Theobald of Bec
Encyclopedia
Theobald was Archbishop of Canterbury
from 1139 to 1161. He was a Norman
; his exact birth date is unknown. Some time in the late 11th or early 12th century Theobald became a monk at the Abbey of Bec, rising to the position of abbot
in 1137. King Stephen of England
chose him to be Archbishop of Canterbury in 1138. Canterbury's claim to primacy
over the Welsh ecclesiastics was resolved during Theobald's term of office when Pope Eugene III
decided in 1148 in Canterbury's favour. Theobald faced challenges to his authority from a subordinate bishop, Henry of Blois
, Bishop of Winchester
, and his relationship with King Stephen was turbulent. On one occasion Stephen forbade him to attend a papal council
, but Theobald defied the king, which resulted in the confiscation of his property and temporary exile. Theobald's relations with his cathedral clergy and the monastic houses in his archdiocese were also difficult.
Serving during the disorders
of Stephen's reign, Theobald succeeded in forcing peace on the king by refusing to consecrate Stephen's son and heir, Eustace. After Eustace's death in 1153 Stephen recognised his rival Henry of Anjou
as his heir, and later Theobald was named regent of the kingdom after Stephen's death. After a long illness, Theobald died in 1161, following which unsuccessful efforts were made to have him canonised
as a saint.
Theobald was the patron of his successor Thomas Becket
, and a number of other future bishops and archbishops served as his clerks. During his time as archbishop Theobald augmented the rights of his see
, or bishopric. Historians of his time and later were divided on his character and he is often overlooked in the historical record, mainly because of the fame of his successor.
near Le Bec-Hellouin
, in the Risle River
valley. The modern historian Frank Barlow
speculates that Theobald may have been a distant relative of his successor as archbishop, Thomas Becket, as Becket's family came from the same part of Normandy. The exact date of Theobald's birth is unknown; the only clue to his age is that when he died in 1161 contemporaries considered him to be an old man, suggesting a birth date of perhaps around 1090 to one modern historian. His father was supposedly a knight, but no contemporary reference gives his name. His brother Walter also became a priest, and later a bishop.
Theobald entered the Abbey of Bec in Normandy as a Benedictine
monk in the late 11th or early 12th century, while William was the third abbot
. But as William was abbot from 1096 to 1124, that leaves a wide range of possible entry dates. Theobald was the 266th monk admitted under William, out of 346. The historian Avrom Saltman suggests that, if admissions were spaced regularly throughout William's abbacy, Theobald would have become a monk in about 1117, but qualifies his estimate with the statement that 1117 "seems to be rather late".
of Bec, after Boso succeeded William as abbot. Theobald became abbot in 1137, following Boso's death in June 1136. The monks of Bec unanimously elected him to be their new abbot without first consulting the Archbishop of Rouen
, Hugh de Boves, who consequently threatened to void the result. Audoen
, the Bishop of Evreux, and brother of Thurstan
, the Archbishop of York
, intervened with Hugh and persuaded him to ratify the election. Another problem then arose when Hugh demanded a written profession of obedience from Theobald, which Theobald refused to provide; no previous abbot had made such a profession. Theobald resisted for 14 months before a compromise was reached through the intercession of Peter the Venerable
, Abbot of Cluny
, allowing Theobald to give a verbal profession to Hugh.
No documents survive from Theobald's tenure as abbot, nor is there any information on the administration of the monastery during his period of office, except that 47 monks were admitted to Bec while he was abbot. Theobald travelled to England on business for his abbey at least once during his abbacy, to supervise the monastery's lands in England, a trip that took place shortly before his selection as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in 1138.
, and a small group of barons and bishops, but Henry was absent overseeing the ordination of deacons. Most historians consider that Stephen arranged the election's timing to ensure Henry's absence. Henry believed that Theobald had been elected not only because of Stephen's concerns but also because Waleran of Meulan
, the lay patron
of Bec, was attempting to put his own man in one of the most powerful positions in England. Waleran and his twin brother Robert, Earl of Leicester
, were Henry's chief rivals for Stephen's favour, and Henry disliked both of them intensely. Although Theobald was pious and well-educated, he had only become abbot the year before, and his election was probably influenced by the reputation of his monastery, which had already produced two archbishops of Canterbury, Lanfranc
and Anselm
. Theobald had no important family connections to advance his career, and few clerical allies.
and took part in the Second Lateran Council
. As archbishop his behaviour was less political in comparison to that of his main rival, Henry of Blois. Henry was appointed a papal legate
on 1 March 1139, which meant that Henry could now call church councils in England and had power equal to or exceeding that of Theobald. Theobald swore fealty to Stephen upon his election to Canterbury, recognising Stephen as the king of England.
