Archbishop of Tyre
Encyclopedia
The Archbishop of Tyre was one of the major suffragans
of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
during the Crusades and was established to serve the Roman Catholic members of the diocese.
Tyre was one of the most ancient dioceses in Christianity
. The original Diocese of Tyre was part of the Province of Antioch
and was subject to the Patriarch of Antioch
. Following the schism between Rome
and Constantinople
in 1054, the congregation followed the Eastern Orthodox rite. However, when the Crusaders conquered Tyre, arguments over who had the right to appoint the suffragan fell in favor of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox bishop fled to Constantinople.
Tyre was made part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
, rather than the separate Principality of Antioch
further to the north, and it was claimed by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
, against the claim of the Latin Patriarch of Antioch
. The diocese was also raised to an archdiocese. Traditionally, the Patriarch of Jerusalem would have first served as the archbishop of Tyre, or of Caesarea
. The most notable archbishop of Tyre was the historian William of Tyre
, who served from 1175 to 1185.
After the recapture of Tyre by the Crusaders, the Christian community grew and the city experienced an economic resurgence. In 1187, Tyre was the only city remaining in crusader hands after Saladin
's invasion, and the city was at one point considered as the new capital of the Kingdom when the Crusaders were unable to recapture Jerusalem. Despite losing that appellation to Acre, the city remained the site of the coronation of the king, and the archbishop was given the responsibility of officiating and sanctifying the coronation. However, starting with Sultan
Baibars
in 1254, the Islamic chieftains declared jihad
on the Crusaders and slowly started exterminating the remaining Christian communities on the coastlands. The last archbishops, John and Bonacourt, devoted their rule to forestalling the Mamluk
conquest, attempting to obtain the freedom of enslaved Christians, caring for refugees, and preparing for the coming assault.
After a long siege, the city was captured by the Mamluks in 1291. The city was mostly evacuated by the time the Mamluks arrived, but the remaining population, including the archbishop, was killed or enslaved. The cathedrals and churches were torn down, and the archdiocese became titular; only in the 18th and 19th centuries was a new archbishop appointed to protect the newly-restored pilgrim routes.
A notable bishop of Acre was the chronicler Jacques de Vitry
.
Suffragan bishop
A suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop. He or she may be assigned to an area which does not have a cathedral of its own.-Anglican Communion:...
of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus...
during the Crusades and was established to serve the Roman Catholic members of the diocese.
Tyre was one of the most ancient dioceses in Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The original Diocese of Tyre was part of the Province of Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
and was subject to the Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...
. Following the schism between Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in 1054, the congregation followed the Eastern Orthodox rite. However, when the Crusaders conquered Tyre, arguments over who had the right to appoint the suffragan fell in favor of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox bishop fled to Constantinople.
Tyre was made part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
, rather than the separate Principality of Antioch
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade.-Foundation:...
further to the north, and it was claimed by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus...
, against the claim of the Latin Patriarch of Antioch
Latin Patriarch of Antioch
The Latin Patriarch of Antioch was an office created in 1098 by Bohemund, founder of the Principality of Antioch, one of the crusader states....
. The diocese was also raised to an archdiocese. Traditionally, the Patriarch of Jerusalem would have first served as the archbishop of Tyre, or of Caesarea
Archbishop of Caesarea
The Archbishop of Caesarea was one of the major suffragans of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem during the Crusades. The Bishop of Caesarea became metropolitan of Palestine in the early 3rd century but after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 he was subordinate to the Patriarch of Jerusalem...
. The most notable archbishop of Tyre was the historian William of Tyre
William of Tyre
William of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...
, who served from 1175 to 1185.
After the recapture of Tyre by the Crusaders, the Christian community grew and the city experienced an economic resurgence. In 1187, Tyre was the only city remaining in crusader hands after Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
's invasion, and the city was at one point considered as the new capital of the Kingdom when the Crusaders were unable to recapture Jerusalem. Despite losing that appellation to Acre, the city remained the site of the coronation of the king, and the archbishop was given the responsibility of officiating and sanctifying the coronation. However, starting with Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Baibars
Baibars
Baibars or Baybars , nicknamed Abu l-Futuh , was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. He was one of the commanders of the forces which inflicted a devastating defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France and he led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked...
in 1254, the Islamic chieftains declared jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
on the Crusaders and slowly started exterminating the remaining Christian communities on the coastlands. The last archbishops, John and Bonacourt, devoted their rule to forestalling the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
conquest, attempting to obtain the freedom of enslaved Christians, caring for refugees, and preparing for the coming assault.
