Ralph d'Escures (also known as Radulf
[Eadmer. ''Eadmer’s History of Recent Events in England = Historia Novorum in Anglia''. Translated by Geoffrey Bosanquet. London: Cresset Press, 1964. ]) (died 20 October 1122) was a medieval
abbot of Séez,
bishop of Rochester and then
archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the school at the
Abbey of Bec
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nuns ...
. In 1079 he entered the
abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The con ...
of
St Martin at Séez, and became
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
there in 1091. He was a friend of both Archbishop
Anselm of Canterbury and Bishop
Gundulf of Rochester __NOTOC__
Gundulf (or Gundulph) (c. 1024 - 1108) was a Norman monk who went to England following the Norman Conquest. He was appointed Bishop of Rochester and Prior of the Cathedral Priory there. He built several castles, including Rochester, Col ...
, whose
see, or bishopric, he took over on Gundulf's death.
Ralph was not chosen archbishop of Canterbury by the chapter of Canterbury alone. His election involved an assembly of the lords and bishops meeting with King
Henry I of England. Ralph then received his
pallium
The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropol ...
from Pope
Paschal II
Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...
, rather than travelling to Rome to retrieve it. As archbishop, Ralph was very assertive of the rights of the
see of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
and of the liberties of the English church. He claimed authority in Wales and Scotland. Ralph also quarrelled for a time with Pope Paschal II.
Ralph suffered a stroke on 11 July 1119 and was left partially paralysed and unable to speak clearly from that time until his death on 20 October 1122. A surviving English translation of a sermon delivered by Ralph is preserved in a manuscript in the British Library. The sermon survives in some fifty Latin manuscripts.
Early life
Ralph was the son of Seffrid d'Escures and his first wife Rascendis,
[Brett "Escures, Ralph d' " ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''] and a half brother of
Seffrid I,
[Greenway ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 5: Chichester: Bishops''] Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
from 1125 to 1145.[Knowles, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses'' pp. 51,250] The surname of de Turbine, by which he is sometimes known in older scholarship, is only attested in the fourteenth century and possibly resulted from confusion with William de Corbeil
William de Corbeil or William of Corbeil (21 November 1136) was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury. Very little is known of William's early life or his family, except that he was born at Corbeil, south of Paris, and that he had two brothers. E ...
, Ralph's successor at Canterbury.[ Ralph studied at the school at the Abbey of Bec][Cantor ''Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture'' p. 176] before entering the abbey of St Martin at Séez in 1079.[ St. Martin was a house founded by the Montgomery and ]Bellême
Bellême () is a commune in the Orne department in northwestern France. The musicologist Guillaume André Villoteau (1759–1839) was born in Bellême, as was Aristide Boucicaut (1810-1877), owner of ''Le'' ''Bon Marché'', the world's first de ...
families, and was still under their lordship.[Vaughn ''Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan'' p. 109] He became abbot of the house in 1091, and his election was attended by Anselm, abbot of Bec.[Vaughn ''Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan'' p. 61]
Time in England
Soon afterwards Ralph paid a visit to England, perhaps to visit Shrewsbury Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Shrewsbury (commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey) is an ancient foundation in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England.
The Abbey was founded in 1083 as a Benedictine monastery by the No ...
, which was a daughter house of Séez.[ He may have been involved in the mediating the surrender of ]Robert of Bellême
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
at Shrewsbury in 1102, for some chroniclers state that it was Ralph who delivered the keys of the castle to King Henry I of England.[Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 163] In 1103 he took refuge in England from the demands of Robert of Bellême for homage. Ralph declined to do homage because Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...
had ordered that no clergy could do homage to the laity.[Vaughn ''Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan'' pp. 24–25] Robert was also demanding heavy taxes, and Ralph fled with Serlo, Bishop of Séez, who was also subjected to Robert's demands.[Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 181] He passed his time in England with his friends Saint Anselm and Gundulf the Bishop of Rochester.[Barlow ''English Church'' p. 82] He attended the translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
of Saint Cuthbert
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of ...
's remains at Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, where he was one of examiners of the body, and declared the saint's remains uncorrupt. In 1106 he visited Anselm at the Abbey of Bec, but probably did not try to assert himself at Séez. After Anselm was elected to the see of Canterbury, Ralph appears to have become part of the archbishop's household.[
In June 1108 Ralph succeeded Gundulf as Bishop of Rochester, having been nominated by Gundulf before his death.][Greenway "Rochester: Bishops" ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300'': Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces)] Ralph was consecrated on 9 August 1108.[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 267] He was at Anselm's deathbed in April 1109,[ and, afterwards, Ralph acted as administrator of the see of Canterbury][Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' p. 57] until 26 April 1114, when he was chosen Archbishop at Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
.[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 232] The king had wanted his doctor, Faricus, who was an Italian and Abbot of Abingdon
The Abbot of Abingdon was the head (or abbot) of Anglo-Saxon and eventually Benedictine house of Abingdon Abbey at Abingdon-on-Thames in northern Berkshire (present-day Oxfordshire), England.