Soon after his election Theobald selected his brother Walter to be archdeacon
of Canterbury, and in 1148 promoted him to be Bishop of Rochester
. Theobald attended the council held by Stephen in June 1139 that deprived Roger of Salisbury
, Bishop of Salisbury
, and his nephews Nigel of Ely, Bishop of Ely
, and Alexander of Lincoln
, Bishop of Lincoln
, of their castles. According to most historians, Theobald took little part in the controversy that followed the council, which eventually ended with Roger's death in 1139 and Nigel and Alexander's restoration to favour. Recently however, that view has been challenged by two historians who argue that Theobald took a more active role in the council. They base their view on a Vita, or Life of the 12th-century mystic Christina of Markyate
, which narrates the events and gives a more central role to Theobald, instead of Henry of Blois, in challenging Stephen's arrest of the three bishops.
, usually known as the Empress Matilda because of her first marriage to the German Emperor
, Henry V
. King Henry's only legitimate son, William
, had died in 1120. After Matilda was widowed in 1125, she returned to her father, who married her to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou
. All the magnates of England and Normandy were required to declare fealty
to Matilda as Henry's heir, but when Henry I died in 1135, Stephen rushed to England and had himself crowned before either Theobald II or Matilda could react. The Norman barons accepted Stephen as Duke of Normandy, and Theobald II contented himself with his possessions in France. But Matilda was not resigned to the loss, and secured the support of the Scottish king, David
, her maternal uncle, and in 1138 the support of her half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester
, an illegitimate son of Henry I.
After the Battle of Lincoln
in 1141, with Stephen in captivity in Bristol
, Theobald did not immediately join the Empress. He claimed that he needed to talk to Stephen before switching his oath of fealty. After consulting in person with Stephen, he secured permission to accept the current conditions, and then joined Henry of Blois, who had switched sides, at Winchester in April for a legatine council
held to depose Stephen and crown Matilda as queen. Attendance at the council was sparse however, and the Empress could not be crowned because she did not hold London. After the unsuccessful attempt to crown Matilda, those gathered at Winchester had to flee before Stephen's forces; one of Matilda's chief supporters, her half-brother Robert of Gloucester, was captured. During their flight Theobald and his fellow bishops were robbed of their horses and ecclesiastical vestments. Theobald then took a leading part in the negotiations that led to the exchange of Robert for Stephen, which happened in November 1141. Henry of Blois, having switched sides again, then held another legatine council in Westminster, which reaffirmed Stephen as king. Theobald ceremonially crowned Stephen at Canterbury during the Christmas court held there.
Matilda remained in England until 1148. The disorders were at their peak between 1142 and 1148, but her cause was never able to secure enough support to enable her to be crowned. Nor was Stephen able to decisively defeat Matilda's forces, which meant that England remained divided in allegiance between the two rivals. But while Matilda was in England, her husband Geoffrey was conquering Normandy, which he finally overran in 1144.
, his suffragan bishop
, were strained because of Henry's position as papal legate. Henry supported the appointment of William FitzHerbert as Archbishop of York in 1141, which Theobald opposed. Although Theobald spoke out against the manner of election, he took little active part in the subsequent electoral disputes, which resulted eventually in the deposition of FitzHerbert and his replacement at York by Henry Murdac
. But in September 1143, Henry's legatine powers lapsed when Pope Innocent II
, who had made the legatine appointment, died. Celestine II
was elected on 26 September 1143, but he was an opponent of Stephen, and thus was not favourably inclined towards Stephen's brother Henry either. In order to secure appointment as legate, Theobald travelled to Rome in December 1143, arriving shortly before Celestine's death on 8 March 1144. Theobald was probably accompanied by Nigel, Bishop of Ely, and Roger de Clinton
, Bishop of Coventry
. Before his death, Celestine forbade Theobald "to allow any change to be made in the position of the English crown, since the transfer of it had been justly denounced, and the matter was still under dispute". This became the papal policy, and was a significant change from the recognition of Stephen as king by Pope Innocent II soon after Stephen's coronation in 1135. It essentially forbade Theobald to crown any successor to Stephen, especially while Stephen was still alive.
