as the mediator between a canon from Reims and the
monastery of St. Remy. Presumably, he had been attend-
ing the schools of Paris at the time. The following year,
he appears in southern France, apparently as a preacher
against the Albigensians. At this time, he established his
lifelong friendship with Jacques de Vitry and Robert de
Courçon, both of whom became well-known preachers
of the Fifth Crusade in France.
In the papal encyclical Quia maior nunc of May 1213,
Oliver was named as one of several crusade-preachers
for Germany, with specifi c duties in the ecclesiasti-
cal province of Cologne. Assisting him was magister
(master) Hermann, dean of St. Cassius’s Church in
Bonn. Over the next four years, he and his colleagues
crisscrossed Germany, convening assemblies of people
and exploiting every opportunity to present their mes-
sage and enlist support for the crusade. They were
armed with letters of indulgence with which to entice
and reward participants. Following the Fourth Lateran
Council in Rome (at which Oliver was also present),
he and the other preachers were also charged with col-
lecting the half-tithe that Innocent III had imposed on
the clergy as a means of providing fi nancial support for
the crusade.
In the summer of 1217 the fi rst company of warriors
departed by ship from the Lower Rhine. Among them
was Oliver himself, who played a viral role in the cam-
paign against Damietta in the Nile delta. His Historia
of this event and his other writings and letters make him
the best known of the German preachers. Only after the
fall of Damietta to the Muslims on September 8, 1221,
did Oliver return to Cologne, where he appears again
in the spring of 1222.
In 1223 Oliver was elected bishop of Paderborn. He
never really occupied the offi ce, however, having fi rst re-
sumed his role as crusade-preacher in 1224, and shortly
thereafter being elevated to the cardinal-bishopric of St.
Sabina. One sees the infl uence of his fellow German,
Conrad of Urach, and perhaps also of Cardinal Robert
de Courçon, in this appointment. Like Conrad, however,
Oliver lived but a short time after donning the cardinal’s
hat; he died the same year.
See also Conrad of Urach
Further Reading
Hoogeweg, Hermann. “Der Kölner Domscholaster Oliver als
Kreuzprediger.” Westdeutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichte und
Kunst 7 (1888): 237ff.
——. Die Schriften des Kölner Domscholasters, späteren
Bischofs von Paderborn und Kardinalbischof von S. Sabina
Oliverus. Stuttgart: Litterarischer Verein, 1894.
——. “Die Kreuzpredigt des Jahres 1224 in Deutschland mit
besonderer Rücksicht auf die Erzdiözese Köln.” Deutsche
Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 4 (1890): 54ff.
Pixton, Paul B. “Die Anwerbung des Heeres Christi: Prediger
des Fünften Kreuzzuges in Deutschland.” Deutsches Archiv
34 (1978): 166–191.
Paul B. PixtonORCAGNA, ANDREA DI CIONE (d. 1368)
Andrea di Cione, known as Orcagna, belonged to an ex-
tended family of Florentine artists, among whom he and
his brother Nardo are best-known to modern scholars.
Both artists were also well-known in their own time.
Indeed, in a list identifying the six most prominent paint-
ers of Florence, compiled in 1349 (near the midpoint of
Andrea’s career), Andrea and Nardo occupy the third
and fourth positions, respectively.
Over the course of his career Orcagna worked as a
painter, sculptor, and architect, but he was trained as a
painter and identifi es himself as such even on the great
sculptured tabernacle in Or San Michele (Orsanmi-
chele). Thanks to the efforts of Kreytenberg and others,
who have pieced together the extant documents and the
known works, we now have a relatively comprehensive
picture of Orcagna’s career. We know that he matricu-
lated in the Florentine painters’ guild (part of the larger
Arte dei Medici e Speziali) sometime between 1343 and- We also know that he joined the guild of builders
and masons in 1352. Between 1343 and 1360 Orcagna
executed paintings and sculptures for many important
civic and ecclesiastical sites in Florence, including the
city’s prison, the city grain market of Or San Michele,
and the great mendicant churches of Santa Croce and
Santa Maria Novella. At Santa Maria Novella, he was
involved in the decoration of the Cappella Maggiore,
one of the most important commissions of the day.
Beginning in 1357 Orcagna participated in the ongoing
planning of the cathedral of Florence; and in 1358 he
was appointed capomaestro of the masons’ workshop
for the cathedral in Orvieto.
Orcagna’s presumed early works include the great
fresco of the Triumph of Death, the Last Judgment, and
Hell for the nave of the church of Santa Croce, which
was attributed to him following Ghiberti’s testimony
and is now generally held to have been painted in
1344–1345. Another early work is a frescoed roundel de-
picting the Expulsion of the Duke of Athens (now in the
Palazzo Vecchio), painted for the entry hall of Florence’s
prison, the carcere delle Stinche. This fresco, which
has been attributed to Orcagna on stylistic grounds,
was possibly commissioned as early as 1343–1344,
immediately after the expulsion from Florence of the
infamous duke of Athens, Walter of Brienne. It is a
permanent version of the type of ephemeral defamatory
images (pitture infamate) commonly commissioned by
Italian cities to be painted on the facades of public build-
ings. In Orcagna’s painting, realistic details, including
a remarkably accurate portrait of the Palazzo Vecchio
ORCAGNA, ANDREA DI CIONE