After a long siege, the city was captured by the Mamluks in 1291. The city was mostly evacuated by the time the Mamluks arrived, but the remaining population, including the archbishop, was killed or enslaved. The cathedrals and churches were torn down, and the archdiocese became titular; only in the 18th and 19th centuries was a new archbishop appointed to protect the newly-restored pilgrim routes.
Bishops of Tyre
- Cassius (c. 190)
- Marinus (c. 250)
- Tyrannius
- Paulinus
- Irenaeus (?–449)
- Photius
- John Codonatus
- Thomas
Archbishops of Tyre
- Eudes (?–1124)
- William IWilliam of MalinesWilliam of Malines or Messines was the first medieval Archbishop of Tyre from 1128 to 1130 and thereafter Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem until his death...
(1127–1130) - FulkPatriarch Fulk of JerusalemFulk or Fulcher of Angoulême was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1146 to his death in 1157.Fulk came from Angoulême. According to William of Tyre, he was "religious and God-fearing, possessed of little learning, but a faithful man and a lover of discipline." In France he had been abbot of...
(1130–1146) - Raoul (1146; his election was disputed and he was never consecrated)
- Peter (1146–1164)
- FrederickFrederick, Archbishop of TyreFrederick de la Roche was the sixth Latin archbishop of Tyre , chancellor of the kingdom of Jerusalem , and the chief diplomat of King Amalric I...
(1164–1174) - William IIWilliam of TyreWilliam of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...
(1175–1186) - JosciusJoscius, Archbishop of TyreJoscius was Archbishop of Tyre in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the late 12th century.He was a canon and subdeacon of the church of Acre, and became Bishop of Acre on November 23, 1172. He was a member of the delegation from the Latin church of the Crusader states at the Third Lateran...
(c. 1186 – c. 1198) - unknown; some later archbishops were possibly appointed in Europe after the fall of Jerusalem
- Simon (1217–1227)
- Peter of Sergines (?–1253?)
- Nicholas Larcat (c. 1253?)
- Gilles (1253–1266)
- John (?–1272?)
- Bonacourt (?–1290?)
- Joseph Simon Assemani (titular, 18th century)
- Annibale della GengaPope Leo XIIPope Leo XII , born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiore Girolamo Nicola Sermattei della Genga, was Pope from 1823 to 1829.-Life:...
(titular, 1793–1816) - Giacomo GiustinianiGiacomo GiustinianiGiacomo Giustiniani was an Italian papal diplomat and Cardinal. Considered papabile in the Papal Conclave , his election was vetoed by Ferdinand VII of Spain....
(1817–1826) - Domenico Maria Jacobini (1881–1896)
- Franz Xaver NaglFranz Xaver NaglFranz Xaver Nagl S.T.D. was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Vienna.Nagl was born in Vienna, Austria, as the son of Leopold Nagl, a doorman, and Barbara Kloiber...
(1910–1911, later Archbishop of ViennaArchbishop of ViennaThe Archbishop of Vienna is the prelate of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna who is concurrently the metropolitan bishop of its ecclesiastical province which includes the dioceses of Eisenstadt, Linz and St. Pölten....
) - Vittorio Ranuzzi de' BianchiVittorio Ranuzzi de' BianchiVittorio Amedeo Ranuzzi de' Bianchi was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as papal majordomo from 1914 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1916.-Biography:...
(1911–1916) - Rodolfo Caroli (1917–1921)
- Pietro Benedetti (1921–1930)
- Egidio Lari (1931–1965)
- Bruno Wüstenberg (1966–1984)
Suffragans
The archdiocese included a number of suffragan bishops:- bishop of BeirutBeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
- bishop of SidonSidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
- bishop of Banyas
- bishop of AcreBishop of AcreThe Bishop of Acre was a suffragan bishop of the Crusader Archbishop of Tyre. Acre is present-day Akko.-List of bishops of Acre:*Hugh of le Mans?*c.1150 Frederick, Archbishop of Tyre*William*1172 Joscius, Archbishop of Tyre...
A notable bishop of Acre was the chronicler Jacques de Vitry
Jacques de Vitry
Jacques de Vitry was a theologian chronicler and cardinal from 1229 – 40.He was born in central France and studied at the University of Paris, becoming a regular canon in 1210 at the church of Saint-Nicolas d'Oignies in the Diocese of Liège, a post he maintained until 1216...
.
External links
- Tyre from the Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
- Tyrus (Titular See) from Catholic-Hierarchy.org