum altero etc. – Episcopo Cephalonie. Cum venerabilem fratrem nostrum Corinthiensem archiepiscopum etc. ut supra in eundem modum usque impendere non omittas, alioquin noveris nos archiepiscopo Patr<ac>ensi et archidiacono et magistro L. canonico de Andrevilla in mandatis dedisse ut te ad id, monitione premissa, per censuram ecclesiasticam, appellatione remota, compellant. Datum Laterani, XV Kalendas Junii, pontificatus nostri anno quindecimo. – In eundem modum scriptum est eisdem. Cum venerabilem etc. usque non omittat. Quocirca discretioni vestre per apostolica scripta mandamus quatenus, si dictus episcopus preceptum nostrum neglexerit adimplere, vos eum ad id, monitione premissa, per censuram ecclesiasticam, appellatione postposita, compellatis. Quod si non omnes etc., tu ea, frater archiepiscope, cum eorum altero etc.”

16. ASV, Reg. Vat. 8, f. 156v, no. 92, tacitly correcting Patrologia Latina, vol. 216, col. 893, and Acta Innocentii III, 447, no. 208: “Patracensi archiepiscopo. Exhibita nobis ex parte venerabilis fratris nostri . . Kefalunensis episcopi petitio continebat quod, cum Kefalunensis ecclesia ad Apostolicam Sedem immediate spectaverit ab antiquo, et distet per septem dietas duobus archiepiscopatibus mediis a Chorintio (!), venerabilis frater noster Corinthiensis archiepiscopus, per quasdam litteras ad te contra Kefalunensem ecclesiam super impendenda obedientia impetratas, ipsum indebita molestatione fatigat. Quocirca fraternitati tue per apostolica scripta mandamus quatinus, inquisita et cognita veritate, non permittas eundem super hoc indebite molestari. Tu denique, frater archiepiscope, super te ipso etc. Datum Signie, Nonis Augusti, pontificatus nostri anno sextodecimo.”

17. Bullarium Hellenicum, 311, no. 125: “… legatus, ecclesiam Iacintinam, que, licet olim sedes fuerit cathedralis, adeo tamen erat tenuis in redditibus quod absque pontificalis dignitatis ignominia proprium non poterat episcopum sustentare, Cephalonensi ecclesie, salva Sedis Apostolice auctoritate, duxerit adiungendam …” For Innocent III’s programme at Lateran IV, see Schabel and Tsougarakis, “Pope Innocent III”, especially 747.

18. Die Register Innocenz’ III. 10. Band, 219, no. 128: “Ad nostram noveris audientiam pervenisse quod in insula Iacinto, que ad dilecti filii nobilis viri Maionis, comitis Kephalonie, pertinent ditionem, quidam episcopus Grecus non solum Sedi Apostolice inobediens et rebellis existit, eius dispositionibus omnino parere contempnens, verum etiam vitam ducit in multorum scandalum dissolutam.” See also Die Register Innocenz’ III. 10. Band, 78–9, no. 51, dated 19 April 1207, on Antelm’s rebellious Greek suffragans, presumably including the bishop of Zakynthos and perhaps those of Kernitsa, Christiana and/or Veligosti, which were also absorbed into other dioceses in 1222: Bullarium Hellenicum, 310–11, no. 125.

19. For Benedetto’s self title, see later on St James. For Oreoi, see Bullarium Hellenicum, 481–4, no. 222, although the Latin bishop of Oreoi complained that the Latin bishop of Negroponte had thereby engineered his removal! Zakynthos certainly had protopapades in the Venetian period: Karydis, Όψεις της εκκλησιαστικής οργάνωσης, 69–73 and 79–81; Skoufari, “Aspects of Religious Coexistence”, 270. We thank one of our anonymous readers for making the points about the executors and the protopapas.

20. Bees, “Ein politisches Treubekenntnis von Benedictus”, 166–7. On Apokaukos, see Angold, Church and Society in Byzantium, 213–31.

21. See, for example, Jacoby, “Multilingualism and Institutional Patterns”.

22. Bullarium Hellenicum, 342–3, no. 136.

23. ASV, Reg. Vat. 8A, f. 45v (only partially edited in Acta Innocentii III, 543, no. 6): “Maio comes Cephalonie et Iacincti <scribit> [scribunt] domino pape quod, si ipse moriatur sine legitimis heredibus, vult quod Romana Ecclesia bona sua possideat libere et disponat, et interim offert annuatim eidem Ecclesie iperpera quinquaginta. Eidem scribitur et sibi de obladis regratiatur et confirmatur dicta oblacio.”

