Erlembald

Who was Erlembald?

Saint Erlembald was the political and military leader of the movement known as the pataria in Milan, a movement to reform the clergy and the church in the Ambrosian diocese.

He was the brother of Landulf, subdeacon of Milan. They were of the Cotta, a family of valvassores and vassals of the archdiocese. In his early career, Erlembald was referred to as a "captain." In 1063, he returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and intended to become a monk when the deacon Ariald convinced him to take his brother's place at the head of the pataria. Erlembald, however, was not a cleric, but a soldier.

In 1064, he travelled to Rome to confer with Pope Alexander II and confirm his support. On his return to Milan, he revealed the change in the character of the pataria by living in a palace near the church of Saint Victor and the Forty Martyrs. With papal permission he began imposing his will by force on the clergy, by deposing abbots and proceeding against the bishop, Guido da Velate. Guido was first accused of taking false oaths for not acting against simony in his province. Guido, however, organised a resistance to the patarini.