The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Paschal II (1099-1118)
Consistory celebrated in 1108 (IX)


(50) 1. URACH, Can. Reg. of Arrouaise, Kuno von (?-1122)

Birth. (No date or place found). Of the counts of Urach. Son of Count Egino I von Dettingen. He is also listed as Cono only; and as Kuno von Palestrina.

Education. (No information found).

Early life. In 1080, he was chaplain of King William I the Conqueror of England. In 1090, he went to live in a hermitage in Picardy. He was one of the founders of the Order of Arrouaise, together with Ruggerius and Heldemar of Tournai; the order was based on the Augustinian monastic rule. In the Council of Troyes in 1107, he came into contact with Pope Paschal II. He returned to Arrouaise, and shortly after he traveled to Rome to obtain papal recognition for the order; it was granted by the pope; and Kuno was promoted to the cardinalate.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal bishop of Palestrina in a consistory of 1108 (or 1107, or 1111) (1); consecrated, December 16, 1117, at the cathedral of Palestrina, by Pope Paschal II. In 1109, he went to the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco. In the autumn of 1110, he went as legate to the Holy Land; and in 1111, he held a council in Jerusalem; that same year, he returned to Rome, probably through the Balkans. On March 23, 1112, he attended the Lateran Synod; he was a representative of a hard stance against Emperor Heinrich V. Subscribed papal bulls issued between January 2, 1113 and April 20, 1117. On March 8, 1113, he consecrated the altar of S. Maria in Capella, Rome. On October 16, 1113, he was in the papal court in Ferentino. Legate in France and Germany between 1114 and 1121; as such, he led the struggle against the claims of the Emperor Heinrich V; he was on December 6, 1114 in Beauvais, where he summoned and led the synods; on January 6, 1115 in Soissons, where Peter Abelard and his book on the Trinity were condemned; on March 28, 1115 in Reims; on April 19, 1115 in Cologne; and Chalons-sur-Marne in July 1116; throughout his legation, he promoted the implementation of the Gregorian reforms. On January 14, 1116, he consecrated an altar in the crypt of S. Agapito in the cathedral of Palestrina. On March 8, 1116, he participated in the negotiations for the implementation of the agreements of the Lateran Synod. On April 20, 1117, he was with pope in Benevento, from where he soon departed for his legation again. In 1118, he reached Compiègne. On May 20-22, 1118, he held a synod in in Cologne; on the following June 6, he went to Koblenz; and then back to Cologne. Did not participate in the papal election of 1118, in which Pope Gelasius II was elected, because he was absent from Rome in his legation; he wrote to Archbishops Friedrich of Cologne and Adalbert of Mainz concerning their loyalty to the new pope against Antipope Gregory VIII. On June 18, 1118, he was in Vézelay and the Auvergne. On July 7, 1118, he went to Corvey; then to Gandersheim; and on the following July 28, to Fritzlar. Participated in the papal election of 1119, celebrated in Cluny, in which Pope Callistus II was elected (2). Attended the coronation of the new pope on February 9, 1119, in Vienne. Subscribed papal bulls issued between June 18, 1119 and May 16, 1122. On July 14, 1119, he was in Saint-Gilles; and on the day after, in Toulouse. On October 3, 1119, he celebrated ordinations in Morigny; and on the following November 1, he issued a verdict in Reims. On November 20, 1119, he participated in a synod in Beauvais. In early December in Sens, he assumed a new legation. In the second of February 1120, when he left from the papal court in Valence, he asked the cardinals to agree to a request of the English king. In Gap, on March 11, 1120, he wrote an instrument to Pope Callistus II. He joined the royal French court on April. 28, 1120 at Senlis. On May 30, 1120, in Vernon, he negotiated with the English. He attended the Synod of Beauvais on October 18, 1120; and stayed in Soissons. In March 1121, he went back to Rome, where he was on April 17 of that year. On the following October 12, he was in Paris. He was a confidant of Popes Paschal II, Gelasius II and Callistus II; and one of the most influential advisers to French King Louis VI.

Death. August 9, 1122, Palestrina, where he had been very infrequently. Buried (no information found).

Bibliography. Gams, Pius Bonifatius. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae. 3 v. in 1. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1957, p. XVI; Hüls, Rudolf. Kardinäle, Klerus und Kirchen Roms: 1049-1130. 1 aufl. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1977. (Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom: Bd. 48), p. 113-116, no. 10. Note: A revision of the author's thesis, Göttingen, 1975; Klewitz, Hans-Walter. Reformpapsttum und Kardinalkolleg. Die Entstehung des Kardinalkollegiums. Studien über die Wiederherstellung der römischen Kirche in Süditalien durch das Reformpapsttum. Das Ende des Reformpapsttums. Darmstadt : Hermann Gentner Verlag, 1957, p. 120, no. 10; Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab conditio Ecclesia. Ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. 2 v. Reprint. Originally published : Lipsiae : Veit et comp., 1885-1888. Original t.p. included : Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia : ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam edidit Philippus Jaffè ; auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach; curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald, I, 702 and 780.

Webgraphy. Biography, in German, Genealogie des Mittelalters; biography, in German, Deutsche Biographie; biography, also in German, Wikipedia.

(1) He may be the same as Cardinal Conone, Can. Reg. of Saint Augustine (1073).
(2) This is according to Hüls, Kardinäle, Klerus und Kirchen Roms: 1049-1130, p. 114. Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. ( 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677), I, col. 940, does not mention him among the cardinals participating in that papal election.

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