24. On Maio’s allegiances, see Kiesewetter, “Megareites di Brindisi, Maio di Monopoli”, 75–82, and Angold, “The Latin Empire of Constantinople”, 58–9.

25. Chris Schabel and Michalis Olympios are compiling a detailed history of the order as part of an ecclesiastical history of Andreville, the basis for what follows, but for now see Saint-Guillain, “The Conquest of Monemvasia by the Franks”, 250–3, and the literature cited there.

26. Tabulae Ordinis Theutonici, 132, no. 131.

27. Tabulae Ordinis Theutonici, 133–4, no. 132.

28. Tabulae Ordinis Theutonici, 134–6, nos. 133–6.

29. Schabel, “Antelm the Nasty”, 106–8; Bullarium Hellenicum, 500 and 504, no. 230.

30. Les Registres d’Innocent IV, no. 2869.

31. ASV, Reg. Vat. 19, f. 105r–v, no. 3, tacitly correcting Les registres de Grégoire IX, no. 4795, and Acta Honorii III et Gregorii IX, 336–7, no. 259: “. . archiepiscopo <et> . . thesaurario Corinthiensibus et . . decano Patracensi. Que discrimen pariunt animarum eo graviori dolore cor nostrum afficiunt quo ipsarum curam commissam nobis advertimus et easdem redemptas pretioso Regis eterni sanguine cogitamus. Digne igitur pro ipsarum vitandis periculis debemus assumere studium sollicitudinis efficacis. Sane, insinuantibus dilectis filiis . . archidiacono et maiori ac saniori parte capituli ecclesie Cephalonensis, accepimus quod venerabilis frater noster . . episcopus Cephalonensis, qui notabilem defectum scientie redimere morum honestate deberet, postponens debitum pastoralis officii, iam per triginta annos in ecclesia sua vix octo vicibus crisma confecit, propter quod multi parvulorum sue diocesis sine perceptione baptismatis decesserunt. Preterea, idem, vas suum in sanctificatione et honore possidere negligens ac subditorum animas gladio perverse conversationis extinguens, indifferenter ad vitium incontinentie labitur et filios de nephanda sibi commixtione productos nutrire tanquam legitimos non veretur, matrimonia licite contracta dirimens et prohibita celebrari permittens. Quid ultra? Prebendas canonicorum ecclesie memorate suis usibus applicando, Grecos presbiteros auctoritate apostolica excommunicationis vinculo innodatos instituit in canonicos eiusdem ecclesie, mediante vitio symonie. [105v] Et quamquam idem quosdam alios consimiles sacerdotes, ad mandatum bone memorie . . predecessoris tui, frater archiepiscope, culpis eorum exigentibus, duxerit degradandos, tamen eisdem executionem sacerdotalis officii obtentu pecunie restituere non expavit, prodigus in dispergendis bonis ecclesie, que, olim in ornatu pretioso conspicua, nunc pauper haberi dinoscitur et despecta. Ne igitur ipsa eiusque filii sub tali pastore sic se negligi debeant et offendi, nos, quos – licet immeritos – ad hoc Dei sapientia instituisse dinoscitur, ut generalis Ecclesia per attentionis nostre studium, sua gratia suffragante, in salutis semitam dirigatur, mandamus quatenus, si eiusdem episcopi famam apud bonos et graves viros inveneritis esse lesam, inquiratis super premissis et aliis diligentius veritatem, et que inveneritis nobis, dilatione postposita, fideliter rescribatis, ut exinde quod expedire viderimus disponamus. Quod si non omnes, tu, frater etc., non obstante constitutione de duabus dietis etc., ita tamen quod ultra quintam vel sextam pars altera etc. Datum Laterani, X Kalendas Aprilis, anno tertiodecimo.”

32. See, for example, Synodicum Nicosiense, 124–5, no. B.5.

33. For Greek bishops in Romania see, for example, the recent discussion in Van Tricht, The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium, 322–34, and his “The Byzantino-Latin Principality of Adrianople”, 337b–8a.

34. Bullarium Hellenicum, 421, no. 184, and 326, no. 128.

35. Les registres de Grégoire IX, no. 4036.

36. Archbishop Eudes of Villehardouin was made archbishop of Corinth early in Honorius’ reign, transferred from the bishopric of Coron, and was addressed a letter in the summer of 1224; see Bullarium Hellenicum, 45 and 223, no. 61, and 511–2, no. 236.

