Gotebald

Gotebald(orGotebold) was thePatriarch of Aquileiaduring the middle of the eleventh century (1049–1063). He was originally aprovostfromSpeyer(prepositus Nemetensis). During his reign, the century-old conflict betweenOld-AquileiaandGradoreached a climax.

Between 1050 and 1051, he supported thebishop of Trevisoin a conflict, going so far as to falsify an imperial diploma.

In 1053,Pope Leo IXdeclared Grado to be the true patriarchate, aNova Aquileiaandcaput et metropolisof the Province ofVenetia et Histria.Gotebald was relegated to being mereForojuliensis episcopus.In response to this, Gotebald took up arms to defend the territorial integrity of his patriarchaldiocese.He refused to aid thepapal reformersagainstsimoniacs.He did, however, have the friendship ofHenry III, Holy Roman Emperor,who even confirmed the false diploma. Gotebald and the emperor put pressure onPope Victor IIto reverse the decision of Leo, but to no avail.

Henry continued to treat Gotebald with prestige nevertheless. On his deathbed (1056), the emperor called on Gotebald,Gebhard III of Regensburg,and the pope to determine theregencyfor his young sonHenry IV.Gotebald traveled to Germany in the years that followed and was confirmed as patriarch with supremacy over Grado by Henry IV.

Despite his lifelong conflict with theseeof Grado and the popes, he was not a poor clergyman. He enlarged the monasteries of his domain considerably before his death in 1063.

Sources

• Caravale, Mario (ed).Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.Rome.