Peter had a reputation as a brilliant scholar and preacher when
Celestine III named him cardinal-deacon of
Santa Maria in Via Lata in the
consistory of 20 February 1193. He subscribed a
papal bull with this
titulus on 5 March. In October 1193, Peter attended the canonization of
John Gualbert. Through his subscriptions to papal bulls, he can be traced at the
papal court until 1 July 1195.
Legation in Apulia and Calabria In July 1195, Peter briefly governed
Benevento as papal rector. That same month, he was named papal legate in
Apulia and Calabria and legate general for the whole
kingdom of Sicily. His charge was to ensure that the Emperor
Henry VI, the new king of Sicily, adhered to the agreement with the church made by his predecessor,
Tancred. Peter's legation was strongly opposed by the Empress
Constance, who had a hereditary right to Sicily. Peter completed his mission in the spring of 1196. During his southern Italian legation, Peter did not travel far, remaining in the north of Apulia and around Benevento. He judged a dispute between
canons and bishop of Vieste in favour of the bishop; answered a question from the
bishop of Melfi concerning marriage law; and, at Benevento in March 1196, struck a compromise between the
bishop of Dragonara and the monastery of Santa Maria di Gualdo Mazzocca in their dispute over the church of San Matteo di Sculcola.
Legation in Bohemia and Poland In the second half of 1196, Celestine dispatched him as legate to
Bohemia and
Poland to reform their churches. He acted with legatine powers on his journey through
Italy and
Germany, although they were not within his assigned area. He made a solemn entry into
Prague on 12 March 1197, and remained in the city at least through May. He alienated the secular clergy by his demand that all those who had received an uncanonical ordination be re-ordained canonically. An attempt was even made on his life. His demands on the monastic clergy were no less rigorous. He deposed two abbots. He held a synod in Prague that reformed the liturgy and imposed
clerical celibacy. He confirmed with his seal and signature the privilege issued by Bishop
Jindřich to the
monastery of Teplá founded by Count
Hroznata. He moved on to Poland in the summer. There he introduced clerical celibacy. He also sought to normalize church marriages. He confirmed the act of Bishop
Żyrosław II of Wrocław giving the monastery of Saint Vincent to the
Premonstratensians. While returning to Rome late in 1197, Peter was attacked and robbed by men of Marquis and
Piacenza. When the consuls of Piacenza refused to compensate him, Pope
Innocent III, who had succeeded Celestine, threatened the city with ecclesiastical penalties. Peter arrived in Rome in early 1198 and was named an
auditor. In August, he was with the pope at
Rieti to witness the exaltation of the relics of Saint
Eleutherius. Through his subscriptions to papal bulls, he can be traced at the papal court between 13 March 1198 and 11 November 1200. He took part in the
1198 papal election.
Legation in France and Burgundy Innocent III sent Peter as legate to
France and
Burgundy in late 1198. His primary mission was to preach the
Fourth Crusade, but preparatory to that, he was to arrange a peace or at least a five-year truce between the warring kings
Philip II of France and
Richard I of England. Innocent had announced Peter's dual mission in a letter of 13 August 1198. Peter arrived in Paris in December 1198. According to the
Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, the English found Peter's appearance and obsequious style of diplomacy repellent. During a meeting with Richard and
William Marshal, Peter convinced Richard to agree to a conditional five-year truce, but when he persisted in asking that Richard also release
Philip of Dreux,
bishop of Beauvais, whom the king intensely hated, Richard lost his temper and threatened to castrate the legate. Nonetheless, a five-year truce was agreed on 13 January 1199. Bishop Philip and Bishop-elect
Hugh of Cambrai were released from prison. Richard soon accused Philip of building a castle in violation of the truce, and Peter ordered the French king to demolish it. The legate helped draft a new treaty, but it was not ratified before Richard's sudden death in April. He did succeed in having the truce renewed by Richard's successor,
John, in October 1199, albeit only for three months. After Richard's death, Peter visited
Fontevraud Abbey to confirm a donation made by Richard's mother,
Eleanor of Aquitaine. He then passed through
Normandy, dealing with various disputes between
York and
Canterbury and the disputed election to Cambrai. He sought to convince Philip II to repudiate his second wife,
Agnes, and return to his first,
Ingeborg. On 6 December 1199, he held a synod in
Dijon. The assembled bishops promised one thirtieth of their revenues for the crusade and threatened put France under the
interdict if Philip did not return to his lawful wife. A few days later, Peter held a second synod in
Vienne. The interdict against France was published on 13 January 1200. Peter was replaced that year as legate by Cardinal
Ottaviano of Ostia. Peter returned to Rome, and in March 1201, he was promoted to cardinal-priest of San Marcello. He signed his first papal bull as such on 23 November 1201. As an auditor, he heard the case of the divorce between King
Ottokar I of Bohemia and
Adelaide of Meissen. In 1202, he was proposed as a candidate for the
archdiocese of Amalfi, but Innocent III had other plans.
