View source for Ulger

[[Image:Ulger (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Drawing by the antiquarian [[François Roger de Gaignières]] (died 1715) after the depiction of Ulger in coloured enamel on copper on his tomb in the cathedral]]
'''Ulger''' (''Ulgerius''; died 1149) was the [[Bishop of Angers]] from 1125. Like his predecessor, [[Rainald de Martigné]] (died 1123), he consolidated the [[Gregorian reform]] in his diocese.
Ulger was a student of [[Marbodius of Rennes|Marbod]] and the latter's successor as archdeacon. Ulger composed a eulogy for his teacher, crediting him with bringing genius (''ingenium'') and art (''studium'') to Anjou. He also compares his master to Cicero, Virgil and Homer: "Cicero gives way to him, Virgil as well and Homer: there I may say he has defeated them equally".{{sfn|Bond|1986|p=171|ps=: ''Cessit ei Cicero, cessit Maro junctus Homero: ut dicam breviter, vicit eos pariter''}}
Shortly after becoming bishop, Ulger entered into a dispute with [[Glanfeuil Abbey]], whose abbot, Drogo, rejected the authority of the bishop over his monastery and even had a papal bull forged to support his claim.{{sfn|Bloch|1952|p=204}} As bishop, Ulger established several new parish churches, began renovation to [[Angers Cathedral]] and constructed a hospice at [[Saint-Maimboeuf]].{{sfn|Tuten|2001|p=604}} In the 1140s, Ulger also got involved in a dispute with [[Fontevraud Abbey]], which became an international scandal. The abbess Petronilla accused the bishop's men of having despoiled the property of laymen, named Basset, who was a friend of the abbey's. The victim went to Rome to appeal to [[Pope Innocent II]] directly, while the celebrated [[Bernard de Clairvaux]] wrote an angry letter to Ulger (in which he first described the incident as a ''scandalum''). The pope appointed a panel of five bishops to decide the case—which really concerned the abbey's rights in [[Les Ponts-de-Cé]]—and in 1149 the bishopric was ordered to pay restitution to Basset of 1,000 marks.{{sfn|Venarde|1997|pp=119–20}}
Ulger was a supporter of the [[Angevin kings of England|Angevin ruling family]]. He supported Count [[Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey Plantagenet]] when the latter invaded [[Duchy of Normandy|Normandy]] and he supported his wife, the [[Empress Matilda]], in the [[The Anarchy|English civil war]]. In 1139, at the [[Second Lateran Council]], Ulger asserted publicly (and incorrectly) that Matilda had been anointed empress by [[Pope Pascal II]].{{sfn|Leyser|1960|p=69}} He also supported the [[Knights Templar]], who had close connections to the Angevin dynasty. Sometime after the [[fall of Edessa]], between 1144 and 1149, in light of the [[Second Crusade|new crusading impetus]], he urged his clergy to promote the Templars throughout the diocese and strongly commended their holy way of life.{{sfn|Schenk|2012|p=211}}
Ulger was buried in an enamelled sarcophagus. Inside his tomb were found cloths were (pseudo-)Arabic lettering, a ring with a Latin transcription from Arabic and a boxes of a Spanish style, all suggesting that Ulger had contacts with Spain during his lifetime. The metal- and enamelwork on his tomb is probably of Spanish origin.{{sfn|Hildburgh|1942|p=392}}
==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}
==Sources==
*{{cite journal |first=Jean-Marc |last=Bienvenu |title=Le conflit entre Ulger, évêque d'Angers, et Petronille de Chemille, abbesse de Fontevrault (vers 1140–1149) |journal=Revue Mabillon |volume=53 |issue=248 |year=1972 |pages=113–32}}
*{{cite journal |first=Herbert |last=Bloch |title=The Schism of Anacletus II and the Glanfeuil Forgeries of Peter the Deacon of Monte Cassino |journal=Traditio |volume=8 |year=1952 |pages=159–264}}
*{{cite journal |first=Gerald A. |last=Bond |title=''Iocus amoris'': The Poetry of Baudri of Bourgueil and the Formation of the Ovidian Subculture |journal=Traditio |volume=42 |year=1986 |pages=143–93}}
*{{cite journal |first=W. L. |last=Hildburgh |author-link=Walter Leo Hildburgh|title=Varieties of Circumstantial Evidence in the Study of Mediaeval Enameling |journal=Speculum |volume=17 |issue=3 |year=1942 |pages=390–401 |doi=10.2307/2853309}}
*{{cite journal |first=Karl |last=Leyser |title=England and the Empire in the Early Twelfth Century |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |volume=10 |series=Fifth Series. |year=1960 |pages=61–83 |doi=10.2307/3678774}}
*{{cite book |first=Jochen |last=Schenk |title=Templar Families: Landowning Families and the Order of the Temple in France, c. 1120–1307 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2012}}
*{{cite journal |first=Belle Stoddard |last=Tuten |title=Politics, Holiness, and Property in Angers, 1080–1130 |journal=French Historical Studies |volume=24 |issue=4 |year=2001 |pages=601–19 |doi=10.1215/00161071-24-4-601}}
*{{cite book |first=Bruce L. |last=Venarde |title=Women's Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890–1215 |url=https://archive.org/details/womensmonasticis00vena |url-access=registration |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca |year=1997}}
*{{cite journal |last=Urseau |first=Charles-Théodore |title=Le tombeau de l'évêque Ulger dans la cathédrale d'Angers |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |volume=40 |issue=5 |year=1896 |pages=411–12 |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/crai_0065-0536_1896_num_40_5_70859 |accessdate=17 December 2013 |doi=10.3406/crai.1896.70859}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:1149 deaths]]
[[Category:Bishops of Angers]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]