The following is a list of abbots of Abingdon:
Fict ...
, but the nobles and the bishops objected to anyone but a Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
being appointed.[ The bishops also desired someone who was not a monk, or at least not one who was so close to Henry.][Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 181] As a compromise, Ralph was chosen, rather than the secular clergy that the bishops favoured.[Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 628] Although Ralph was a monk and had not served as a royal clerk, he was also a bishop, which seems to have reconciled the other bishops to his selection.[Cantor ''Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture'' p. 33]
Archbishop of Canterbury
It is noteworthy that, while Ralph was not chosen by the chapter of Canterbury alone, his election involved an assembly of the magnates and bishops meeting with the king. He was not selected solely by the king, nor solely by the bishops or chapter.[Cantor ''Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture'' p. 281] Ralph received his pallium from the pope, rather than travelling to Rome to retrieve it.[Barlow ''English Church 1066–1154'' p. 38] It was only with difficulty, however, that Pope Paschal II was persuaded to grant the pallium, as the papacy was attempting to again assert papal jurisdiction over the English Church. It was Anselm of St Saba
Anselm; also known as , for his first monastery, or for his second. (died 1148) was a medieval bishop of London whose election was quashed by Pope Innocent II. He was a monk of Chiusa, abbot of Saint Saba in Rome, papal legate to Engl ...
who brought the pallium to England, along with letters from Paschal complaining that the English Church was translating bishops from see to see without papal permission, that legates
A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the office ...
from the papacy were being refused entry to England and that the king was allowing no appeals to be made to the pope over ecclesiastical issues.[Hollister ''Henry I'' pp. 240–243] In 1116 the pope even demanded the payment of Peter's Pence, a payment direct to the papacy of a penny from every household in England. Ralph, when he took the pallium, professed "fidelity and canonical obedience" to the pope, but did not submit to the papal demands and, in fact, supported King Henry in opposing the pope's demands.[Cantor ''Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture'' pp. 301–308]
As archbishop Ralph championed the rights of the see of Canterbury and the English church.[Barlow ''English Church'' p. 83] He claimed authority in Wales and Scotland, writing to the pope that "the church of Canterbury has not ceased to provide pastoral care for the whole of Britain and Ireland, both as a benevolence and from its rights of primacy."[Quoted in Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' p. 92] He advised the bishop of Llandaff
The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff.
Area of authority
The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of ...
that a new Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is an Anglican cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Pet ...
should be built and granted an indulgence
In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God of ...
to contributors.[Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 395] He even refused to consecrate Thurstan
:''This page is about Thurstan of Bayeux (1070 – 1140) who became Archbishop of York. Thurstan of Caen became the first Norman Abbot of Glastonbury in circa 1077.''
Thurstan or Turstin of Bayeux ( – 6 February 1140) was a medi ...
as Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
because Thurstan would not profess obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury,[Vaughn ''Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan'' pp. 357–359] part of the Canterbury-York dispute.[Barlow ''English Church'' pp. 39–44] At first, Ralph depended only on the king to demand Thurstan to submit, but later he appealed to the popes to force Thurstan to obey.[ His refusal brought him into a dispute with the papacy, for Pope Paschal II supported Thurstan. Ralph visited Rome in 1117, but was unable to obtain an interview with Paschal as the pope had fled the city in front of an invading imperial army.][ Ralph had taken ill with an ulcer on his face during the trip to Rome and, for a time, it was feared that he would die. He recovered enough to continue on to Rome, however, although it was a fruitless trip.][ Despite instructions from Paschal's successors, ]Gelasius II
Pope Gelasius II (c. 1060/1064 – 29 January 1119), born Giovanni Caetani or Giovanni da Gaeta (also called ''Coniulo''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 January 1118 to his death in 1119. A monk of Monte C ...
and Calixtus II
Pope Callixtus II or Callistus II ( – 13 December 1124), born Guy of Burgundy, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 1119 to his death in 1124. His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controversy, ...
, the archbishop continued to refuse to consecrate Thurstan, and Thurstan was still unconsecrated when Ralph died.[Vaughn ''Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan'' p. 362] Thurstan was eventually consecrated at Rheims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
by Pope Calixtus II in May 1119, although the issue of primacy remained unresolved.[
Although he feuded with York over the primacy, it appears clear that Ralph considered the Investiture Crisis settled in England for, in 1117 while visiting Rome, he took a neutral position as regards the issues between the Pope and the Emperor.][Cantor ''Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture'' pp. 275–276] In 1115, however, he refused to consecrate Bernard
Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "bra ...
as Bishop of St David's
The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids.