Legate to the Fourth Crusade and the Holy Land In April 1202, Innocent III named Peter and
Soffredo of Pisa as legates in charge of the crusade. Peter was sent to
Venice, where the crusaders were gathering, in order to prevent the Venetians from using the army to attack
Zara. When he arrived in Venice in July, however, the
Republic of Venice did not accept that his legatine authority extended to them. Peter sought to keep the crusader army together even at the cost of an attack on Zara. He denied the requests of Abbot
Martin of Pairis and Bishop
Conrad of Halberstadt to be absolved of their vows. He even gave Martin spiritual charge of all German crusaders and told Conrad that the pope himself would overlook wrongdoing by the crusaders to keep the expedition going. In September, Peter returned to Rome with the proposed agreement between the crusaders and
Alexios Angelos, whereby the latter would support the crusade with money and troops in return for its help putting him on the
Byzantine throne. As a result, Peter was away when the army
sacked Zara and Innocent placed it under excommunication. Peter returned to the army after the fall of Zara in November 1202 in order to lift the excommunication. By the spring of 1203, he had received the requisite oaths of purification, absolved the crusaders and returned to Rome. He did not remain with the army so as not to take part in an attack on Constantinople. With a small group that included Bishop
Sicard of Cremona and Abbot
Martin of Pairis, he travelled to the Holy Land by ship from
Siponto to
Acre. During a stopover in
Cyprus, he introduced several ecclesiastical reforms. He landed in Acre on 25 April 1203 or perhaps a few weeks later. In Acre, following on the work of Soffredo, Peter used his legatine authority to mediate peace between the feuding
Pisan and
Genoese communities. He also arranged for the
Maronite bishops to formally submit to papal authority. In March 1204, he held a synod in
Antioch, which placed
Armenian Cilicia under interdict. He then went to
Sis in Cilicia to negotiate a settlement to the
Antiochene succession crisis and confer the
pallium on the
patriarch of Sis and confirm the Armenians' obedience to Rome. King
Leo I of Armenia and the Patriarch
John VI accused Peter of being a tool of the
Templars and
Hospitallers. Less successful in Cilicia than Soffredo had been, Peter rejoined his fellow legate in Acre in July 1204.
Constantinople Although Peter did not take part in the
sack of Constantinople by a faction of crusaders and Venetians in 1204, Peter sent an envoy to Constantinople to absolve the Venetians of their excommunication in the summer of 1204. He and Soffredo were invited by the new emperor,
Baldwin I, to help organise the church in the conquered territories. After confirming a six-year truce with the
Ayyubid Egypt, the legates set out for Constantinople in October 1204. Innocent III later reprimanded them because they had no permission, and their departure convinced many other crusaders who had gone to the Holy Land to leave as well, denuding its defences. In Constantinople, Peter was solemnly welcomed in the
Hagia Sophia. He failed in negotiations to bring the
Greek Orthodox clergy to the Roman obedience. In May 1205, Innocent appointed a legate for the
Empire of Constantinople,
Benedict, and ordered Peter to return to the Holy Land. Peter, however, remained in Constantinople, even offering to absolve those crusaders of their oath to go to the Holy Land who agreed to remain in the empire for one more year in its defence. This was the last straw for Innocent III. Peter had exceeded his instructions and the pope reprimanded him harshly. Following the death of Baldwin I (April 1205), Peter took a leading role in opposing Venetian dominance in the empire. He cooperated with Benedict after his arrival. He was back in the Holy Land by August 1206, still as legate alongside Patriarch
Albert of Jerusalem. During his brief second stay, he excommunicated and suspended Patriarch
Peter of Antioch for interfering with his
provision of Antiochen
benefices. He returned to Europe later that year, arriving in
Gaeta with a small fleet and many returning crusaders.
Later life of the monastery of San Pietro di Canonica, founded by Peter of Capua In Constantinople, Peter acquired many
relics, including the purported body of
Saint Andrew. He sent some of his loot to the cathedrals of
Capua,
Gaeta,
Langres,
Naples,
Paris and
Sorrento. Saint Andrew, he brought to Amalfi, where the body was received in a solemn procession on 8 May 1208 in the presence of Peter and Archbishop
Matteo Costantini. It was re-buried in the cathedral crypt. In 1208, he divided the income from pilgrims coming to see Saint Andrew between the cathedral and a hospital he founded for the poor, Santa Maria della Misericordia. In October 1208, he endowed a "school of liberal arts" for the youth of Amalfi and
Atrani. He and his heirs were to have the right to appoint the headmaster (
magister scholae). Peter also founded a hospital for the poor in Amalfi. He also provided funds for the expansion of its port. Early in 1211, Peter was elected
patriarch of Constantinople, but the pope blocked it. In 1212, he investigated the
archbishop-elect of Palermo,
Parisius, and recommended his deposition. In 1212, he purchased the church of San Pietro di Tozzolo in Amalfi and converted it into the monastery of for the
Canons Regular of the Lateran. He endowed it with property in
Eboli and with the chapel of San Pietro al Corto, given to him by King
Frederick of Sicily. In March, Frederick met him in Rome and promised to give the church a share of the income of the bailiffate of
Tropea. He stayed in Amalfi in 1212–1213. In 1213, he entrusted Santa Maria della Misericordia to the . Later in the year, he sought to convert San Pietro di Canonica into a
Cistercian monastery, using monks from the
monastery of Fossanova. Although Abbot Peter objected, Innocent III's intervention made it happen. In March 1214, San Pietro became a Cistercian
priory under Fossanova. Peter witnessed his last papal bull on 21 April 1214. He died in
Viterbo, where the Roman
curia was staying, on 30 August 1214 and was buried in the church of
Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. His death is recorded in the
necrologies of the cathedral of Paris, the
cathedral of Sens and the monastery of Fossanova. A verse biography of Peter was written by
Durand of Huesca. ==Works==