Chapter 4 - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

ail for him when he had been unable to raise a thousand solidi in payment of the papal quinta. (132) He
was succeeded by Bernardo de Mur, archdeacon of Tremp in the church of Urgel, a man who had
studied at Bologna and who followed the example of Pedro de Centelles by becoming a Dominican,
apparently soon after his election. (133) The neighbouring see of Gerona was the third to receive a
Dominican bishop when in December 1245 the chapter chose Berenguer de Castelbisbal, the prior of
Santa Catalina, who twice already had come within touching distance of a bishopric -- as caretaker of
Valencia before the dust had settled there in 1238, and as the beaten candidate at Barcelona in 1241.
(134) [79] He was King Jaime's confessor, and in the year after his election he became something of a
celebrity when he allowed his tongue to wag too freely and the king caused it to be cut out. (135) It is not
known whether the archbishop was active in the promotion of the bishops of Vich and Gerona, but the
capitular choice can hardly have displeased him, for when, in 1248, he was twice presented with an
opportunity of appointing suffragans, a Dominican received the palm on each occasion. At Lérida, with
the assistance of Raymond of Peñafort, he nominated Guillermo de Barberá, prior of Santa Catalina, to
succeed his own successor. That was in March. (136) And seven months later when, on the translation of
Arnaldo de Peralta to Zaragoza, the chapter of Valencia entrusted the appointment of a successor to him
and two of their canons, stipulating that if it were to be an outsider then they must confine their choice
to a short-list of nine, at the head of which was the archbishop's brother, Andrés de Albalat, Andrés it
was who was selected. (137)
The promotion of Dominicans to these five sees reflected the extraordinary vitality of the Order. They
were working wonders on the frontier. (138) It also provided a basis for further expansion. Berenguer of
Gerona followed the archbishop's example by founding a convent in his own episcopal city. (139) But it
was as pastoral bishops, as heads of reform, that the friars contributed most. At Barcelona a diocesan
synod was held even before the election of Pedro de Centelles had been confirmed. On the feast of St
Luke 1242 -- the first anniversary of the archbishop's synod -- the archdeacon issued a set of
constitutions concerned mainly with annual confession and the detection of heresy. (140) Encouraging
though this activity was, however, it was as nothing in comparison with that of Pedro de Centelles who
in March 1244, within five months of his induction by the archbishop, [80] held a synod which dealt
with the whole gamut of reform, and ordered the parochial clergy to secure copies of the statutes of
John of Abbeville and of the archbishop and to have learnt them by the following June. In January 1245
he issued another lengthy set of synodal statutes in the same vein, and published new legislation of his
own which dealt with a great variety of issues, amongst which were markets, pimps and prostitutes --
particularly those who plied for hire in the streets, who were given eight days to pack their bags and
leave. (141) Clerici concubinarii received short shrift, as was consistent, and were reminded of the
legate's penalties -- suspension and excommunication. (142) The same old problem engaged the attention
of Bishop Guillermo of Lérida, though in his diocese a system of fines was introduced. (143) At Vich
Bernardo de Mur concentrated upon liturgical matters, (144) and at Valencia Bishop Andrés managed to
combine his activity in the royal chancery with his pastoral role by summoning various synods at which
he waged a relentless if losing battle against clerics who drank more than was good for them, wore
outrageous clothes, bequeathed church property to their children and grew their hair so that it covered
their ears. (145) If, alone, Berenguer of Gerona failed to distinguish himself in one way or another,
allowance must be made for him as a victim of royal persecution which (as he at least appears to have
thought) coveted more of him than just his tongue. (146)
[81] At the Council of Lérida in 1229 John of Abbeville had ruled that the annual provincial council be
held three weeks after Easter, on Jubilate Sunday, and the diocesan synod on the feast of St Luke, 18
October. (147) In general this rule was observed. But as regards the synod its inflexibility was a severe