Cuno of Praeneste

Cuno of Praeneste^[1] (died 9 August 1122) was a German Cardinal and papal legate, an influential diplomatic figure of the early 12th century, active in France and Germany.

According to the Chronicon of Pietro di Monte Cassino, in 1112 he pronounced the Emperor Henry V excommunicated and stripped of his power, at a Council in Jerusalem.^[2] From the previous year, Cuno had been trying to lay down papal policy, and this move was without the Pope's agreement^[3].

In 1115 he was in France, summoning synods at Reims and Beauvais; he again excommunicated Henry V. He also suspended all the bishops and abbots of Normandy, for ignoring his invitations^[4]. Subsequently he worked with Thurstan, Archbishop of York to broker peace between Henry I of England and Louis VI of France^[5]. He then moved to Germany, stirring up trouble against the Emperor. Presenting the Pope with his actions as a fait accompli, he demanded backing; but did not get it.^[3]

He presided at the synod of Fritzlar, in July 1118, where St Norbert was accused^[6]. He opposed Maurice of Braga, the imperial rival pope to Gelasius II, in 1118^[7].

He was created cardinal-priest in 1073^[8]. He was bishop of Palestrina c. 1108^[9]. He turned down an offer of succession to the papacy, at Gelasius's deathbed, in 1119^[10].

He was a regular canon, and one of the founders of the Arrouaisian Order^[11].

Notes

1. ^ Kuno, Cunon, Conon, Conone, Conrad.
2. ^ The letter of the emperor John II Comnenus to pope Innocent II on the union of the Orthodox with the Catholic one
3. ^ ^{a b} I. S. Robinson (1990), The Papacy 1073-1198, p. 157.
4. ^ C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (2001) p. 240.
5. ^ Hollister, p.269-271.
6. ^ Premonstratensians
7. ^ Chapter 8: Saint James's Catapult
8. ^ This is according to S. Miranda; consistories of XI century, which lists him as Cunon. H.W. Klewitz, Reformpapsttum und Kardinalkolleg, Darmstadt 1957, p. 72 and 120, indicates that cardinal-priest Conon of S. Anastasia under pope Gregory VII and cardinal Kuno von Urach, bishop of Palestrina from ca. 1108, were two different persons. According to Klewitz, p. 72, Conon of S. Anastasia died soon after May 1082.
9. ^ Klewitz, p. 120; and S. Miranda, suburbicarian sees, which lists him as Cunon etc.
10. ^ Robinson, p. 64.
11. ^ Robinson, p. 216; Klewitz, p. 120.