Alberic, Bishop of Ostia

ALBERICO, bishop of OSTIA. — From the Abbey of Cluny, b. in the second half of the 11th century, d. at Verdun in 1146. He was initially subprior of the said monastery and subsequently, around 1130, abbot of Vézelay. In 1136, Pietro il venerabile opposed the appointment of A. as bishop of Langres, but some time later Innocenzo II appointed him cardinal-bishop of Ostia and sent him to England as legate, to settle the dispute between David I, king of Scotland, and Stefano di Blois. On 13 Dec. 1138 he took part in a council at Westminster, at which Tibaldo, abbot of Bec, was elected archbishop of Canterbury. He was subsequently at Antioch and in France in 1145, engaged with s. Bernardo and Goffredo, bishop of Chartres, in combating the heretic Enrico. Some letters from his correspondence with s. Bernardo have survived.