Boso (cardinal of Santa Pudenziana)
Boso (death 1178) was an Italian prelate and
Origins
According to the older historiography[1] Boso was an Englishman from St Albans and nephew of Nicholas Breakspear, future Pope Adrian IV, on his mother's side. He ostensibly joined the Order of Benedictines at St Albans Abbey in the young age, and then entered the Roman Curia when his uncle Nicholas became cardinal. Shortly after his election to the papacy he was promoted to the cardinalate and died ca. 1181.
This view was still accepted at the beginning of the 20th century,
Brixius concluded that Boso must have been a member of this religious community, and not a Benedictine. However, he still considered him an Englishman.
The monograph of F. Geisthardt (1936) about Cardinal Boso refuted almost all elements of his traditional biography concerning the period before his promotion to the cardinalate. He has proven that Boso's curial career much predated the career of his alleged uncle Nicholas Breakspear. He served at the papal curia from at least 1135 as member of the household of cardinal Guido of SS. Cosma e Damiano from Pisa, and it was Guido, not Nicholas, who was his early protector at the papal court. Geisthardt has established that Boso was born probably at Loppia near Lucca in Tuscany.[4] His conclusions are now accepted in academic literature.[5]
Biography
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Born in Tuscany, Boso joined the canons regular of S. Maria di Reno at Bologna. In 1135 he entered the service of cardinal Guido of SS. Cosma e Damiano and accompanied him in his legatine mission to Spain in 1143.[6] After Guido's death in autumn 1149 Boso replaced him as director of papal chancery, though without the title of chancellor.[7] He occupied that post until 3 May 1153.[8]
When Nicholas Breakspear became Pope Adrian IV in December 1154, he appointed Boso to the important post of
When Adrian IV died in 1159, dissensions arose in the
The new pope was mindful of his obligations to Boso, and soon (no later than 18 March 1166) promoted him
He had a reputation not only for piety, but also for learning, and was esteemed by contemporary writers as among the most eminent theologians of his age. He compiled or wrote the lives of several eleventh and twelfth century popes, among them the life of Adrian. He was also a poet, examples of his poetry powers still existing in the Cotton MSS in the British Library, in the form of metrical lives of saints.
He died in 1178,
Notes
- ^ e.g. Lorenzo Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, vol. 1, pt. 2, Rome 1792, p. 85-86
- ^ Birt 1907.
- ^ Brixius, pp. 113-14
- ^ Geisthardt, p. 1-39
- ^ Zenker, p. 149; Bolton, Duggan, p. 182 and 215; Robinson, p. 254-255
- ^ Zenker, p. 149; Geisthardt, p. 17
- ^ Brixius, p. 58; Zenker, p. 150
- ^ Brixius, p. 58
- ^ Brixius, p. 58; Zenker, p. 225
- ^ Zenker, p. 151
- ^ Zenker, p. 151
- ^ Brixius, p. 114. He was certainly dead by September 26, 1180, when Paolo Scolari appears as cardinal priest of S. Pudenziana (Ch. L. Hugo, Sacri Ordinis Praemonstratensis Annales, vol. II, Nancy 1736, col. 454).
- ISBN 978-0-75460-708-3.
References
- Skottowe, Britiffe Constable (1886). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 5. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 421. . In
- Birt, Henry Norbert (1907). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- Cardella, Memorie Storiche de' Cardinali
- Eggs, Purpura docta (Munich,1714–29)
- Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, II, xxxix-xliii, 351-446
- Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, 6th ed., II, 331
- Reuter, Alexander III (1860–64)
- Philipp Jaffé, Regesta RR. PP., II, under Adrian 1V, Alexander III.
- Johannes M. Brixius, Die Mitglieder des Kardinalkollegiums von 1130-1181, Berlin 1912
- Barbara Zenker, Die Mitglieder des Kardinalkollegiums von 1130 bis 1159, Würzburg 1964
- I.S. Robinson, The Papacy 1073-1198. Continuity and Innovation, Cambridge University Press 1990
- B. Bolton, A. Duggan, Adrian IV, the English Pope, 1154–1159: Studies and Texts, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 2003
- Geisthardt, F., Der Kämmerer Boso (Eberings Hist. Stud. 293), Berlin 1936