'Arnulf Malecorne of Choques' (or of Rohes) (died
1118) was a leader among the clergy during the
First Crusade, and was
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1099 and from 1112 to 1118.
Before the First Crusade Arnulf was a tutor to Cecilia, daughter of
William I of England. He was the
chaplain of the
Norman crusader army led by
Robert of Normandy, Cecilia's brother and William's son. He was most likely appointed a papal legate, under the authority of the overall legate
Adhemar of Le Puy, and after Adhemar's death in 1098 he shared control of the clergy with fellow legate
Peter of Narbonne. Some of the non-Norman knights in the other crusader armies believed he was corrupt, and they apparently sang vulgar songs about him, but most crusaders respected him as an eloquent preacher.
He was one of the chief skeptics about
Peter Bartholomew's claims to have discovered the
Holy Lance in
Antioch, and because of Arnulf's opposition Peter volunteered to undergo an
ordeal by fire. Arnulf's opposition to Peter brought him into conflict with
Raymond of St. Gilles, who believed Peter's story. To help ease the crisis among the crusaders over the issue, and also to lift spirits after Peter's death during the ordeal, Arnulf helped make a statue of Christ which was placed on one of the siege engines during the
siege of Jerusalem. After the capture of
Jerusalem he discovered the
True Cross in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This discovery was not as controversial as the discovery of the Lance, although it was just as suspicious. Arnulf may have been trying to make up for the problems he caused disproving the authenticity of the Lance, and the True Cross became the most sacred relic of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem.
After Raymond left the crusade, on
August 1,
1099 Arnulf was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem. He was supported by
Godfrey of Bouillon, the first
monarch of the new kingdom, and in turn he supported Godfrey's decision to make Jerusalem a secular kingdom rather than one ruled by the clergy, and, ultimately, the Pope. Nevertheless, Arnulf enforced the Latin rite among the crusaders, banning all others thus further alienating the disaffected Greeks. However, according to
Canon law he was soon found to be ineligible as he was not yet a
deacon, and he was not officially consecrated. In December he was replaced by
Dagobert of Pisa, who had been appointed by
Pope Paschal II, and was instead appointed archdeacon of Jerusalem.
In 1112 he officially became Patriarch, though many of the other clerics distrusted him and found him unncessarily harsh. He was especially unpopular with the
Orthodox and
Syrian Christians when he prohibited non-
Roman Catholic masses at the Holy Sepulchre. He was accused of various crimes: sexual relations with a Muslim woman,
simony, and most importantly condoning the bigamous marriage of
King Baldwin I to
Adelaide del Vasto while his first wife
Arda of Armenia was still alive. He was briefly deposed by a
papal legate in 1115, but appealed to
Pope Paschal II and was reinstated in 1116, provided that he annul Baldwin and Adelaide's marriage. He remained Patriarch until his death in 1118.
Arnulf married his niece Emma (if she was not his daughter) to the Latin
seigneur of Caesarea and Sidon,
Eustace Garnier. Emma, also called Emelota, married
Hugh II of Le Puiset after the death of Eustace.