Bonizo of Sutri or Bonitho was a Bishop of Sutri in Central Italy, in the eleventh century, an adherent of Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII

Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...

 and advocate of the ideals of that pope.

He was born about 1045, probably in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 in Northern Italy. Early in his life he joined the party known as the Pataria

Pataria

The pataria was an eleventh-century religious movement in the Archdiocese of Milan in northern Italy, aimed at reforming the clergy and ecclesiastic government in the province and supportive of Papal sanctions against simony and clerical marriage...

, and when a subdeacon

Subdeacon

-Subdeacons in the Orthodox Church:A subdeacon or hypodeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the reader and lower than the deacon.-Canonical Discipline:...

 in Piacenza

Piacenza

Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...

 he came into conflict with Dionysius, bishop of that city.

In 1074 he went to Rome, and won the favour of Pope Gregory, by whom he was soon appointed to the episcopal see of Sutri

Sutri

Sutri is a town and comune in the province of Viterbo, about 50 km from Rome, and about 30 km south of Viterbo. It is picturesquely situated on a narrow tuff hill, surrounded by ravines, a narrow neck on the west alone connecting it with the surrounding country.thumb|220px|Entrance to the...

. Bonizo took part in several councils held in Rome; in 1078 he went to Cremona as papal legate

Papal legate

A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....

 and consecrated there the church of St. Thomas.

In the struggle between Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV he was on the side of the pope. He was seized by Henry in 1082 and entrusted to the custody of the antipope Clement III

Antipope Clement III

Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna was a cleric made antipope in 1080 due to perceived abuses of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, a title that lasted to his death....

. About a year afterwards Bonizo made his escape, and lived for several years under the protection of Countess Matilda of Tuscany

Matilda of Tuscany

Matilda of Tuscany was an Italian noblewoman, the principal Italian supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy. She is one of the few medieval women to be remembered for her military accomplishments...

.

In 1086 he was present at the funeral of his friend Anselm of Lucca

Anselm of Lucca

Saint Anselm of Lucca , called the Younger or Anselm II to distinguish him from his uncle, was an Italian bishop, a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy and in the fighting in Central Italy between the forces of Countess Matilda of Tuscany, the papal champion, and those of Henry IV,...

. He was, soon after, elected to the see of Piacenza by the Pataria, but owing to strong opposition was unable to take possession of it until the year 1088, when he was strongly supported by Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...

. His enemies, however, contrived to have him blinded and maimed in July, 1090. He seems to have died in Cremona in 1095.

Writings

• The "Paradisus", or extracts from the writings of St. Augustine (still unpublished)
• a short treatise on the sacraments (Muratori
  Muratori
  Muratori is an Italian surname, and may refer to:* Ludovico Antonio Muratori - Italian historian .* Domenico Maria Muratori - Late Renaissance painter.* Saverio Muratori - Italian architect and urban theorist...
  
  , Antiquitates Italicae Med. Aevi III, in Migne
  Migné
  Migné is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
  
  , Patrologia Latina
  Patrologia Latina
  The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....
  
  , CL)
• the "Decretum" or "De Vitâ Christianâ", a work in ten books on ecclesiastical law and moral theology written at the request of a certain priest Gregory (fragments of this work are in Mai
  Angelo Mai
  Angelo Mai was an Italian Cardinal and philologist. He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discover and publish, first while in charge of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and then in the same role at the...
  
  's Nova Bibliotheca, VII, iii, 1-76 (Rome, 1854)
• In Hugonem schismaticum, now lost, probably against the schismatic Cardinal Hugo Candidus
• a description of the various classes of judges in the Roman Empire and in the Roman Church (ed. Blühme, in Mon. Ger. Hist. Leges, IV)
• the Liber ad amicum, a history of the Church, in which the author relates events of his own times.