Thomas Morosini

Thomas Morosini ( 1170/1175 - June/July 1211) was a Venetian cleric who served as the first Latin Patriarch of Constantinople following the conquest of the city by the Fourth Crusade. He was elected in 1204 and remained patriarch until his death.

Election and appointment Under the agreement concluded between the Venetians and the other crusaders in March 1204, the party that did not provide the new emperor was entitled to appoint the clergy of Hagia Sophia and elect the patriarch. After Baldwin of Flanders was elected emperor, the Venetian clergy of Hagia Sophia chose Morosini, then a subdeacon, as patriarch.

The election was conducted without papal authorisation and was initially denounced by Pope Innocent III as uncanonical. Innocent objected that the Venetian clergy who elected Morosini had not themselves been canonically installed at Hagia Sophia and that secular agreements could not determine the appointment of a patriarch. Nevertheless, because Morosini was not personally responsible for the irregular procedure, Innocent confirmed his election. Morosini travelled to Rome, where he was successively ordained deacon and priest, consecrated as a bishop, and invested with the pallium.

Death and succession Morosini died at Thessalonica in June or July 1211. His death was followed by a disputed election involving the Venetian cathedral chapter and the clergy of Constantinople's conventual churches. The patriarchal see remained unfilled until Pope Innocent III appointed Gervasius of Heraclea in 1215.