Guido da Velate (also Guy or Wido) (died 1071) was the
Archbishop of Milan from 1045 until his death, though he had
simoniacally abdicated in 1067. He had been chosen as successor to
Aribert by the people in opposition to the choice of the noblesse and confirmed as archbishop by the
Emperor Henry III.
Guido was the archbishop of Milan at a time when the
Pataria
The ''pataria'' was an eleventh-century movement focused on the city of Milan in northern Italy, which aimed to reform the clergy and ecclesiastic government within the city and its ecclesiastical province, in support of papal sanctions against s ...
was gaining force in the city. Riot and unrest was a daily affair and Guido is reputed to have had a hand in much of it. He opposed the
Papal reforms and the Patarines who sought to outlaw clerical marriage and concubinage; he was a simoniac himself. Because he also refused to abide by the compromise of 1044, which would have limited his powers, he found himself at odds with the
communards and the lesser nobility as well as the reform school.
After the death of Henry III in 1056,
Hildebrand,
Anselm of Baggio, and
Peter Damian were sent to settle matters in Milan, but to little avail. The peace they brokered was broken incessantly until 1067, when Guido gave up his see and recommended the subdeacon
Gotofredo da Castiglione to the
Emperor Henry IV
Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son ...
(for a price). Guido was convinced by Anselm of Baggio, now pope, to repent of his abdication and return to his post. He died a few years later and Henry tried again (uncanonically) to appoint Gotofredo.
Sources
*
*
Jordan, William Chester (2003). ''Europe in the High Middle Ages''. London: Viking.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guido Da Velate
1071 deaths
Archbishops of Milan
11th-century Italian clergy
Year of birth unknown