Biagio (or Blaise, Latin ''Blasius'') was the

Archbishop of Torres The Archdiocese of Sassari ( la, Archidioecesis Turritana) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Sardinia, Italy. Its see was initially at Torres. It was elevated to an archdiocese in 1073. Its suffragan sees are the diocese of Alghero- ...

from 1 December 1202 to his death late 1214 or early 1215. He was originally from the diocese of Nevers. He went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and became a subdeacon and then a papal notary before 1200. By the influence of

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...

, he was elected to the vacant see of

Porto Torres Porto Torres ( sdc, Posthudorra, sc, Portu Turre) is a comune and a city of the Province of Sassari in north-west of Sardinia, Italy. Founded during the 1st century BC as ''Colonia Iulia Turris Libisonis'', it was the first Roman colony of the ...

in 1202. He was consecrated sometime before 7 March 1203. One of his first acts was to order the '' giudici'' to punish the murderers of the bishop of Ploaghe, the abbot of Tregu, and the vicar of

Camaldoli Camaldoli () is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Poppi, in Tuscany, Italy. It is mostly known as the ancestral seat of the Camaldolese monastic order, originated in the eponymous hermitage, which can still be visited. The name was derived from ...

. On 10 March 1203, the pope put Comita III of Logudoro under the protection of Biagio and not of

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

in light of the invasion of

Logudoro The Logudoro (meaning "Golden Place") is a large traditional region Sardinia, Italy. The name of Logudoro today is linked to the Logudorese dialect, which covers a large area of northern-central Sardinia. The first denomination of the area is ...

William I of Cagliari William I (c. 1160–1214), royal name Salusio IV, was the Giudicato of Cagliari, '' judike'' of Cagliari, meaning "King", from 1188 to his death. His descendants and those of his immediate competitors intermarried to form the backbone of the I ...

. On 22 March, with papal consent, he gave Christian burial to Comita's father, Constantine II, who had died excommunicate. In a letter dated that same day to Comita, William, and

Hugh I of Arborea Hugh I (1178 – 1211) ''judike'' of Arborea from 1185 until his death in 1211. Hugh was the son of Ispella di Serra and Hugh I of Bas. He was a grandson -through his mother- of Barisone II of Arborea. He is often known as ''Ugone de Bas'', B ...

, the pope ordered the ''giudici'' to take an oath of allegiance to Biagio, thus breaking their link of fidelity to Pisa. Biagio had trouble extracting the oath from William, who had previously made it to

Uberto, Archbishop of Pisa Uberto Lanfranchi (or Humbert) (died 1137) was the Cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria in Via Lata (appointed by Pope Calixtus II no later than 1123), then the Cardinal-priest of San Clemente (appointed by Honorius II in 1126), and finally the Archbish ...

. On 15 September, Innocent absolved William of the oath. In that year,

Barisone II of Gallura Barisone II (died 1203) was the Judge of Gallura from about 1170 to his death. He was the son of Constantine III. His name appears in acts of 1182 and 1184. He was married to Elena de Lacon and had a daughter named Elena who inherited Gallura. Ba ...

died and left the succession to

Gallura Gallura ( sdn, Gaddura or ; sc, Caddura ) is a region in North-Eastern Sardinia, Italy. The name ''Gallùra'' is allegedly supposed to mean "stony area". Geography Gallùra has a surface of and it is situated between 40°55'20"64 latitude ...

in the hands of the pope, who gave Biagio the responsibility of arranging a marriage for the Gallurese heiress

Elena Elena may refer to: People * Elena (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician * Francine Elena (born 1986), British poet Geography * Elena (town), a town in Veliko ...

. In 1203, he tried to marry her to

Ittocorre of Torres Ittocorre Gambella was the regent of the Giudicato of Logudoro between 1127 and sometime before 1140. When Constantine I died around 1127, he left his young son Gonario II under the regency of Ittocorre. When the Athen family tried to harm the yo ...

and in 1206 to Trasmondo, a relative of the pope's, but both of these arrangements fell through, and Elena married

Lamberto di Eldizio Lamberto Visconti di Eldizio (died 1225) was the Judge of Gallura from 1206, when he married the heiress Elena, to his own death. He was a member of the Visconti family of Pisa and the first of that dynasty to rule in Sardinia, where they lasted i ...

without Biagio's approval, but with the support of the local clergy, who detested Logudorese supremacy. In a letter of 3 July 1204, Innocent confirmed the apostolic legateship to Uberto of Pisa ''only'' while he was on the island. Then the three Sardinian archbishops – Biagio, Riccus of Cagliari, and Bernard of Arborea – excommunicated the ''giudici'' for trying to solve their problems in the saecular forum (i.e., through war). Biagio maintained good relations with Comita. He offered to divorce Comita from his wife if he would abandon his mistress and he revoked the excommunication of Comita's relative, Ittocorre de Thoris, for murdering the

bishop of Ampurias The Diocese of Tempio-Ampurias ( la, Dioecesis Templensis-Ampuriensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Sardinia, Italy. Until 1986 it was known as Diocese of Ampurias e Tempio. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sassari It h ...

. Biagio did not have a good relationship with the other ''giudici'', however. He had to reprove Hugh of Arborea and the archbishop of Cagliari for the incestuous marriage of Hugh to a daughter of William of Cagliari (27 October 1207). On 3 September 1211, he accused William of violence against women and the usurpation of Arborea. However, Biagio's relationship with the papacy soon deteriorated and Innocent ordered him to confirm the marriage alliance between the houses of Bas (Arborea) and Massa (Cagliari). Nevertheless, in April 1213, Innocent gave the right to him and the archbishop of Cagliari of preaching the

Fifth Crusade The Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) was a campaign in a series of Crusades by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al-Adil, brother of Sala ...

in Sardinia. Biagio died less than two years later, probably at

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

Sources

*Ghisalberti, Aldo (ed). ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: X Biagio – Boccaccio''. Rome, 1968. *Moore, John C.
Pope Innocent III, Sardinia, and the Papal State.
''Speculum'', Vol. 62, No. 1. (Jan., 1987), pp 81–101. {{DEFAULTSORT:Biagio 12th-century births 1214 deaths 13th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Sicily