Serlo, Bishop of Sées
Encyclopedia
Serlo was the Bishop of Sées from 1091. He was imbued with the spirit of the Gregorian reform
.
According to Orderic Vitalis
, Serlo was "the first of the Normans to offer his services to the king", that is, Henry I of England
, after the latter's invasion of the Duchy of Normandy
in 1105. Earlier that year the church of Tournai-sur-Dive
in Serlo's diocese had been burned by Robert de Bellême, and forty-five men and women had died inside. Serlo, who had also crossed to Normandy from England
, where he had been in exile, met Henry on Easter eve in the village of Carentan
, where he found the church stocked with the possessions of the peasants, who were safeguarding them from the general disorder then wracking the Cotentin. Serlo made this the basis for an appeal to Henry (probably staged) to come to the defence of the people and the Church and depose his brother, the Duke of Normandy
, Robert Curthose. This challenge accepted, Serlo continued to berate the king and his nobles for their effeminate manners and dress, especially their long hair, which Serlo himself promptly cut. The first to undergo the shearing were the king and Robert de Meulan. While the lengthy speeches of Serlo are more the invention of Orderic than history, they represent a faithful record of the principles and prejudices of the high clergy of the time: staunchly royalist, stressing the analogy of the body politic
.
Serlo died on 27 October 1123 in Sées, in the presence of the papal legate
s Pietro Pierleoni and Gregory of Sant'Angelo. Again according to Orderic, Serlo bade his clergy to respect the legation as one from the "universal father after God" (post Deum uniuersalis pater) and to treat them properly as masters.
Gregorian Reform
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...
.
According to Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
, Serlo was "the first of the Normans to offer his services to the king", that is, Henry I of England
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, after the latter's invasion of the Duchy of Normandy
Duchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy stems from various Danish, Norwegian, Hiberno-Norse, Orkney Viking and Anglo-Danish invasions of France in the 9th century...
in 1105. Earlier that year the church of Tournai-sur-Dive
Tournai-sur-Dive
Tournai-sur-Dive is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.-References:*...
in Serlo's diocese had been burned by Robert de Bellême, and forty-five men and women had died inside. Serlo, who had also crossed to Normandy from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he had been in exile, met Henry on Easter eve in the village of Carentan
Carentan
Carentan is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France near the port city of Cherbourg-Octeville. Carentan has a population somewhat over 6,000 and is now administratively organized as a commune in the Manche department...
, where he found the church stocked with the possessions of the peasants, who were safeguarding them from the general disorder then wracking the Cotentin. Serlo made this the basis for an appeal to Henry (probably staged) to come to the defence of the people and the Church and depose his brother, the Duke of Normandy
Duke of Normandy
The Duke of Normandy is the title of the reigning monarch of the British Crown Dependancies of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. The title traces its roots to the Duchy of Normandy . Whether the reigning sovereign is a male or female, they are always titled as the "Duke of...
, Robert Curthose. This challenge accepted, Serlo continued to berate the king and his nobles for their effeminate manners and dress, especially their long hair, which Serlo himself promptly cut. The first to undergo the shearing were the king and Robert de Meulan. While the lengthy speeches of Serlo are more the invention of Orderic than history, they represent a faithful record of the principles and prejudices of the high clergy of the time: staunchly royalist, stressing the analogy of the body politic
Body politic
A polity is a state or one of its subordinate civil authorities, such as a province, prefecture, county, municipality, city, or district. It is generally understood to mean a geographic area with a corresponding government. Thomas Hobbes considered bodies politic in this sense in Leviathan...
.
Serlo died on 27 October 1123 in Sées, in the presence of the papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
s Pietro Pierleoni and Gregory of Sant'Angelo. Again according to Orderic, Serlo bade his clergy to respect the legation as one from the "universal father after God" (post Deum uniuersalis pater) and to treat them properly as masters.