Filippo da Pistoia

Filippo da Pistoia, also called Filippo Fontana or anglicized Philip (died 18 September 1270), was an Italian prelate, military leader and diplomat. He was the bishop-elect of Ferrara from 1239 until 1252, bishop-elect of Florence from 1250 until 1251 and archbishop of Ravenna from 1250 until his death. He was the apostolic legate in Germany between July 1246 and March 1247, in Lombardy and the Trevigiana between December 1255 and August 1258 and throughout northern Italy between 1267 and February 1270. He served as ''podestà'' (mayor) of Ravenna in 1254.

Educated in Spain and France, Filippo was a worldly prelate, a corpulent oenophile who kept a court of musicians and a constant bodyguard. He had at least three sons and a daughter, only finally receiving episcopal consecration in 1260. In spiritual matters, he showed partiality to the Franciscans. His legatine missions were devoted to fostering military alliances and prosecuting wars. He engineered the election of Henry Raspe as king of Germany in opposition to Emperor Frederick II in 1246. He frequently led troops himself in the inveterate contest between pro-papal and pro-imperial forces in Italy, always on the side of the Papacy. He considered himself ''papabile'' in the papal election of 1264–1265, but was passed over. He suffered from declining health in his last two years.

Filippo's pastoral works as bishop are poorly known. His career can be told in detail because of the numerous documents issued by him and to him by various popes, and because of his friendship with the historian Salimbene de Adam. He was overall "a man dedicated to action more than the care of souls, and more to military action than diplomacy, [with] a character totally alien to conciliation." Provided by Wikipedia