After Celestine's death Theobald returned to England, stopping at St Denis Abbey in Paris to help Suger, the abbot, consecrate the newly rebuilt abbey church and its altars. Theobald was the only bishop present at the ceremony whose diocese was not in France. Meanwhile Henry of Blois had arrived in Rome and begun negotiations with the new pope, Lucius II
, over the elevation of the bishopric of Winchester to an archbishopric. It appears that Lucius appointed a legate, Cardinal Icmar
, the Bishop of Tusculum, to travel to England and oversee the project, but Lucius died before anything was accomplished.
in April 1148 the king forbade all of them to attend except for three he nominated: Chichester
, Hereford
and Norwich
. Despite having been specifically refused permission Theobald sneaked away in a fishing boat, presumably accompanied by Gilbert Foliot
, who attended the council with him. Theobald had a number of reasons for defying the king: chiefly his obedience to the pope's order commanding his attendance, but also to keep the papacy from favouring the newly elected Archbishop of York, Henry Murdac, in the disputes between York and Canterbury. Murdac was known to be close to his fellow Cistercian Eugene.
Bethune, the Bishop of Hereford, died during the council, and Eugene nominated Foliot as his successor at Theobald's urging. One of the council's last acts was to suspend the non-attending bishops from their offices. The only English bishop specifically named was Henry of Blois, but the others who did not attend were presumably also suspended although not named. Henry of Blois was singled out for special handling, as the papacy ordered that he could not be reinstated by Theobald; Eugene reserved to himself the power to restore Henry. Theobald appears to have reinstated most of the bishops quickly, as Foliot wrote later in 1148 that only the bishops of Winchester, Durham, Worcester, Bath and Exeter were still suspended. Theobald forgave the bishops of Exeter, Worcester and Bath on 11 November 1148, according to the later chronicler Gervase of Canterbury
. Gervase also lists Hilary of Chichester
as one of those forgiven by Theobald on that date, but as Hilary attended the council it is likely that this is an error. Durham may have been omitted because he was a suffragan bishop of the Archbishop of York, and his reinstatement was in his archbishop's hands.
The king was angry with Theobald for attending the council, even though the archbishop intervened with Eugene, who was displeased with the king for forbidding the bishops' attendance. Theobald persuaded Eugene against excommunicating Stephen, asking the pope to allow the king to make amends for his behaviour. But Stephen was unimpressed with Theobald's intercession; he confiscated Theobald's property and banished the archbishop. In September 1148, the pope put England under interdict
, which was ignored except in Canterbury. At first Theobald was in exile at St Omer
, where he consecrated Gilbert Foliot as Bishop of Hereford
. He then returned to England and set himself up in Framlingham
, which was held by Hugh Bigod
, an adherent of the Empress. From there he conducted the ecclesiastical business of England, but Theobald's presence in the country posed a threat to Stephen's authority, and Stephen quickly settled the differences between the two.
Henry of Blois had lost his legateship before Celestine became pope, but it was not until about 1150 that Theobald was appointed legate by Eugene III, perhaps owing to the exhortations of Bernard of Clairvaux
. Theobald held the legatine powers in England until his death in 1161. In 1151 Theobald held a legatine council
in London. The council was attended by the king and Eustace
, the king's eldest son, as well as other members of the nobility. The council decreed eight canons, or ecclesiastical statutes, including ones condemning the pillaging of church properties and the imposition of financial levies on the clergy. Another canon of the council stated that bishops should no longer pursue violators of church property in the royal courts, but should use ecclesiastical courts instead. The other canons dealt with procedural matters arising from excommunications for abusing church property.
The next year, the archbishop refused to crown Eustace and was again exiled by Stephen, who was attempting to secure the succession for his son by imitating the Capetian dynasty
of France, which usually saw the king's heir crowned during his father's lifetime. Although Theobald claimed papal authority for refusal, based on the prohibition by Celestine, it was more probable that he and the bishops had no desire to prolong the civil war. Stephen demanded in April 1152 that Theobald crown Eustace, but the archbishop once again refused, and went into exile in Flanders. Theobald claimed that Stephen had gained the throne through perjury, implying that if the archbishop crowned Eustace, Theobald would be perpetuating this crime. The king and the archbishop reached a truce in August.
