Gudesteus (Bishop of Oviedo)
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Auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
to Bishop Bermudo
Bermudo (Bishop of Oviedo)
Bermudo or Vermudo was the ninth Bishop of Oviedo. Historians and clerics Manuel Risco and Carlos González de Posada both date his episcopate to 976–92...
, perhaps by then old and physically weak, from at least 978 and succeeded him as sole bishop on his death, probably in 992. On folio 49 of the Libro gótico de los testamentos of Oviedo, Bermudo and Gudesteus appear beside each in a miniature illustration.
Gudesteus was an Asturian by birth and his parents had left him properties in Lena
Lena, Asturias
Lena is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. Its capital, Pola de Lena, has a population of 9,200.-Parishes:-Main sights:...
. Gudesteus's first recorded action as auxiliary bishop was to witness a charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
on 10 July 978, with Bermudo not present. On 24 April 984 he calls himself Ouetensis sedis episcopo ("bishop of the see of Oviedo"), again with no reference to Bermudo, though the senior bishop confirmed many other documents in the 980s. A document of 29 July 991 by which King Bermudo II
Bermudo II of León
Bermudo II , called the Gouty , was the King of Galicia and León . His reign is summed up by Justo Pérez de Urbel's description of him as "el pobre rey atormentado en la vida por la espada de Almanzor y en muerte por la pluma vengadora de un obispo" Bermudo (or Vermudo) II (956–999), called the...
donated a village in Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
to Bishop Savaric of León, signed only by Gudesteus and not Bermudo, may indicate that by then the latter had retired fully. He would have to have come out of retirement on 2 September 992, when both he and Gudesteus signed the same document as bishops of Oviedo. This may be related to the enmity which Bishop Pelagius
Pelagius of Oviedo
Pelagius of Oviedo was a medieval ecclesiastic, historian, and forger who served the Diocese of Oviedo as an auxiliary bishop from 1098 and as bishop from 1102 until his deposition in 1130 and again from 1142 to 1143. He was an active and independent-minded prelate, who zealously defended the...
reported in his Chronicon regum Legionensium over a century later between Gudesteus and Bermudo II, who was opposed more generally by the Asturians
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
and Leonese and was consequently forced to seek his coronation in Galicia. The act of 2 September 992, Bermudo's last recorded, was the confirmation of the royal will in León. In it Bermudo II confirmed all Oviedo's possessions and privileges and all the gifts and concessions which he had made to it.
In 992 a certain Gudesteus became Bishop of Burgos and it becomes impossible to know for certain whether certain documentary references to a "Bishop Gudesteus", as in a witness list to a donation of 9 April 992, belong to the bishop of Burgos or of Oviedo. Nonetheless a document of 18 August that year is accepted as Gudesteus of Oviedo's.
There survives from February 993 the foundation stone for a church consecrated by Gudesteus. Gudesteus appears regularly in documents of Bermudo II's reign between 993 and October 996, but after that and until October 999 he does not appear at all. This too may be related to the reported enmity between the "indiscrete and tyrannical" Bermudo II and Gudesteus. According to Pelagius, Bermudo incarcerated Gudesteus in the Galician castle at Prima de Reyna (or Peña de la Reina) for three years. This injustice was followed by severe drought and famine. This, and a vision received by certain godly men, convinced Bermudo to send envoys to Bishop Jimeno of Astorga, who had been administering Oviedo in the meanwhile, asking him to restore Gudesteus. If this account is accurate (Pelagius has been called the "prince of falsifiers", not for his chronicle but for his forgeries), then Gudesteus's restoration must have occurred shortly before Bermudo's death in 999, probably in early September. Gudesteus took part in the coronation of Alfonso V
Alfonso V of León
Alfonso V , called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. He was the son of Bermudo II by his second wife Elvira García of Castile. The Abbot Oliva called him "Emperor of Spain"....
and Elvira
Elvira Mendes
Elvira Mendes, sometimes called Elvira or Geloria Menéndez of Portugal or Galicia, , was Queen of León ....
in September, where he spoke the words Sub Imperio opificis rerum Gudesteo universalis Oveto episcopus, confirming the accession. Gudesteus appears in a charter of 13 October, his first in three years.
On 10 March 1000 Gudesteus again employed the unusual formula universalis Ecclesiae Oveto episcopus ("universal bishop of the church of Oviedo") in confirming the concession by Salvato of the village of Morella
Morella
"Morella" is a short story in the Gothic horror genre by 19th-century American author and critic Edgar Allan Poe.-Plot summary:An unnamed narrator marries Morella, a woman with great scholarly knowledge who delves into studies of the German philosophers Fichte and Schelling, dealing with the...
to the monastery of San Cipriano
San Cipriano
San Cipriano is a small village located at 200 metres above sea level on the Pacific nearby the port of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Department, Colombia.-Overview:...
. His importance in the realm under Alfonso V is also evident in his position in witness lists. On 18 May 1000 he signed immediately after the king and queen and on 18 December the church Oviedo received a royal donation. This last act is preserved in the Libro gótico de los testamentos, where only Gudesteus confirms it, but in a later copy it is confirmed by Gudesteus and his successor, Adegani, both as bishops of Oviedo immediately after the king and queen. The properties which Alfonso donated were originally confiscated from a certain Analso Garvixo, who had tried to assassinate Alfonso when he was a child. In the donation Alfonso refers to vobis patri nostro Gudesteo episcopo ("you, our father, bishop Gudesteus"). Probably Adegani was an auxiliary bishop appointed due to Gudesteus's advanced age.
The final years of Gudesteus's episcopate are illuminated by the copies of archival documents made by Vigil for his Asturias monumental y epigráfica. He finds documents confirmed by Gudesteus for 11 March and 29 August 1006 and for others of 1008 and 1011. By the 29 August charter, Velasquita, widow of Bermudo II, made a large donation which was witnessed first by a certain Ponce, who signs as archiepiscopo (archbishop). Gudesteus, Dei gratia episcopus (bishop by the grace of god), signs later in the list. Historian Manuel Risco
Manuel Risco
Juan Manuel Martínez Ugarte , known as Manuel Risco or Padre Risco, was a Spanish historian. Born at Haro, he took the Augustinian habit at the Convento de Nuestra Señora del Risco in the Diocese of Ávila...
believed Ponce to be another auxiliary bishop and coadjutor of Gudesteus. Risco also found Gudesteus's confirming a document of 1 February 1007 in which Alfonso V and his uncle, Menendo González
Menendo González
Menendo González was a semi-autonomous Duke of Galicia and Count of Portugal and a dominant figure in the Kingdom of León around the turn of the second millennium. He was the tutor and father-in-law of King Alfonso V from at least 1003...
, Count of Portugal, gave a sentence in favour of the monastery of Celanova. On 10 July 1008 Gudesteus made his testament, whereby he gave to the church of Oviedo the property he owned in Lena. Antonio Palomeque Torres reckoned 1008 to be his last year, and Carlos González de Posada believed his successor, Adegani, commenced his episcopate in 1009, but places Gudesteus's death in 1012.