Roger of Torre Maggiore

This is part 26 in a series on Daniel Farlati’s Illyricum Sacrum.

The primary source for Roger’s life is Thomas the Archdeacon’s Historia Salonitana. Roger had already served for some time in the church before becoming Archbishop of Spalato in 1249. Born in the Apuli region of Italy, He had previously served as an Archdeacon in Várad (present day Oradea, Romania). He was there during the Mongol invasion in 1242 and recounted his experience in a work titled Carmen miserabile super destructione regni Hungariae per Tartaros. The original has been lost, but the contents were preserved in Johannes de Thurocz’s Chronica Hungarorum from the 15th century. He spent time working with the Englishman John of Toledo before being appointed Archbishop by Pope Innocent IV.

Thomas was a contemporary of Roger. He describes him as a man who enjoyed eloquence and wanted to increase the wealth of the Archbishopric. He rarely went out in public without the company of other noblemen. When the excommunicated Conrad IV passed through Salona, Roger and Thomas closed the church and stayed outside of the city until he left. In 1264 he attempted to appease the Hungarian queen Maria Laskarina after two hungarian gaurds were killed by citizens at the Klis Fortress, but his efforts were unsuccessful.

He was bed ridden with gout the last 2 years of his life. He died in 1266, having served as archbishop for nearly 16 years.