In January 1153 Henry of Anjou
, Matlida's son, invaded England in pursuit of his claim to the throne, and with the death of Eustace in August 1153, Stephen gave up. Theobald was instrumental in the negotiations between Henry and Stephen that resulted in the Treaty of Wallingford
, securing Henry's succession to the throne. Theobald was also present when Henry of Anjou met with Stephen's second son William, probably after Eustace's death, to settle William's lands and status after Henry succeeded Stephen. Pope Eugene III forced Stephen to reverse the sentence of banishment, and Theobald returned to his see. Later it was mainly Theobald and Henry of Blois who negotiated the treaty ending the civil war, as neither Stephen nor Henry of Anjou were interested in a compromise. Henry of Blois and Theobald, who had previously found working together difficult, managed to secure an end to the disorders in England.
Theobald was present at Stephen's deathbed in October 1154, and Stephen named him as regent until Henry could take up the crown. During the six weeks before Henry arrived, the archbishop had little difficulty in keeping the peace. After Henry's arrival, Theobald crowned Henry and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine
on 19 December 1154 at Westminster Abbey
.
For most of the remainder of Theobald's life he was occupied with ecclesiastical affairs in his diocese, as well as attending the royal court when Henry was in England. In January 1155 Theobald helped to secure the Chancellorship for his protege, Thomas Becket, an action that Barlow speculates happened because Theobald hoped to secure more influence with the king through Becket. If this was his hope, Barlow notes that it did not materialise. Although the king and the archbishop occasionally clashed when their interests conflicted, both appear to have wished to minimise the disputes and were willing to compromise to secure good relations. As an example, when Pope Adrian IV
died in September 1159, two rival claimants for the papal throne emerged. King Henry, following the custom of his grandfather Henry I
, forbade the bishops to recognise either claimant. Eventually, after Henry weighed the political factors, he recognised Pope Alexander III
, and it was only then that Theobald also recognised Alexander as pope.
However, not everything was always harmonious between the king and the archbishop. In 1156, Theobald supported the efforts of Osbert de Bayeux
, who was accused of poisoning William the Archbishop of York
, to secure a trial for his alleged crimes in an ecclesiastical court rather than in the royal court. The crime had taken place during Stephen's reign, but Stephen's death had prevented Osbert from being tried in 1154. The delay allowed the shifting of the trial to the church courts, which Henry opposed. Although Theobald's position displeased the king no open rupture ensued. Theobald himself admitted to the papacy in 1154 that English custom was to try clergy for crimes in the secular courts.
Theobald called a church council at London in June 1160, which dealt partly with the issues of the papal schism; his health was poor and he had to be taken to the council in a litter. A further cause of distress to Theobald was what he saw as the ingratitude of Becket, who did not visit the ailing archbishop.
was composed of monks, and he was considered the abbot of the monastery of Christ Church Cathedral. Because of his episcopal duties, the regular running of the cathedral was the responsibility of the prior. At the time of Theobald's election there were about 140 monks in the chapter, and they seem to have expected that Theobald, being a monk himself, would take their side in disputes and continue to support their needs. Theobald began well, sending a party of monks from the cathedral to St Martin's Priory at Dover, which had been settled with canons
instead of monks. Theobald replaced the canons with the monks. Theobald also refounded a collegiate church at South Malling in order to provide benefice
s for his cathedral chapter.
Theobald worked with his first prior, Jeremiah, to eliminate clerical marriage in the diocese. But Jeremiah had been elected during the vacancy before Theobald's election, and the monks had not secured papal permission for the election of a new prior, so eventually Theobald decided to remove Jeremiah and install his own choice as prior. Jeremiah appealed to the papacy, but Theobald deposed him while the appeal was ongoing, and appointed Walter Durdent
as prior. Innocent II, however, appointed Henry of Blois to hear the case, and Henry sided with Jeremiah and ordered Jeremiah's reinstatement. Theobald then refused to perform any services in the cathedral until Jeremiah was removed by the chapter. The lack of services would have deprived the monks of income, and Theobald's threat had the desired effect, as Jeremiah resigned his office and left Christ Church for St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. Durdent was reinstalled as prior and remained in that position until he became Bishop of Coventry in October 1149.
