Poppo / Wolfgang (dec 31, 1019 – sep 28, 1042)

Description:

According to tradition, he was a member of the counts of Treffen , from the name of a castle near Villach , however modern scholars, starting with Pio Paschini , believe that he is probably of Bavarian origin ; according to Heinz Dopsch he would be a member of the Ottokar dynasty of Steyr , a locality already in Bavaria and today in Upper Austria .

The confusion on the exact place of origin is due to the activity of his father Oci [1] , mentioned in a document of 994 as comes et missus of King Otto III , as well as Waltpotus , that is, imperial representative, in Carinthia . He was therefore part of the high aristocracy of the Holy Roman Empire and is also attested in Bavaria, Styria and in the Kingdom of Italy . His mother was called Irenburg and had at least one brother, Ocino, remembered as count of Cordenons in Friuli and of Zeidelgau in Bavaria.

The parents had founded the Ossiach monastery , which was redeemed by Poppone in 1028 . From this moment and for about two centuries the monastery was included in the domains of the patriarchate of Aquileia.

He was probably the youngest son, therefore he was initiated into an ecclesiastical career. He became patriarch of Aquileia towards the end of 1019 , therefore at a very young age, favored by the emperor Henry II of whom he was, perhaps, a relative: in fact we know that Meinwerk , bishop of Paderborn at that time, was both grandson of the sovereign and a blood relative of Poppone.

From the earliest times he proved to be a very loyal of Enrico. In 1020 he was with Pope Benedict VIII in Bamberg where he celebrated Easter ; on that occasion the sovereign granted his Church important privileges, equating the patriarch with an imperial envoy with judicial powers over the territories subject to him.

In 1021 - 22 , at the head of a contingent, he took part in the imperial expedition to southern Italy.

After the death of Henry II, he managed to forge equally strong ties with Conrad II .

The story of 1024 had particular relevance , to be placed in the context of the long-standing disputes between the patriarchate of Aquileia and that of Grado about the ecclesiastical supremacy over the Italian Northeast.

Favored by the expulsion from the duchy of Venice of the doge Ottone Orseolo and of the patriarch of Grado Orso Orseolo , his brother, Poppone reached the latter city with an army, presenting himself as protector. He then ordered his troops to devastate it, leaving churches to be looted, relics desecrated, monks massacred and nuns raped. Towards the end of the same year, the Orseolos returned to Venice and Orso convinced Pope John XIX to stigmatize the violence, prompting Poppone to retire.

A few years later, Conrad II came to Italy to be crowned king and emperor. Taking advantage of the presence of the sovereign, Poppone took part in the council of Rome in 1027 and claimed the pre-eminence of Aquileia over Grado, as already confirmed in the council of Mantua in 827 . Certainly influenced by the emperor and the absence of the Gradense counterpart, John XIX accepted the request, incorporating the Church of Grado in Aquileia. This was not enough to definitively defeat the Church of Grado, which in the following years continued to maintain full powers.

At a time when the Pope and the Roman Curia had not yet assumed the leadership of the reform of the Church (as will happen shortly thereafter with the fight for investitures ), Poppone worked on the affirmation of his seat on his own initiative, defending it and by increasing its temporal power - even with weapons - and bringing about renewals on a spiritual level.

In 1027 he was in Verona where he received from the emperor the confirmation of the judicial immunities of his Church (already granted by various sovereigns starting from Charlemagne ), thus protecting it from the claims of Adalberone , Duke of Carinthia , Marquis of Verona and Margrave of Styria . In 1028 he was given the right to mint coins and a donation that extended the exercise of imperial rights over the Lower Friuli from the Isonzo to the Livenza ; in 1034 the territories from Livenza to the Piave were also added. These concessions, which affected Venetian interests, were perhaps intended to compensate for the impossibility for Aquileia to impose its supremacy on Grado and were fundamental in the process of defining the noble power of the patriarchs.

Among the still evident signs of Poppone's industriousness and his close collaboration with the emperor, we remember the basilica of Aquileia , which he restored and consecrated in 1031 : the patriarch himself is represented in the frescoes that adorn the apse ( with the square halo of the founders) and members of the imperial family. The face of Conrad II is also depicted on the only money coined by him that has come down to us.

On the occasion of the restoration of the cathedral, a Chapter of fifty richly gifted canons was established. He was also attentive to the reform of cloistered life, favoring the female monastery of Santa Maria di Aquileia (which some believe to be founded or re-founded by himself) and the aforementioned monastery of Ossiach.

The last phase of his government is less well known, perhaps because his business slowed down or stabilized.

In the winter of 1037 he had a brief conflict with Conrad II, after Poppone had allowed the escape of the Archbishop of Milan Ariberto da Intimiano , arrested by the sovereign and entrusted to the patriarch and the Duke of Carinthia.

With Henry III , who succeeded Corrado in 1039 , he had more distant relations. As was customary, Poppone reached the newly installed sovereign and obtained from him the confirmation of the various privileges and a territorial donation in Carniola ( 1040 ).

In 1042 he attempted a second attack on Grado, but died suddenly on September 28 of that year. The following period saw a resumption of the Gradense see, thanks to the concessions of Pope Benedict IX ( 1044 ) and Pope Leo IX (who assigned it the title of "Nova Aquileia") and to Henry III himself, who pursued a policy of relaxation with Venice .

Buried in the basilica of Aquileia, his burial has survived to the present day. There is a funeral epigraph on it, certainly rewritten and enlarged in a later period, but which retains a strongly laudatory tone, to testify that, even in the following centuries, the patriarch's exploits were still famous.

Added to timeline:

Date: