Anselm IV (also ''Anselm of Buis'',
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
: ''Anselmo da Bovisio'') was the
Archbishop of Milan
The Archdiocese of Milan ( it, Arcidiocesi di Milano; la, Archidioecesis Mediolanensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has lon ...
from 3 November 1097 to his death on 30 September 1101. He was a close friend of
Pope Urban II and prominent in the
Crusade of 1101
The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this ...
, whose
Lombard contingent he led and on which he died.
According to
Galvano Fiamma
Galvano Fiamma (1283–1344) was an Italian Dominican and chronicler of Milan. He appears to have been the first European in the Mediterranean area to describe the New World. His numerous historical writings include the ''Chronica Galvagnana'', ...
, he was born in
Bovisio, the son of a ''
valvassor''. He entered the monastery of S. Lorenzo and was then elected, in 1097,
bishop of Brescia.
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
was threatening to fall into a schism again when he was elected to bring peace. He had never, however, taken
holy orders before his consecration on 3 November.
Under were corrected the irregularities of the past decades at a synod held from 5 – 7 April 1098. He affirmed the excommunication of imperial-appointed bishops and condemned
simony. He accepted the acts of
Anselm III, but not those of
Tedald.
He was recruited by
Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...
, Urban's successor, to lead the crusade being proclaimed in response to the success of the
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...
. He preached the crusade throughout
Lombardy, where there had been little enthusiasm for the first one, but where his influence sparked a wave of zeal: crowds greeted him chanting "Ultreja! Ultreja!" On 15 July 1100, he celebrated the anniversary of the
fall of Jerusalem in Milan. He appointed one
Grossolano, then
bishop of Savona
The Italian Catholic Diocese of Savona-Noli ( la, Dioecesis Savonensis-Naulensis) in northern Italy, was historically the Diocese of Savona, from the tenth century. In 1820 the Diocese of Noli was united to the Diocese of Savona. It is a suffrag ...
, to act as his
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...
and, on 13 September, with bishops
Guy of Tortona,
William of Pavia, and probably
Aldo of Piacenza, he left with a company reported at the exaggerated figure of 50,000 men, led by
Albert, Count of Biandrate, and his nephew
Otto Altaspata.
Albert, Count of Parma, the brother of the
Antipope Guibert, was there as a representative of the resolution of the church-state conflicts which enveloped Lombardy in the final decades of the eleventh century.
The army proceeded by land through
Carinthia, with the permission of
Duke Henry V, and then through
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
without incident, relying on Anselm's negotiations with
Alexius I Comnenus
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
,
Byzantine emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...
, to assure them of markets and supplies. At
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
, rioting broke out, but he and Albert quelled it with ease and he refused the rich gifts offered by the emperor, who ferried the soldiery across the
Bosphorus. At
Nicomedia
Nicomedia (; el, Νικομήδεια, ''Nikomedeia''; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greek city located in what is now Turkey. In 286, Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by the emperor Diocleti ...
, in
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, he met
Raymond IV of Toulouse
Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse ( 1041 – 28 February 1105), sometimes called Raymond of Saint-Gilles or Raymond I of Tripoli, was a powerful noble in southern France and one of the leaders of the First Crusade (1096–1099). He was the Count o ...
, one of the leading barons of the capture of Jerusalem. Guided by Raymond, the army marched through
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
, skirmishing with the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
at
Kastamonu
Kastamonu is the capital district of the Kastamonu Province, Turkey. According to the 2000 census, population of the district is 102,059 of which 64,606 live in the urban center of Kastamonu. (Population of the urban center in 2010 is 91,012.) The ...
and between
Merzifon
Merzifon ( hy, Մարզուան, Marzvan, Middle Persian: ; grc, Μερσυφὼν, Mersyphòn, el, Μερζιφούντα, Merzifounta) is a town and district in Amasya Province in the central Black Sea region of Turkey. It covers an area of , ...
and
Amasya
Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ...
. These initial confrontations were successes for the Lombards. Anselm fought in these engagements and received wounds which he went to Constantinople to nurse. There he died and was buried. News of his death did not reach Milan until 1102. He was succeeded by Grossolano.
Sources
*Landolfo Iuniore di San Paolo. ''Historia Mediolanensis''.
*Ghisalberti, Alberto M. ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: III Ammirato – Arcoleo''. Rome, 1961.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anselm IV, Archbishop of Milan
1101 deaths
Bishops of Brescia
Archbishops of Milan
Christians of the Crusade of 1101
11th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops
Year of birth unknown