At Easter, 1151, Theobald took over the management of the chapter's estates, as the new prior, Walter Parvus, was not up to the task. At first, there were no disputes, but soon the monks felt that Theobald was cheating them and imposing too rigorous a definition of poverty, and asked that the stewardship of the estates be restored to Parvus. Theobald refused and the monks attempted to appeal to the papacy. Their envoys, however, were caught by agents of the archbishop and the appeal went nowhere. Theobald then deposed Parvus and appointed a new prior. Theobald's relations with the monks after this point seem to have been without incident.
The conflict re-surfaced in 1149, when some of the monks of St Augustine's, led by their prior and sacrist, refused to obey the interdict placed on England by Theobald and Pope Eugene III. Theobald had the two officials excommunicated and publicly flogged. When the previous abbot of St Augustine's died in 1151, the prior, Silvester, paid the king for the right to administer the abbey and to hold a free election for a new abbot. The monks then proceeded to elect Silvester as the new abbot, but Theobald refused to confirm the election, accusing Silvester of buying the office. Eventually, however, Pope Eugene III ordered Theobald to allow Silvester to take up the office, which Theobald did in August 1152. Theobald and St Augustine's also came into conflict over the abbey's claims of exemption from the archbishops' oversight, because it owed obedience directly to the pope. Papal documents held at Rome backed the abbey, but there were no English royal charters that gave the abbey its liberty from the archbishops. Theobald attempted to end the confusion by legal actions both at Rome and in England, but the record was mixed. The documents at Rome clearly favoured the abbey, but at a royal council held at Northampton in 1157, Henry II ruled in favour of Theobald. As part of the settlement Silvester, as abbot, was required to make a formal profession of obedience to Theobald, something he had been attempting to avoid since his election. The struggle with Silvester was just one event in the long history of the dispute between Canterbury and St Augustine's.
As well as St Augustine's, the abbots of a number of other monasteries in the diocese of Canterbury are known to have professed obedience to Theobald, as the documents recording the events survive. Not only abbots and priors from within Canterbury, but some from other dioceses swore to obey Theobald, although normally such oaths would have gone to their diocesan bishop instead. Most of these exceptions occurred because the monastic house claimed exemption from the oversight of their diocesan bishop, and had a tradition of making those oaths to Canterbury instead. Besides these events, Theobald also intervened in the elections of some abbots, although not always successfully. He attempted to secure the right of Gilbert Foliot to remain Abbot of Gloucester
after Foliot's election as Bishop of Hereford, but a new abbot was elected by the monks of Gloucester. Theobald was more successful in securing the election of William, who had previously been a monk at Christ Church, to be Abbot of Evesham
over the objections of some of the monks of Evesham.
Theobald also became embroiled in the dispute between Hilary, the Bishop of Chichester, and Walter de Lucy
, the abbot of Battle Abbey
, over Hilary's claims to jurisdiction over the abbey and the abbey's counter-claims that it was exempt from episcopal supervision. The abbey had never received a papal exemption, but relied instead on its royal foundation by King William I of England
and its status as an eigenkirche
, or proprietary church of the king. Under King Stephen, the abbey's claims prevailed, but after Stephen's death Hilary excommunicated the abbot, who appealed to the papacy. Theobald supported the bishop, who eventually secured a trial before King Henry II. It was a minor setback for Theobald when the case was eventually decided in Battle's favour, mainly on the basis of charters that were thought at the time to be genuine, but modern historians have come to believe were forged.
as Bishop of Bangor
in 1140, during which Meurig made a profession of obedience like those made by other bishops subject to Canterbury. Bernard
, Bishop of St David's
, contested Theobald's right to consecrate Meurig and instead asserted that St David's should be considered an archbishopric, and that Bernard should receive a pallium. This went against the last half-century of precedent that Canterbury had jurisdiction over the four Welsh sees, a precedent that dated back to Anselm
's days when Anselm had consecrated Urban as Bishop of Llandaff
in 1107.
