Gil Torres (died 11 November 1254) was a Leonese cleric and the

cardinal-deacon A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

of Santi Cosma e Damiano from 1216 until his death. Gil was a native of Zamora. Nothing is known of his life before 1206, when he is recorded among the canons of the

cathedral of Burgos The Cathedral of Saint Mary of Burgos () is a Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary located in the historical center of the Spain, Spanish city of Burgos. Its official name is the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica Church of St Mary of ...

. In 1209, he is recorded with the title '' magister'', implying a formal education. In 1210, he was named

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

of Burgos and was sent to the Roman ''curia'' as representative of the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

. He was still there during the

Fourth Lateran Council The Fourth Council of the Lateran or Lateran IV was convoked by Pope Innocent III in April 1213 and opened at the Lateran Palace in Rome on 11 November 1215. Due to the great length of time between the council's convocation and its meeting, m ...

in 1215.

Peter Linehan Peter Anthony Linehan, FBA (11 July 1943 – 9 July 2020) was a British historian of medieval Spain. He was a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, where he was Dean of Discipline, and a fellow of the British Academy. Life Linehan was born in ...

"Gil Torres"
'' Diccionario biográfico español'' (Real Academia de la Historia, 2018). Gil was named to the

college of cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

with the '' titulus'' of Santi Cosma e Damiano by Pope

Honorius III Pope Honorius III (c. 1150 – 18 March 1227), born Cencio Savelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 July 1216 to his death. A canon at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, he came to hold a number of importa ...

in December 1216. He was almost certainly recommended to the pope by Cardinal

Pelayo Gaitán Pelagio Galvani (c. 1165 – 30 January 1230, Portuguese: Latin: Pelagius) was a Leonese cardinal, and canon lawyer. He became a papal legate and leader of the Fifth Crusade. Born at Guimarães, his early life is little known. It is repeatedl ...

and Bishop Melendo of Osma, two fellow Leonese well respected in Rome. Thereafter until his death, Gil remained with the Roman ''curia''. His influence grew quickly. In April 1217, he was described as close to King Frederick II of Germany and King

Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

.Maria João Branco
"Portuguese Ecclesiastics and Portuguese Affairs near the Spanish Cardinals in the Roman Curia, 1213–1254"
in ''Encontro internacional: Carreiras eclesiásticas no ocidente cristão (séc. XII–XIV)'' (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa, 2007), pp. 77–100. In April 1218, King

Afonso II of Portugal Afonso II (; 23 April 118525 March 1223), also called Afonso the Fat () and Afonso the Leper (), was List of Portuguese monarchs, King of Portugal from 1211 until 1223. Afonso was the third monarch of Portugal. Afonso was the second but eldest ...

claimed him as a friend. He frequently served as an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

down to 1230, hearing cases from across Europe. In June 1234, Gil was elected to the archdiocese of Tarragona, but declined. He is especially associated with interventionist policy of Pope

Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV (; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universities of Parma and Bolo ...

regarding

papal provision In the canon law of the Catholic Church, canonical provision is the regular induction into a benefice. Analysis It comprises three distinct acts - the designation of the person, canonical institution, and installation. In various ways a person ...

. In 1245, Innocent assigned him the task of dividing up various sources of income between the chapters of

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

Calahorra Calahorra (; ; ) is a municipality in the Spanish autonomous community and province of La Rioja. During Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris Nassica Iulia''. Location The city is located on a hill at an altitude ...

Ciudad Rodrigo Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca (province), Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky r ...

, Córdoba, Cuenca,

Plasencia Plasencia () is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cáceres, Extremadura. , it has a population of 41,047. Plasencia is located in the Western-Central Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Sistema Central. Housing primarily ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

and

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

so as to ensure an adequate living for the bishops and canons. In 1247, Gil was offered the

archdiocese of Toledo The Archdiocese of Toledo () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Spain.

, but declined. Gil did not subscribe any papal document later than 1246, perhaps on account of old age. In 1253, he supported

Robert Grosseteste Robert Grosseteste ( ; ; 8 or 9 October 1253), also known as Robert Greathead or Robert of Lincoln, was an Kingdom of England, English statesman, scholasticism, scholastic philosopher, theologian, scientist and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of ...

's complaint against Innocent IV regarding papal provisions. It is for this reason that

Matthew of Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris (; 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts, and cartographer who was based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. He authored a number o ...

calls him a "pillar of truth and justice in the Roman ''curia''" in his '' Chronica maiora''. Matthew also records, improbably, that he was at least one hundred years old at his death. Gil died in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

on 11 November 1254. His death is recorded in the necrologies of Burgos and Toledo. His will, still extant in 1311, has been lost. The record does survive of his bequest to the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

house of

San Martino al Cimino San Martino al Cimino is a hamlet located a few kilometers south of Viterbo, at the top of Mount Cimino, in the Province of Viterbo within Lazio, Italy. Until 1928, it functioned as a separate town, but today, administratively, it is now a nei ...

of the debt that was owed him by the cathedral of Toledo. His executor was Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini.Linehan, ''The Spanish Church'', p. 217.

Notes

References

{{reflist 12th-century births 1254 deaths People from Zamora, Spain 13th-century cardinals Spanish cardinals 13th-century Spanish clergy