page_title: External cardinal
section_title: Titulature and engagement in the papal government
hierarchical_section_title: External cardinal / Titulature and engagement in the papal government
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Frederick Barbarossa submits to the authority of Pope Alexander III
context_page_description: In the category of the members of the College of Cardinals in the central Middle Ages, an external cardinal was a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church who did not reside in the Roman Curia, because of simultaneously being a bishop of the episcopal see other than suburbicarian, or abbot of an abbey situated outside Rome. In the wider sense, it may also concern cardinals who were appointed to the external episcopal sees and resigned their memberships in the College of Cardinals with this appointment. As well, it can concern cardinals who were generally curial cardinals, but for some time exercised the posts of administrators or prelates of the external churches.
  Today, the great majority of the cardinals are archbishops of the main metropolitan dioceses of the world and reside in their countries. Apart from the exclusive right of the election of the new pope, their dignity is purely honorific. However, originally the College of Cardinals was simply a college of the clergy of the City of Rome, constituted of the bishops of the seven dioceses bordering the diocese of Rome, priests of the parochial churches of Rome and deacons heading the ecclesiastical regions of the city of Rome.
context_section_description: There was no consistency to the titulature used by the "external" cardinals in the official documents issued by the popes, secular rulers or by themselves. Cardinal-abbots subscribed or were called sometimes only as cardinals, sometimes only as abbots, and sometimes using both titles. Abbot Mainardo of Pomposa subscribed papal bulls only as cardinal-bishop of Silva Candida. Desiderius of Montecassino subscribed papal bulls as abbot and cardinal or only as cardinal, while the papal privileges for the abbey Montecassino call him either cardinal and abbot or only abbot. Abbot Richard of St.-Victor used the forms “cardinal and abbot” or only abbot. Leonato of S. Clemente in Casauria in the private documents subscribed as cardinal and abbot but the papal privileges issued for him call him only abbot without indicating his cardinalate.
  Cardinals who simultaneously were also bishops usually appear in the documents with both titles: cardinalitial and episcopal. The only exceptions are archbishop Uberto Crivelli of Milan, who subscribed papal bulls only as cardinal, and Ruggiero of Benevento, who generally was styled only as archbishop, while his cardinalate was mentioned very infrequently.
  Even more differentiated was the engagement of the "external" cardinals in the Church government and the papal policy, even if limited evidence does not fully highlight this question. Certainly some of them spent some time working in the papal curia, which is attested by their subscriptions on the papal bulls. Among the signatories of the papal privileges appear abbots Desiderius of Montecassino, Mainardo of Pomposa, Giovanni of Subiaco, Richard of St.-Victor, Oderisio de Marsi of Montecassino, Bernardo degli Uberti of Vallombrosa, Amico of S. Vincenzo, Adenulf of Farfa, Benedetto of Torre Maggiore and Giovanni of S. Sophia, as well as the bishops Hugo Candidus, Konrad von Wittelsbach, Guillaume of Reims, Uberto Crivelli of Milan, Giovanni of Toscanella and Ruffino of Rimini. The last three seem to have been de facto curial cardinals, having spent at the papal court most of their time. On the other hand, cardinals like Pietro of S. Benedetto in Salerno, Rainaldo of Montecassino, Simone of Subiaco, Leonato of S. Clemente in Casauria, Ruggiero of Benevento, Roffredo of Montecassino or Riccardo of Montecassino seem to have never participated in the curial business. Also cardinals Adelardo Cattaneo of Verona, Guy Paré of Reims, Uberto Pirovano of Milan and Stephen Langton of Canterbury after their episcopal appointments are no longer attested in the papal curia.
  Several "external" cardinals acted as papal legates or vicars, often in the region of their episcopal seat or abbey. Among them were: 
  Peter Igneus of S. Salvatore – legate in Germany (1079) and France (1080),
  Mainardo of Pomposa – legate before Emperor Henry IV (1065) and in Milan (1067)
  Richard of St.-Victor – legate in Spain for many years
  Konrad von Wittelsbach – legate in Germany from 1177
  Guillaume of Reims – legate in France from 1179
  Ruffino of Rimini – legate in Imola (ca.1191)
  Gerardo de Sessio – legate in Lombardy (1210–11)
  Besides, some "external" cardinals participated in the papal elections: Desiderius of Montecassino and Richard of St.-Victor in 1086, Oderisio de Marsi in 1088, Enrico of Mazara and Amico of S. Vincenzo in 1118, Simone Borelli in 1159, Uberto Crivelli in 1185, probably also Konrad von Wittelsbach in 1185, Giovanni of Toscanella in 1191 and 1198, and Ruffino of Rimini in 1191.
  Three "external" cardinals became popes: Frederick of Montecassino became Pope Stephen IX in 1057, Desiderius of Montecassino became Pope Victor III in 1086 and Uberto Crivelli of Milan became Pope Urban III in 1185.
caption: Pope Alexander III (pictured highest at right) was the first pope who allowed the cardinals to occupy the external episcopal sees.
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