Theodwin

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Theodwine, Theodwin, Theodin, or Theodevin (Theodevinus; died 1151) was the Abbot of Gorze from 1126 to 1134 and thereafter Cardinal Bishop of Porto and Santa-Rufina until his death.

Theodwin was the only German cardinal of his age. For that reason, he was especially influential in the Roman curia and was a close friend of Conrad III of Germany, whose election he supported in 1138. He was often the papal legate, or acting as such, in Germany. During the Second Crusade, he served as the papal representative and travelled with Conrad.

In the aftermath of the failed Crusade, when Conrad's reputation was at low ebb, Roger II of Sicily persuaded Theodwin to write to Conrad and convince him that Roger was an ally of the Crusaders. This was all part of an effort to break the alliance between the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, against which Roger desired to make war. According to Suger, Godfrey, Archbishop of Langres, who was travelling with Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, may have been an influence on Theodwin's writing. Theodwin's own apparent anti-Byzantinism, typical of the curia of the day, played no small part in affairs.^[1] The whole discourse, however, was conducted without the support of Pope Eugene III, whose politics were more moderate (and anti-Sicilian). Eugene even informed Wibald of Corvey that the opinion of Theodwin, and that of Bernard of Clairvaux, was not in line with papal thinking and was to be ignored.^[2]

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[edit] Sources

• Apostolic Privilege undersigned by Theodwin.
• Norwich, John Julius. The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194. London: Longmans, 1970.
• Bachmann, J. "Die päpstliche Legaten in Deutschland und Skandinavien (1125-1159)." Historische Studien 115 (Berlin, 1913).
• Rowe, John Gordon. "The Papacy and the Greeks (1122-1153) (Part II)." Church History, Vol. 28, No. 3. (Sep., 1959), pp 310-327.
• Wieruszowski, Helen. "Roger II of Sicily, Rex-Tyrannus, In Twelfth-Century Political Thought." Speculum, Vol. 38, No. 1. (Jan., 1963), pp 46-78.