Ghibbelin of Sabran had been named Archbishop…

Ghibbelin of Sabran had been named Archbishop of Arles at the Council of Avignon in 1080, at which Archbishop Aicard was deposed.

He was consecrated by Pope Gregory VII.

However, the clergy and people of Arles had preferred Aicard, a relative of the viscounts of Marseilles who had taken the side of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor against Gregory VII.

Although Ghibbelin had the support of Bertrand I, Count of Provence, he was unable to take possession of his archdiocese.

Threatened by the citizens of Arles when he approached he city, he had had to renounce his claim.

Ghibbelin waited many years to take his post.

When Pope Urban II toured southern France in 1096, wbefore preaching the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont, he had neglected to visit Arles.

Ghibbelin after 1096 had been able to occupy the archdiocese during the periodic absences of Aicard; meanwhile he also directed the diocese of Avignon.

He had finally succeeded Aicard around 1098, when Urban II overturned the renouncement he had made under duress from the citizens of Arles in 1080.

The will of Raymond IV of Toulouse in 1105, had ordered his heirs to restore the properties he had confiscated from Ghibbelin.

Ghibbelin had left Arles for Palestine  at the end of 1107 as papal legate for Pope Paschal II; he had been sent to settle a dispute over the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Dagobert of Pisa had in 1102 been deposed as Patriarch and replaced by Ehremar.

The pope had reinstated Dagobert, who then died before he could return to Palestine.

The pope was now inclined to reinstate Ehremar, but the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, had objected as he regarded him as incompetent, and Ghibbelin had been chosen to decide the matter.

He had deposed Ehremar, and at the invitation of Baldwin himself accepted the office.

He dies here in December, 1112, and is succeeded by Arnulf of Chocques as Patriarch, while the archdiocese of Arles will remain vacant until 1115.