Also in 1140, Theobald consecrated Uhtred as Bishop of Llandaff, with Uhtred also swearing to obey Theobald. Likewise, when Theobald consecrated Gilbert as Bishop of St Asaph
in 1142, a similar profession of obedience was made. Along with these consecrations, Theobald's legal efforts enabled him to withstand the attempts of Bernard to turn St David's into an archbishopric, and when Bernard was succeeded by David FitzGerald
in 1148, Theobald secured the new bishop's profession of obedience to Canterbury, thus ending the efforts to remove Wales from Canterbury's jurisdiction. Also in 1148, Pope Eugene decided in favour of Canterbury and against the claims of St David's, securing Canterbury's jurisdiction over Wales.
Theobald even maintained the theoretical claim of Canterbury to jurisdiction over Irish sees by consecrating Patrick as Bishop of Limerick
in 1140. That, however, was the last assertion of the claim, as in 1152 the papal legate Giovanni Paparo reorganised the Irish dioceses and settled the issue by appointing the Archbishop of Armagh
the primate of Ireland.
Relations with bishops in England remained good, with little activity in the long-running Canterbury-York dispute
over the primacy of Britain. Theobald obtained a vague confirmation of his see's primacy from Celestine II in 1143–1144, but at the Council of Reims in 1148 Eugene clarified that this primacy did not effect the claims of York to be independent of Canterbury. Because of the unsettled election disputes during the 1140s over the see of York, when it was contested between William of York and Henry Murdac, Theobald faced little challenge from either William or Murdac as to the traditional dispute between Canterbury and York. When William of York died in 1154, Theobald secured York for his protege, Roger de Pont L'Evêque
. Further peace between the two sees was ensured when Theobald consecrated Roger without requiring a profession of obedience, which had previously been a major bone of contention between the two.
Theobald's household included many young men of ability, including his successor Thomas Becket
. Theobald was instrumental in the early spread of Roman law to England, inviting the Bologna-schooled jurist Vacarius
to join his administration and advise on legal matters. Whether Vacarius actually started a school in Theobald's household is unclear, but in the 1140s he taught briefly at Oxford. Theobald was instrumental in fostering the teaching of canon law in England; the conflict that later arose between Henry II and Thomas Becket had its roots in disputes that were exposed during Theobald's time in office. While still in Normandy, Theobald had made an intense study of ecclesiastical or canon law, which he continued after being elected archbishop.
Although Theobald was a monk, his episcopal household was not monastic in character. As he settled into the role of archbishop, he seems to have left most of his monastic habits behind, although he continued to have a monk as a companion. His nephews and brother benefited from his nepotism
, with his nephews becoming part of his household early in his archepiscopate. The four nephews—Guillaume, Gilbert, Roger and Lechard—were witnesses to a charter of Theobald's dated to about 1150 or 1153. After Theobald's death, Guillaume was a clerk in Bartholomew
, the Bishop of Exeter
's household in around 1172.
Another charter of Theobald's from about 1152 shows the usual household staff that surrounded him. It was witnessed by the archbishop's crossbearer, three of Theobald's nephews and the clerk who presumably was in charge of them, a chancellor
, two chaplains who were monks, a butler, dispenser, chamberlain
, steward, cook, usher, porter and marshal
. Theobald also at about the same time granted a mill to his baker named William and some lands to his cook William and the cook's heirs.
Theobald was the patron of three eminent men: Becket, Vacarius, and John of Salisbury
. John of Salisbury was secretary to Theobald for many years, and after Theobald's death became Bishop of Chartres. It was during John's time as secretary that he wrote his two most famous works, the Policraticus
and the Metalogicon. Others who studied for a time in Theobald's household were Roger de Pont L'Evêque, later Archbishop of York, John Belemis
, later Archbishop of Lyons, John de Pageham
, later Bishop of Worcester
, Bartholomew Iscanus
, later Bishop of Exeter, William of Northall
, later Bishop of Worcester, and William de Vere
, later Bishop of Hereford. In all, his household produced three archbishops and six bishops. The household itself, although not formally a school, acted as one, with many going on to careers in the church.
Although Theobald was troubled by the opposition of his suffragan Henry of Blois, he regained control of the English Church, secured the rights of his see, and helped maintain the unity of the realm. Contemporaries were somewhat divided on his effectiveness and personality. Gervase of Canterbury felt that he was too impetuous, probably because of Theobald's treatment of his priors at Christ Church. Henry of Huntingdon, who knew him, felt that he was a worthy archbishop. Theobald's legacy perhaps suffered because he was overshadowed by his successor, Becket. Modern historians have been kinder than his contemporaries; Frank Barlow
says of Theobald that he was "an upright man, but quick tempered, and sometimes spoke far too rashly".
