Waldric (''aka'' Gaudry, died 1112) was the eighth

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

and

Lord Keeper The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain, was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. This position evolved into that of one of the Great Officers of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, from 1103 to 1107. He was also

Bishop of Laon The diocese of Laon in the present-day département of Aisne, was a Catholic diocese for around 1300 years, up to the French Revolution. Its seat was in Laon, France, with the Laon Cathedral. From early in the 13th century, the bishop of Laon ...

from 1106 to 1112.Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 81 He had been a royal chaplain as early as 3 September 1101. At the

battle of Tinchebray The Battle of Tinchebray (alternative spellings: Tinchebrai or Tenchebrai) took place on 28 September 1106, in Tinchebray (today in the Orne ''département'' of France), Normandy, between an invading force led by King Henry I of England, and th ...

(1106), Orderic Vitalis states, ''Waldric capellanus regis'' captured

Robert Curthose Robert Curthose, or Robert II of Normandy ( 1051 – 3 February 1134, french: Robert Courteheuse / Robert II de Normandie), was the eldest son of William the Conqueror and succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 1087, reigning until 1106. ...

, Henry I of England's brother and leader of the opposing forces as Duke of Normandy. As bishop he was greedy and violent, unconventional in his habits and joking, a prodigal spender on himself; he is portrayed in very unflattering terms in the 1115 chronicle ''Monodiae'' of

Guibert of Nogent Guibert de Nogent (c. 1055 – 1124) was a Benedictine historian, theologian and author of autobiographical memoirs. Guibert was relatively unknown in his own time, going virtually unmentioned by his contemporaries. He has only recently caught the ...

. He had Gerard of Quierzy murdered in the very cathedral of Laon. His election as bishop was contested; he had been hurried into

minor orders Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lec ...

after the battle and made a canon of Rouen, but it was upheld by

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 ...

at the Council of Langres. He was murdered at Eastertide 1112, in the crypt of

Laon Cathedral Laon Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon) is a Roman Catholic church located in Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France. Built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it is one of the most important and stylistically unified exampl ...

by citizens of

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...

who had set up a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the city. Guibert's account of this event alludes to Isengrin, making it of literary-historical value.Jill Mann, ''Nivardus, Ysengrimus: Text'' (1987), note p. 2.

Notes

References

* Davis, H. W. C., "Waldric, the Chancellor of Henry I" ''

The English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, and ...

'' Vol. 26, No. 101 (January 1911), pp. 84-89 * Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961 Lord chancellors of England Bishops of Laon 1112 deaths Year of birth unknown 12th-century French Roman Catholic bishops {{England-politician-stub