Rainald of Dassel

Rainald's father sent him to the Hildesheim Cathedral school and at a later date he probably went to Paris in France, where he studied with Adam of Balsham. As early as 1130 he is said to have had a high reputation for classical learning, and to have been a member of the Hildesheim cathedral chapter. He started working as a subdeacon under Bishop Bernard about 1146 and accompanied Abbot Wibald of Stavelot to the Roman Curia. According to documentary evidence he was appointed provost in 1148.

Rainald became one of the most important dignitaries in Hildesheim, where he had the first stone bridge built above the Innerste river. He represented the diocese at the 1148 Council of Reims, presided over by Pope Eugene III, openly opposing a canon concerned with clerical dress.^[1] Particular attention was paid to his statements by John of Salisbury, who mentioned him in his Historia Pontificalis. In 1153 Rainald received the provostship of the St Maurice monastery in Hildesheim and St Peter's Abbey in Goslar. Soon after, he was also appointed provost of the Münster Cathedral chapter (in 1154), of the Maastricht Basilica of Saint Servatius (1156), and of Xanten Cathedral. However, when a new Bishop of Hildesheim was elected in 1153, he declined the see.

1152年にローマ王に選出されたフリードリヒ・バルバロッサ^{[ 2 ]}は、すぐにライナルドの才能に気づいた。ローマの教皇エウゲニウス3世に派遣された使節団の一員として、彼は初めて政治的手腕を発揮した。1155年にフリードリヒが教皇アドリアヌス4世によって神聖ローマ皇帝に戴冠された後、彼はライナルドを宰相に任命した。

皇帝と教皇庁の対立が激化する中、 1157年10月のブザンソン帝国議会は、ライナルドの政策の方向性を疑う余地のないものにした。彼は、特にイタリア王国における皇帝の権利と権力、自治権を持つドイツ・カトリック聖職者の強化、そして教皇庁の影響力の縮小を主張する指令を発布した。活気に満ち、時に粗野で率直、またある時は慎重で計算高いライナルドは、聖職者としての地位にもかかわらず剣の扱い方を知っており、以後、皇帝の政策に影響を与えるようになった。

教皇庁との対立はブザンソン帝国議会で激化し、ライナルドは教皇特使シエナのローランド（後のアレクサンデル3世）と激しい論争を繰り広げた。ライナルドは、教皇アドリアヌスが「beneficium」という言葉を使ったことを強く拒否した。この言葉は「封土」と「利益」の両方を意味する可能性がある。教皇が皇帝にさらに大きな「beneficia」（または「利益」）を与えることを喜んでいたであろうという表現には、教皇庁が長年抱いてきた世界支配への野望が表れていると考えられた。

ライナルドはドイツをローマから完全に分離させることを望んでおらず、中世のカトリック教会への敬意を依然として抱いていたものの、彼の気質はバルバロッサを、バルバロッサが望んだ以上に、あるいは当時の状況において有利だった以上に、突き進ませてしまった。フリードリヒが最終的に降伏した際、有利になり得たであろう譲歩を阻止したのはライナルドであった。1158年、彼はバイエルン公オットー1世とともに、皇帝の遠征の準備のため、イタリアへの外交旅行に出発した。

In January 1159 the imperial envoy Rainald entered the city of Milan, which had been peacefully conquered in 1158, however, he was expelled and almost murdered by the inhabitants. While still staying in an Imperial army camp, he was appointed Archbishop of Cologne and Archchancellor of Italy in absence, as successor of the late Frederick II of Berg. When Pope Adrian died in 1159, the double election of Pope Alexander III and Victor IV led to a schism, during which Rainald aimed at strengthening the Imperial antipope Victor. At the 1160 Council of Pavia, he served as the emperor's ambassador and was employed in diplomatic negotiations with Genoa, Pisa, as well as the courts of King Louis VII of France and King Henry II of England, whom he endeavoured to win to the side of the antipope but did not succeed.

In 1162 Emperor Barbarossa began a second siege of Milan, which would end with the destruction of the city. In 1163 Alexander III excommunicated Rainald, who had loudly proclaimed in these negotiations the right of the emperor to dispose of the papal see. Basing his action on the Roncalian decrees issued at the Diet of Roncaglia, near Piacenza, in 1158, Rainald was once more successfully employed in Italy in the affairs of the emperor. When Victor IV died, Rainald, of his own volition and without waiting for the consent of the emperor, elected at Lucca a new antipope, Paschal III. Frederick would hardly have continued the schism. Rainald knew this and therefore wished to force the emperor to continue the struggle for imperial supremacy.

Back in Germany in 1164, he brought the bones of the Three Magi with him to Cologne as loot from Milan and as a gift of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa; today they are still in the Cologne Cathedral. In the meantime the number of the adherents against the lawful pope increased in Germany. Rainald finally won the consent of the English king to common ecclesiastico-political action in behalf of Paschal III and once more took up arms in defence of his one ambition, which he hoped the proposed canonization of Charlemagne at Aachen in 1165 would advance. The new alliance was sealed by the engagement of King Henry's daughter Matilda with the Saxon duke Henry the Lion. In this period Rainald was notably the patron of the Archpoet.

1167年、彼は再びイタリアに滞在し、皇帝の進軍準備に積極的に携わった。マインツ大司教クリスティアン1世とともに、ライナルドの指導の下、1167年5月29日のモンテ・ポルツィオの戦いで、はるかに数の多いローマ軍に勝利し、都市を包囲した。その後まもなく、おそらくマラリアで亡くなった。遺体はケルンに移送され、大聖堂の聖母礼拝堂に埋葬された。