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
from 1139 to 1161. He was a Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
; his exact birth date is unknown. Some time in the late 11th or early 12th century Theobald became a monk at the Abbey of Bec, rising to the position of abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
in 1137. King Stephen of England
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
chose him to be Archbishop of Canterbury in 1138. Canterbury's claim to primacy
Primacy of Canterbury
Within the Church of England, the primacy of Canterbury or primacy of England is the supremacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the Archbishop of York.-1071:...
over the Welsh ecclesiastics was resolved during Theobald's term of office when Pope Eugene III
Pope Eugene III
Pope Blessed Eugene III , born Bernardo da Pisa, was Pope from 1145 to 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become Pope.-Early life:...
decided in 1148 in Canterbury's favour. Theobald faced challenges to his authority from a subordinate bishop, Henry of Blois
Henry of Blois
Henry of Blois , often known as Henry of Winchester, was Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey from 1126, and Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death.-Early life and education:...
, Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
, and his relationship with King Stephen was turbulent. On one occasion Stephen forbade him to attend a papal council
Council of Reims (1148)
In 1148, a Council of Reims was called by Pope Eugene III to consider a number of regulations, or canons, for the Church, as well as to debate some other issues. Originally the summons for the council went out in October 1147 and it was supposed to be held in Trier, which is now in Germany, but...
, but Theobald defied the king, which resulted in the confiscation of his property and temporary exile. Theobald's relations with his cathedral clergy and the monastic houses in his archdiocese were also difficult.
Serving during the disorders
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
of Stephen's reign, Theobald succeeded in forcing peace on the king by refusing to consecrate Stephen's son and heir, Eustace. After Eustace's death in 1153 Stephen recognised his rival Henry of Anjou
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
as his heir, and later Theobald was named regent of the kingdom after Stephen's death. After a long illness, Theobald died in 1161, following which unsuccessful efforts were made to have him canonised
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
as a saint.
Theobald was the patron of his successor Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
, and a number of other future bishops and archbishops served as his clerks. During his time as archbishop Theobald augmented the rights of his see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
, or bishopric. Historians of his time and later were divided on his character and he is often overlooked in the historical record, mainly because of the fame of his successor.
Family and background
Theobald's family was from the area around ThiervilleThierville
Thierville is a commune in the Eure department in Haute-Normandie in northern France.Thierville is remarkable as the only village in all of France with no men lost from World War I, nor any memorials constructed in the subsequent period. Amazingly, Thierville also suffered no losses in the...
near Le Bec-Hellouin
Le Bec-Hellouin
Le Bec-Hellouin is a commune in the department of Eure in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.It is best known for Bec Abbey and has recently been voted one of the "most beautiful villages of France".-History:...
, in the Risle River
Risle
The Risle is a long river in Normandy, left tributary of the Seine.The river begins in Orne west of L'Aigle, crosses the western part of the department of Eure flowing from south to north and out into the estuary of the Seine on the left bank near Berville-sur-Mer...
valley. The modern historian Frank Barlow
Frank Barlow (historian)
Frank Barlow CBE FBA FRSL was a British historian, known particularly for biographies of medieval figures.Barlow studied at St John's College, Oxford. He was Professor of History at the University of Exeter from 1953 until he retired in 1976 and became Emeritus Professor...
speculates that Theobald may have been a distant relative of his successor as archbishop, Thomas Becket, as Becket's family came from the same part of Normandy. The exact date of Theobald's birth is unknown; the only clue to his age is that when he died in 1161 contemporaries considered him to be an old man, suggesting a birth date of perhaps around 1090 to one modern historian. His father was supposedly a knight, but no contemporary reference gives his name. His brother Walter also became a priest, and later a bishop.
Theobald entered the Abbey of Bec in Normandy as a Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk in the late 11th or early 12th century, while William was the third abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
. But as William was abbot from 1096 to 1124, that leaves a wide range of possible entry dates. Theobald was the 266th monk admitted under William, out of 346. The historian Avrom Saltman suggests that, if admissions were spaced regularly throughout William's abbacy, Theobald would have become a monk in about 1117, but qualifies his estimate with the statement that 1117 "seems to be rather late".
