|
Oliva (c.971-1046), also spelled Oliba, was the count of Berga (998-1003) and Ripoll and later bishop of Vic (1018-1046) and abbot of Sant Miquel de Cuixà. He was the son of a noble Catalan house who abdicated his secular possessions to take up the Benedictine habit in the monastery of Ripoll. He is considered one of the spiritual founders of Catalonia and perhaps the most important prelate of his age in the Iberian Peninsula. Subsequently raised to the bishopric of Vic and the abbacy of Cuixá, he was a great writer and from his scriptorium at Ripoll flowed a ceaseless stream of works enlightening us about his world. Most importantly, however, are the Arabic manuscripts he translated into Latin for the benefit of all Europe. So influential was he, that, in 1023, King Sancho III of Navarre consulted him on the propriety of marrying his sister Urraca to her second cousin Alfonso V of León. The bishop objected, but Sancho ignored him. His letters to the various contemporaneous kings of Spain indicate to us that Alfonso and his successor, Vermudo III were regarded as imperatores, while the king of Navarre was a mere rex, though eventually rex Ibericus. He founded or reformed the monasteries of Montserrat (1025), Fluviá, and Canigó, and consecrated numerous other churches. It was he who created the Assemblies of Peace and Truce in connection with the Peace and Truce of God movements, the seeds of the future Catalan cortes, to aid the nobles in the administration of the realm. He improved the decoration of his own church at Ripoll and rededicated it on 15 January 1032. He was a close advisor to Count Berengar Raymond I of Barcelona and reconstructed the cathedral of Vic with the support of his Countess Ermesinda. The new cathedral was rededicated to Peter and Paul on 31 August 1038. He died at his monastery at Cuixá in 1046. Many Catalan institutions of education or other intellectual pursuits have taken up his name, including the Fundación Abat Oliba (see external link below).
Sources | ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
 |
|
| |