William of Malines

Who is William of Malines?

William of Malines or Messines was the first medieval Archbishop of Tyre from 1128 to 1130 and thereafter Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem until his death. He is sometimes called William I to distinguish him from Bishop William II of Tyre and William of Agen, second patriarch of that name.

William was from England, perhaps the younger son of a noble house, and had previously been the prior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a man of "praiseworthy habits". In 1127 Baldwin II of Jerusalem sent William and Roger, Bishop of Ramla, to Rome to seek the approval of Pope Honorius II for Baldwin's plan to make Fulk V of Anjou his successor. He was succeeded at Tyre by Fulk of Angoulême late in 1130, when he was transferred to Jerusalem. He was content to resolve a dispute between the monarch and the previous patriarch, Stephen of La Ferté, in the monarch's favour. He was an important supporter of Melisende during her regency and is described, a man capable yet pliable. He received a letter from Bernard of Clairvaux urging him to support the Knights Templar, who had received their papal privileges at the same time as William's embassy to Rome.