The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Apamea was an
ecclesiastical province
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...
of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in the
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It exte ...
from around 1110 to 1149.
Diocese of Albara
Located on the plateau
Jabal al-Sumaq, Albara was a strategically important town to the southeast of
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
in the Middle Ages. The crusaders
captured Antioch on 3 June 1098.
Pope Urban II legate
Legate may refer to:
*Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class
:*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period
*A member of a legation
*A representative, ...
,
Adhemar of Le Puy
Adhemar (also known as Adémar, Aimar, or Aelarz) de Monteil (died 1 August 1098) was one of the principal figures of the First Crusade and was bishop of Puy-en-Velay from before 1087. He was the chosen representative of Pope Urban II for th ...
, restored the
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the town,
John the Oxite John the Oxite or John Oxeites was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (as John IV or V) from c. 1089 until 1100, when he was exiled by Prince Bohemond I of Antioch. He fled to the Byzantine Empire and continued to govern those parts of the pat ...
, and confirmed the Patriarch's authority over both the Greek and the Latin clergy. The crusaders' two most important leaders,
Bohemond, Prince of Taranto, and
Raymond IV, Count 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 of ...
, wanted to secure the rule of Antioch for themselves. Raymond invaded the Jabal al-Smmaq and captured Albara on 25 September 1098.
Albara had not been an Orthodox
episcopal see, but Raymond established a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
bishopric in the town, which thus became the first Roman Catholic diocese in Syria. After consulting with his chaplains and commanders, Raymond appointed a
Provençal priest,
Peter of Narbonne, as the first bishop of Albara. Raymond's chaplain,
Raymond of Aguilers Raymond of Aguilers was a participant in and chronicler of the First Crusade (1096–1099). During the campaign he became the chaplain of Count Raymond IV of Toulouse, the leader of the Provençal army of crusaders., vol. IV, p. 1009. His chronicl ...
, recorded that Raymond's troops "gave thanks to God" after Peter's appointment because "they wished to have a Roman bishop in the eastern church to look after their affairs". Historian Bernard Hamilton proposes that Peter was actually appointed for political and social reasons, because late-11th-century European rulers could not administer their realms without the assistance of high-ranking clergymen. Indeed, Raymond granted half of Albara and the nearby region to the Bishop, most probably to enable Peter to rule the whole territory on his behalf. The ''
Gesta Francorum''a reliable contemporaneous primary sourcerecorded that Peter went to Antioch where John the Oxite consecrated him.
Archdiocese of Apamea
Bohemond's nephew,
Tancred, who had ruled the Principality of Antioch on Bohemond's behalf since 1104, captured
Apamea
Apamea or Apameia ( grc, Απάμεια) is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see.
Places called Apamea in ...
in August 1106. Apamea had been an Orthodox metropolitan see, which ranked fourth among the suffragans of the patriarchs of Antioch, but no sources imply the presence of an Orthodox prelate in the town at the time of its conquest. The
Latin Patriarch of Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
,
Bernard of Valence Bernard of Valence (died 1135) was the Latin Patriarch of Antioch from 1100 to 1135.
Originally from Valence, Bernard was part of the army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles and attended the Battle of Harran, and Battle of Sarmada with Roger of Salerno ...
, promoted Peter of Narbonne to the rank of archbishop and transferred his see to Apamea. The first extant document styling Peter as "archbishop of Albara and archbishop of Famia" (or Apamea) was issued in 1110. Peter and his successors used both titles interchangeably for decades, but the reference to Albara disappeared from their style after about 1144. No documents refer to secular rulers in Albara, suggesting that the archbishops continued to administer the town and its region. The archbishops of Apamea also had a suffragan bishops, after the crusaders captured
Baniyas and made it an episcopal see in 1109.
Titular see
Nur ad-Din captured Apamea in 1149, but it remained a titular archbishopric. The titular archbishop lived in
Latakia and had his own chapel in the town in 1223. In that year, Pope Honorius III authorized him to celebrate Mass in the chapel.
Archbishops
*
Peter of Narbonne ( 1110– 1123) ''(from 1098 to 1110, bishop of Albara)''
* Serlo (?–1144)
* Gerald (1170s)
* Anselm (1220s)
* Peter II (1240s)
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
{{coord missing, Syria
Apamea
Apamea or Apameia ( grc, Απάμεια) is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see.
Places called Apamea in ...
12th century in Asia
Catholic Church in the Middle East
Principality of Antioch