Otto of Tonengo

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Otto presiding over the council of London in 1237, from a copy of the Chronica Majora

Otto of Tonengo

bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina
from 1244.

He is called in many English sources Otto Candidus, meaning "Otto the White", a name he used himself.[1]

Otto had a legal education, and had joined the

Roman curia by 1225. His first mission was to England to raise funds for the Sixth Crusade in 1225–1226. In 1227–1228, he undertook his first embassy to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1229–1231, he travelled extensively through France, the Low Countries, Germany, Denmark and Norway
on Papal business. In 1232–1233, he undertook his second embassy to Frederick II.

In 1237–1240, he was the

battle of Giglio
in 1241. He remained imprisoned at least until 1243. In 1244–1245, he undertook a third and final embassy to Frederick II. Thereafter, his work slowed down and he is not heard of after 1249.

Family and education

Otto was born at

William III, as sometimes alleged.[2] He was a friend of William of Modena.[3]

Otto began his ecclesiastical career as a

cathedral of Bologna.[2]

Early Papal service

Otto impressed Honorius III on his mission of 1224 and he was recruited into the

Papal chaplain. By February 1225, he held the post of auditor litterarum contradictarum, auditor of contradicting letters. Later that year, as a subdeacon, he was sent to England to raise funds for the Sixth Crusade. He left England before Easter 1226, having achieved little.[2]

After his return to Rome, Otto witnessed a testamentary codicil of a fellow Piedmontese, Cardinal Guala Bicchieri. It is probably through connection such as this that he rose so fast in ecclesiastical ranks. He was appointed cardinal deacon of San Nicola in Carcere by Pope Gregory IX on 18 September 1227, a little over two years since entering the Papal chancery. His first subscription as a cardinal is dated 23 September.[2]

Papal legations

Otto undertook numerous missions for Gregory IX in northern Europe. In December 1227, he was sent with Cardinal

Raymond VII of Toulouse that produced the Treaty of Paris (April 12).[2]

Otto subsequently pursued ecclesiastical reforms in the

Augustinians in Alsace, and between December 1229 and May 1230 he helped organize a new religious order, the Penitent Sisters of Saint Mary Magdalene in Germany. In the summer of 1230, he visited Denmark and Norway. There he promulgated a statute forbidding clerical concubinage. From Denmark, he went to Bremen, then Munich, then Cologne, where he convoked a council of the German church to be held at Würzburg. He met resistance from the secular leaders and the council was poorly attended. According to the Royal Chronicle of Cologne, Otto "withdrew irate" (iratus recessit). He rejoined the Papal court at Rieti in early summer 1231.[2]

Early in 1232, Gregory IX sent Otto with Cardinal James of Pecorara to northern Italy to negotiate a peace between the warring factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the latter the allies of Emperor Frederick II. Frederick, however, caused negotiations to drag on for over a year before an agreement was reached.[2]

Between 1233 and 1237, Otto was mostly with the Papal court, acting as auditor again. In May 1236, King Henry III of England requested a Papal legate be sent to his kingdom to resolve both internal disputes and a dispute with King Alexander II of Scotland. In August 1236, Gregory IX appointed Otto as legate a latere. He left on 13 April 1237, arriving in England in July. His remit covered not only England, but Scotland and Ireland also.[2]

Otto presided over the negotiations between Henry III and Alexander II that began on 14 September 1237 and ended with the signing of the

Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. The statutes promulgated by Otto after this council are transmitted in more than sixty manuscripts.[2]

He mediated between the

chartulary.[citation needed
]

Otto resided in London throughout most of 1238 and 1239. On 10 November 1238, he attended a meeting of the provincial chapter of Benedictine abbots and priors. In 1239, he went to Scotland to publish the excommunication of the Emperor Frederick II. In October he held a council in Edinburgh to introduce the Lateran reforms to the Scottish church. He visited Ireland to do the same before returning to London, where he spent the next year. He left England on 29 December 1240.[2]

cardinal's hats) captured at the battle of Giglio in 1241, from a copy of the Nuova Cronica

Captivity

Gregory IX had scheduled a general council for Easter 1241 at Rome. Otto, with many other churchman, including James of Pecorara, took ship at Genoa for Rome. The Genoese fleet was intercepted by the pro-imperial fleet of

a battle of Giglio on 3 May 1241. Otto and James were captured and brought to Salerno in the Kingdom of Sicily. Otto received better treatment than James, perhaps because he was seen as more valuable in negotiations.[2]

After the death of Gregory IX on 21 August 1241, the

Innocent IV.[2]

Final years and death

Freed at some point, Otto was transferred by Innocent IV from the diaconate of San Nicola to the bishopric of Porto e Santa Rufina on 28 May 1244. This constituted a promotion and a reward for his loyalty during his imprisonment. On the eve of the First Council of Lyon, Innocent dispatched him to Germany to negotiate peace with Frederick II and to regularize the Humiliati, a new religious movement.[2]

Otto's last years were spent in the Papal court at Lyon, often acting as an auditor. He is last mentioned in February 1249 and a notice of 23 January 1251 records him as dead. He probably died late in 1250 or in the first weeks of 1251. He died at Lyon and was buried in the convent of the Dominicans there.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ Othon de Montferrat, Ottone Candido, Otto of Toneno, Ottone da Tonengo, Otto de Thonengo, Oddone di Monferrato.

References

  1. ^ S. D. Church, King John: New Interpretations (2003), p. 314; Toby Huitson, Stairway to Heaven: The Functions of Medieval Upper Spaces (Oxbow Books, 2014), p. 157
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Silanos 2014.
  3. ^ MODENA, O.Carth., Guglielmo di (ca. 1184–1251) Archived 17 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine In: Salvador Miranda: The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Website of Florida International University.

Sources

  • Abulafia, David (1988). Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor. Allen Lane.
  • Davies, Adam (2007). "The Appointment of Cardinal-deacon Otto as Legate in Britain (1237)". In Björn Weiler; Janet Burton; Phillipp Schofield (eds.). Thirteenth Century England XI: Proceedings of the Gregynog Conference, 2005. Boydell Press. pp. 147–158.
  • Fletcher, Stella (2017). The Popes and Britain: A History of Rule, Rupture and Reconciliation. I. B. Tauris.
  • Silanos, Pietro (2014). "Ottone da Tonengo".
    ISBN 978-8-81200032-6
    .

External links

  • Biography in Salvador Miranda, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Florida International University.
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