William of Malines (or William of Messines) (died 1145/6) was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

priest who was the Prior of the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

from 1127 to 1130 and was then

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem ( la, Patriarchatus Latinus Hierosolymitanus) is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was originally established in 1099, wit ...

from 1130 until his death. He is sometimes called William I to distinguish him from

William of Agen William II of Agen (also known as Guillaume d'Agen) was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1261–70. Among other things, he was tasked by Pope Urban IV in 1263 by the papal bull '' Exultavit cor nostrum'' to investigate the legitimacy of an al ...

, second patriarch of that name, but he was the second William to serve as prior of the Holy Sepulchre after

William the Englishman William the Englishman (active from 1174, died circa 1214) was an English architect and stonemason. He completed the work done on Canterbury Cathedral in England by the French architect William of Sens, after the latter was badly injured in a fall ...

. William of Tyre described William of Mesines as a man of "praiseworthy habits". As patriarch, he was an important supporter of

Queen Melisende Melisende (1105 – 11 September 1161) was Queen of Jerusalem from 1131 to 1153, and regent for her son between 1153 and 1161, while he was on campaign. She was the eldest daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and the Armenian princess M ...

and is described as a man capable yet pliable. He received a letter from

Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through ...

urging him to support the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

, who had received their papal privileges at the same time as William's embassy to Rome. William took the initiative in constructing a castle, the " Castrum Arnaldi" (or ''Chastel Arnoul'') at Yalo, to guard the road between Jerusalem and

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

in 1132–33, along with some citizens. It was later a Templar stronghold. In 1139 Patriarch William was displeased by the actions of Archbishop Fulcher of Tyre (of Angoulême), who travelled to Rome to receive his pallium from

Pope Honorius II Pope Honorius II (9 February 1060 – 13 February 1130), born Lamberto Scannabecchi,Levillain, pg. 731 was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 December 1124 to his death in 1130. Although from a humble background, ...

and protest the division of his archdiocese into two ecclesiastical territories: the northern

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

s were under the authority of 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� ...

and only the southern sees remained under Fulcher's control. Perhaps fearing that Fulcher would try to remove his entire archdiocese to 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 extende ...

(so that he might exercise control over it all as archbishop), William took direct control over the southern sees of Tyre in Fulcher's absence, for William would not allow the archbishop of Tyre, whose archdiocese lay within the boundaries of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establishe ...

and his patriarchate, to become the subject of another. Jean Richard, "The Political and Ecclesiastical Organization of the Crusader States"
''A History of the Crusades, V: The Impact of the Crusades on the Near East''
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 240–41.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:William Of Malines 1140s deaths Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem Year of birth unknown 12th-century people of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Flemish priests 12th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Kingdom of Jerusalem

See also

Notes