Life at Bec
In 1127 Theobald was made priorPrior
Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
of Bec, after Boso succeeded William as abbot. Theobald became abbot in 1137, following Boso's death in June 1136. The monks of Bec unanimously elected him to be their new abbot without first consulting the Archbishop of Rouen
Archbishop of Rouen
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the ecclesiastical province of the archdiocese comprises the majority of Normandy....
, Hugh de Boves, who consequently threatened to void the result. Audoen
Audoen
Audoen was a medieval Bishop of Évreux in Normandy. He was the son of Anger, a canon of London, and brother of Thurstan, the Archbishop of York. Audoen served as bishop from 1113 to 1139.-References:...
, the Bishop of Evreux, and brother of Thurstan
Thurstan
Thurstan or Turstin of Bayeux was a medieval Archbishop of York, the son of a priest. He served kings William II and Henry I of England before his election to the see of York in 1114. Once elected, his consecration was delayed for five years while he fought attempts by the Archbishop of Canterbury...
, the Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, intervened with Hugh and persuaded him to ratify the election. Another problem then arose when Hugh demanded a written profession of obedience from Theobald, which Theobald refused to provide; no previous abbot had made such a profession. Theobald resisted for 14 months before a compromise was reached through the intercession of Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable , also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, born to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France. He has been honored as a saint but has never been formally canonized.-Life:Peter was "Dedicated to God" at birth and given to the monastery at...
, Abbot of Cluny
Abbot of Cluny
The Abbot of Cluny was the head of the powerful monastery of Cluny Abbey in medieval France. The following is a list.-List of abbots:-References:...
, allowing Theobald to give a verbal profession to Hugh.
No documents survive from Theobald's tenure as abbot, nor is there any information on the administration of the monastery during his period of office, except that 47 monks were admitted to Bec while he was abbot. Theobald travelled to England on business for his abbey at least once during his abbacy, to supervise the monastery's lands in England, a trip that took place shortly before his selection as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in 1138.
Appointment to Canterbury
In 1138 King Stephen chose Theobald to fill the vacant archbishopric of Canterbury over Stephen's own brother Henry, the Bishop of Winchester, who had helped Stephen gain the throne of England. Stephen feared that Henry would be too powerful as archbishop, and would attempt to control the king. The election took place on 24 December; Stephen was present with the papal legate, Alberic of OstiaAlberic of Ostia
Alberic of Ostia was a Benedictine monk, and Cardinal Bishop of Ostia from 1138 to 1148.He was born at Beauvais in France. He entered the monastery of Cluny and became its sub-prior and, later, prior of St...
, and a small group of barons and bishops, but Henry was absent overseeing the ordination of deacons. Most historians consider that Stephen arranged the election's timing to ensure Henry's absence. Henry believed that Theobald had been elected not only because of Stephen's concerns but also because Waleran of Meulan
Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester
Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, 1st Earl of Worcester , was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois, and the twin brother of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester...
, the lay patron
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
of Bec, was attempting to put his own man in one of the most powerful positions in England. Waleran and his twin brother Robert, Earl of Leicester
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, Count of Meulan was a powerful English and French nobleman, revered as one of the wisest men of his age...
, were Henry's chief rivals for Stephen's favour, and Henry disliked both of them intensely. Although Theobald was pious and well-educated, he had only become abbot the year before, and his election was probably influenced by the reputation of his monastery, which had already produced two archbishops of Canterbury, Lanfranc
Lanfranc
Lanfranc was Archbishop of Canterbury, and a Lombard by birth.-Early life:Lanfranc was born in the early years of the 11th century at Pavia, where later tradition held that his father, Hanbald, held a rank broadly equivalent to magistrate...
and Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
. Theobald had no important family connections to advance his career, and few clerical allies.
Early years
Theobald was consecrated on 8 January 1139 by the legate, Alberic of Ostia. He went to Rome for his palliumPallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...
and took part in the Second Lateran Council
Second Council of the Lateran
The Second Council of the Lateran is believed to have been the Tenth Ecumenical Council by Roman Catholics. It was held by Pope Innocent II in April 1139, and was attended by close to a thousand clerics...
. As archbishop his behaviour was less political in comparison to that of his main rival, