Synod of Melfi (1089)

Seventy bishops and twelve abbots attended and the synod dealt with various ecclesiastic topics connected to the reform movement as well the relation with the Greek part of the church.

At the beginning of his papacy, pope Urban II was facing an antipope backed by the German Emperor Henry IV and was therefore aiming to end this schism by convening Church councils.

[8] Further, Urban II settled territorial disputes, as such confirming, for instance, the monastery of Saint Benedict in Taranto among the possessions of the abbey of Cava and appointed Guitmund to the see of Aversa.

The monk Basil had been installed and consecrated in Constantinople by patriarch Cosmas I. a couple of years prior, but had been not permitted (probably by the Norman Robert Guiscard) to take office in Reggio.

As Basil contested this and refused to submit to the pope, another person, Rangerius of Marmoutier, was chosen as archbishop of Reggio, with the Greek metropolitans of Santa Severina and Rossano acknowledging the papal claim.