Diocese of Tiberias

The Diocese of Tiberias was a significant Latin Catholic bishopric in the Crusader state Principality of Galilee, a major direct vassal of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, with see in Tiberias, after which city the principality was also known as Principality of Tiberias or the Tiberiad.

Crusader context

Restored historic building in Tiberias

During the First Crusade Tiberias was occupied by the Franks soon after the capture of Jerusalem.

The city was given in fief to Tancred, who made it his capital of the Principality of Galilee in the Kingdom of Jerusalem; the region was sometimes called the Principality of Tiberias, or the Tiberiad.[1]

In 1099 the original site of the city was abandoned, and settlement shifted north to the present location. St. Peter's Church, originally built by the Crusaders, is still standing today, although the building has been altered and reconstructed over the years.

History

The city of Tiberias in Galilee was important enough in the Roman province of Palestina Secunda to become a suffragan of its capital Scythopolis's Metropolitan Archbishop.

When the triumphant Crusaders organized their Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Tiberias became of Latin suffragan see of their new Latin Archbishopric of Nazareth, which replaced Scythopolis as Metropolitan see.

The Muslim reconquest of the Levant doomed the bishopric.

Titular see

The diocese was nominally continued as a titular bishopric.

It is vacant since decades, having had the following incumbents of the lowest (episcopal) rank :

See also

References

  1. ↑ Richard, Jean (1999) The Crusades c. 1071-c 1291, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-62369-3 p 71

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