37. ASV, Reg. Vat. 15, ff. 129v-130r, no. 143, for 10 Oct. 1231: “. . Patracensi archiepiscopo et . . Coronensi et . . Argolicensi episcopis. Ex parte dilecti filii . . Corinthiensis electi fuit nobis humiliter postulatum ut, cum idem, cuius electionem examinatam diligentius olim duximus confirman[130r]dam, venerabilem fratrem nostrum . . Constantinopolitanum patriarcham, Apostolice Sedis legatum, propter locorum distantiam, guerrarum discrimina, et viarum pericula tribus annis et amplius iam elapsis adire nequiverit pro consecrationis munere obtinendo, providere sibi super hoc de benignitate Sedis Apostolice dignaremur.”

38. ASV, Reg. Vat. 17, f. 229v, no. 311, for 6 November 1234: “Capitulo Corinthiensi. Quia nonnulli prelati ecclesiarum de partibus Romanie, quorum quidam fere semper absentes existunt, cum eorum canonici dampna vel iniurias patiuntur, in exhibenda eis iustitia tepidi sunt, sicut dicitur, et remissi, tanquam in ipsorum gravaminibus delectentur, nos, vobis consulere ac specialem gratiam volentes facere in hac parte, devotioni vestre auctoritate presentium indulgemus ut invasores vestros et rerum vestrarum Corinthiensis diocesis ubi archiepiscopus vester est negligens vel remissus competenti, monitione premissa, per censuram ecclesiasticam, appellatione remota, compescere valeatis.” ASV Reg. Vat. 18, f. 182r, no. 177, for 6 August 1236: “In eundem modum pro eisdem . . archiepiscopo Corinthiensi.”

39. Les registres de Grégoire IX, no. 3583, for 30 March 1237.

40. The 1228 text is edited in Fabre, Le Liber Censuum, 8 for Patras and Corinth. An equally flawed list dating from just before Corinth’s fall to the Franks is in Tangl, Die päplischen Kanzleiordnungen, the pertinent information appearing on 29–30. Cf. Bon, La Morée franque, 99 n. 6, and Table 101; Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 37–8; Ilieva, Frankish Morea, 80 and 146–7. For the 1222 decisions, see Bullarium Hellenicum, 311, no. 125, and also 420 and 430, nos. 184–5.

41. Acta Innocentii III, 426, no. 192; Bullarium Hellenicum, 310, no. 125.

42. See also discussion and charts in Wolff, “The Organization of the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople”, 48–60.

43. Les Registres d’Innocent IV, no. 5858. Despite claims that the bishop’s name was Giovanni, i.e., Iohannes or Johannes in Latin, it must have been one of the many names beginning with “G” in Latin: Georgius, Gerardus, Gilbertus, Godefridus, Gregorius, Gualterus, Guillelmus, Guido and so on. Thus Cappelletti, Le Chiese d’Italia, 100, supports Giovanni, but admits that Ughelli, Coleti and Colucci call him “G”. See Kouroupakis, “Συμβολή στην ιστορία”, 358–9.

44. The summary in Les Registres d’Innocent IV, no. 6073, fails to provide certain phrases and the formulae, which in this case prove crucial (ASV, Reg. Vat. 22, f. 217r, no. 215): “Ecclesia Cephalonie per translationem venerabilis fratris nostri . . Humanatensis, quondam Cephaloniensis episcopi, ut dicitur, pastore vacante . . mandamus quatinus, si ecclesia ipsa vacat, prefatum P. auctoritate nostra per vos vel per alium ibidem preficiatis in episcopum et pastorem ... Nos enim nicholominus decernimus irritum et inane siquid post presentationem presentium de dicta ecclesia contra mandatum nostrum contingerit attemptari.”

45. Les Registres d’Innocent IV, no. 6494.

46. See Kouroupakis, “Συμβολή στην ιστορία”, 361.

47. Thanks to Pierre-Vincent Claverie’s archival work in the West, we can now specify that Antelm died on 18 April 1243: “Une source négligée”, 157–8. Claverie, Honorius III et l’Orient, 159–61, had already found that Antelm was a monk at Cluny in the 1180s, joined Benedictine La Chaise-Dieu, left the monastic life to participate in the Fourth Crusade, and became one of the canons of the new chapter of Patras, before his election, thus building on Schabel, “Antelm the Nasty”.

48. Bullarium Hellenicum, 544–5, no. 257, although Saint-Guillain, “Les seigneurs de Salona”, 13 n. 14 argues that Hardouin had died and his successor was the unlettered one.

49. Bullarium Hellenicum, 498–506, no. 230, 544–5, no. 257, and 565–8, no. 270.

50. Schabel and Tsougarakis, “Pope Innocent III”, 750.