The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, ...
in the royal chapel, although Robert of Meulan, the king's chief counsellor, advocated that the consecration must take place in the royal chapel according to ancient custom. The king did not insist and Ralph won the confrontation.[ He was also involved in ecclesiastical affairs in Normandy, as he attended the provincial synod, or Council of Rouen, held in 1118.][Spear "Norman Empire" ''Journal of British Studies'' p. 3]
Final years and legacy
Ralph suffered a stroke on 11 July 1119 as he was removing his vestments after celebrating Mass. From then until his death, Ralph was partially paralysed and unable to speak clearly.[Bethell "English Black Monks" ''English Historical Review'' p. 673] He was still involved in decision making and, in 1120, he agreed to King Alexander I of Scotland
Alexander I ( medieval Gaelic: ''Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim''; modern Gaelic: ''Alasdair mac Mhaol Chaluim''; c. 1078 – 23 April 1124), posthumously nicknamed The Fierce, was the King of Scotland from 1107 to his death. He succeeded his broth ...
's suggestion that Eadmer
Eadmer or Edmer ( – ) was an English historian, theologian, and ecclesiastic. He is known for being a contemporary biographer of his archbishop and companion, Saint Anselm, in his ''Vita Anselmi'', and for his ''Historia novorum in ...
become the next Bishop of St Andrew's.[ Ralph was one of the lords consulted about the remarriage of Henry I to Adeliza of Leuven at London in 1121.][Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' p. 58] He also successfully asserted his right to celebrate the king's new marriage, over attempts by Roger of Salisbury
Roger of Salisbury (died 1139), was a Norman medieval bishop of Salisbury and the seventh Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England.
Life
Roger was originally priest of a small chapel near Caen in Normandy. He was called "Roger, priest of the c ...
to officiate instead.[Cantor ''Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture'' p. 299] Due to the damage from the stroke, Ralph was unable to perform the ceremony but, when Roger made an attempt to do so, Ralph successfully insisted on choosing the officiant and William Giffard
William Giffard (died 23 January 1129),Franklin "Giffard, William" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' was the Lord Chancellor of England of William II and Henry I, from 1093 to 1101,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 8 ...
the Bishop of Winchester performed the marriage.[Hollister ''Henry I'' pp. 280–281] Ralph died on 20 October 1122,[ at Canterbury. He was buried in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral on 23 October 1122.][ His nephew, ]John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
, was a clerk under Ralph, and later Ralph appointed him Archdeacon of Canterbury
The Archdeacon of Canterbury is a senior office-holder in the Diocese of Canterbury (a division of the Church of England Province of Canterbury). Like other archdeacons, he or she is an administrator in the diocese at large (having oversight of ...
. After Ralph's death, John was elected to the see of Rochester.[Greenway "Archdeacons: Canterbury" ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300'': Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces)]
Ralph was regarded as a "witty, easygoing" man.[Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 235] The struggle with York, however, along with his illnesses and the effects of the stroke, turned Ralph in his last years into a quarrelsome person.[ Orderic Vitalis said that he was well educated and well loved by people. Even ]William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...
, no lover of ecclesiastics and always ready to find fault with them, could only find fault with him for his occasional lapses into unbecoming frivolity.[
Ralph wrote a sermon for the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin and it survives in some fifty ]Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
manuscripts, probably because it was thought to have been written by Anselm of Canterbury,[ until shown to be Ralph's in 1927.][Treharne "Life of English" ''Writers of the Reign of Henry II'' pp. 172–173] A surviving English translation of the sermon is also preserved in the manuscript British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, Cotton Vespasian D. xiv.[Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' p. 494] The Latin version, which Ralph was a translation of his originally spoken French version, has been edited and published in 1997.[ Ralph also had the monks of ]Christ Church, Canterbury
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the Ch ...
search for documents relating to the privileges of Canterbury and had those documents copied into a manuscript which still survives, BM MS Cotton Cleopatra E.[ His seal is one of the first to take the usual form for bishop's seals, with Ralph standing, in full vestments including a ]mitre
The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...
, and performing a benediction with his right hand while holding his crosier
A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Cathol ...
in his left. The seal took the form of a pointed oval.[Harvey and McGuinness ''Guide to British Medieval Seals'' pp. 64–65]
Citations
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Escures, Ralph d
11th-century births
1122 deaths
Anglo-Normans
Archbishops of Canterbury
Bishops of Rochester
French abbots
People from Orne
12th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops
Anglo-Norman Benedictines
Year of birth unknown
Place of birth unknown
Burials at Canterbury Cathedral
12th-century English Roman Catholic bishops