The Diocese of Montepeloso (also Diocese of Irsina) (Latin: Dioecesis Montis Pelusii) was a Roman Catholic diocese located in the town of Montepeloso in the province of Matera in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It was united with the Diocese of Gravina (di Puglia) to form the Diocese of Gravina e Irsina (Montepeloso) in 1818. The name "Irsina" was given to the town of Montepeloso by vote of the council of the commune on 6 February 1895.
History
The town of Montepeloso had been fortified by the Byzantines as a north-west outpost against the Lombards. There is no notice of its existence before 988.
In the privilege granted by the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Metropolitan of Otranto in the 960s, the Metropolitan was granted the right to consecrate the bishops of Acerenza, Tursi, Gravina, Matera, and Tricarico. Montepeloso, though it was a frontier town in Byzantine territory like these bishoprics, is not mentioned in the privilege. The Diocese of Montepeloso, nevertheless, is said to have been established by the Byzantines in the late 10th or early 11th century. In 1011, the Byzantine garrison of Montepeloso was attacked by Saracen raiders, under the leadership of Ismael.
In 1041, a revolt of the Lombards against the Byzantines was restarted by Ardoin, who recruited several hundred Norman knights and footsoldiers from Salerno under the leadership of William "Ironarm" Hauteville. A definitive clash took place in a day-long pitched battle at Montepeloso in September 1041, after the Normans had stolen all their cattle and cut their supply line to the coast. The Lombard and Norman victory resulted in the expulsion of the Byzantines from Montepeloso and from the hill country, and the capture of their newly appointed katapan Bojoannes, who had to be ransomed. In 1042, the Norman Tancred became the Count of Montepeloso.
In 1059, an unnamed bishop of Montepelosi was deposed, by order of Pope Nicholas II at the Council of Melfi.
Restoration, directly dependent on Holy See
On 11 September 1123, Pope Calixtus II wrote from Benevento to Bishop Leo of Montepeloso, remarking that the diocese of Montepeloso had been appropriated by the archdiocese of Acerenzo without papal sanction, and handed it over to the diocese of Tricarico. The pope had been approached, when he visited Montepeloso and again at his palace in Benevento, by the bishop-elect Leo and the people of Montepeloso, begging to be granted their own bishop. After wide consultation, he restored the Diocese of Montepeloso and consecrated Leo. Leo had been Prior of the Benedictine monastery of S. Maria in Montepeloso. The diocese of Montepeloso was made directly dependent upon the Holy See.
Destruction
In 1133, King Roger II of Sicily completely destroyed the town of Montepeloso, which was a center of resistance to his rule. All the inhabitants left in the town, including the women and children, were slaughtered. The entire county fell under the control of the county of Andria and the Diocese of Andria Another revolt broke out in the spring of 1555, after William I came to the throne and appeared to be weak. The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos sent aid, and his agents Michael Paleologus and John Doukas raised a rebellion in Apulia. Bari, Trani, Giovinazzo, Ruvo, Andria, Montepeloso, Gravina, and numerous other towns and villages submitted to the Greeks. In William's counterstrike in 1156, climaxing in the battle of 28 May 1156, the Byzantine forces were overwhelmed.
Pope Celestine III (1191–1198) was repeatedly petitioned by the clergy of Montepeloso to restore the bishopric of Montepeloso, which they had long had (quam habuerunt antiquitus). He ordered the petitioners to drop the subject, permanently.
In 1195, the abbess of the church of S. Thomas at Barletta complained to the pope that the Prior of Montepeloso and the vicar of Barletta had broken into the church with an armed force, and attempted to strangle the abbess. On 15 December 1195, Pope Celestine III ordered that the perpetrators be excommunicated.
Restoration, and independence
In 1460, the Diocese of Montepeloso was united, aeque personaliter, to the Diocese of Andria, though not by papal action or with papal approval. Its bishops were actually the bishops of Andria.