Early life Alberic was born at
Beauvais in
France. He entered the
monastery of Cluny and became its sub-prior and, later, prior of
Saint-Martin-des-Champs. In 1126, he was recalled to Cluny by
Peter the Venerable, to aid in the restoration of discipline. In 1131, Alberic was
abbot of
Vézelay Abbey in the
Diocese of Autun and attended the
council of Pisa in 1135.
Mission to England and Bari In 1138, Alberic was made Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia by
Pope Innocent II. Immediately after his consecration Alberic went as papal legate to
England. He was the first legate since
John of Crema visited England in 1124 because legatine authority had been given to the Archbishop of Canterbury; now that the archbishop had died Innocent decided to send a new legate with Alberic. Alberic was successful in his endeavours to end the war for possession of the throne between the usurper
Stephen of Blois and
David I of Scotland, who had espoused the cause of
Empress Matilda, and permanent peace was ratified the next year in the Second Treaty of Durham on 9 April 1139. Alberic then visited various bishopric and abbey especially in North England and Scotland and called then for a
legatine council of all the bishops and abbots of England, which assembled at Westminster in
London on 11 December 1138. Eighteen bishops and about thirty abbots were present. The chief business of the council, besides some disciplinary measures and the issuing of various
canons, was the election of an archbishop for the
See of Canterbury.
Theobald,
Abbot of Bec, was chosen, and consecrated by Alberic on 24 December. Accompanied by Theobald and other bishops and abbots, Alberic returned to Rome in January 1139. There he attended the
Second Lateran Council. That same year, Alberic was sent as a
legate of the Holy See to
Bari, a town on the Adriatic. Bari was in revolt against
Roger II of Sicily, and Alberic intended to exhort them to acknowledge him as their lawful sovereign. However, the inhabitants shut the city gates against him.
Mission to Outremer In 1139, Alberic was appointed by Innocent II to examine into the conduct of
Ralph of Domfront,
Latin Patriarch of Antioch and establish deeper ties with the Armenian Church. As soon as he arrived in Antioch in November that year, he summoned a synod in the
cathedral of Antioch which was attended by all Latin prelates of the east, including the
patriarch of Jerusalem as well as the
Armenian Catholicos Gregory III and his brother
Nerses. After Ralph disobeyed three charges to appear before the synod, he was deposed and
Aimery of Limoges was elected patriarch. Alberic then continued together with Gregory III to Jerusalem. On 1 April 1141, he dedicated the
Templum Domini (possibly to
St. Mary) and held the next day a synod in Jerusalem. Following the decrees of this synod, the pope established the primacy of Jerusalem over Antioch and its dominion over the
ecclesiastic province of Tyre. Gregory III, who was also at the synod, discussed dogma, professed a number of orthodox beliefs and promised to restore his church to union with Rome. This was an important step to establishing the union of churches that was achieved towards the end of the century.
Mission to France and final years Alberic was back in Rome by March 1144 before leaving for France that summer. Between 1144-1145 he was active in western and northern France, dealing with ecclesiastic issues and rendering judgments. In 1145, Alberic travelled together with
Hugh of Amiens, bishop of Rouen, to Nantes to preach against heresy and witness the translation of the relics of the early Christian martyrs
Donatian and Rogatian. Upon Alberic's urging, Hugh wrote a treatise known as
Contra haereticos sui temporis or
De ecclesia et eius ministris libri tres that defended elaborately orthodoxy. That same year, Alberic commissioned
Bernard of Clairvaux to travel throughout southwest France to preach against the teachings of Peter de Bruis and Henry of Lausanne. Alberic returned to the papal court at
Viterbo by mid-November 1145, just before the issue of
Quantum praedecessores, and accompanied the pope during the preparation of the
Second Crusade. Promoting the crusade together with Bernard of Clairvaux, he arranged with
Louis VII of France the details of the undertaking.
Pope Eugene III sent Alberic in 1147 to preach against the
Albigenses in the neighbourhood of Toulouse. There Alberic received a very cold welcome. The populace, in derision of his office, had gone to meet him, riding on asses, and escorted him to his residence with the music of rude instruments. Three days later, Bernard joined the embassy, and together the men were able to achieve some success. In a letter written at this time to the bishops of that district, Bernard calls Alberic "the venerable Bishop of Ostia, a man who has done great things in Israel, through whom Christ has often given victory to His Church". Alberic died at
Verdun on 20 November 1148, according to the necrology of St.-Martin-des-Champes. He was buried in
Verdun Cathedral, possibly a few day of its consecration, and a couple of days later his friend Bernard of Clairvaux said mass near his grave. His Cluniac colleague
Hugh of Amiens dedicated one of his earlier works to him. ==References==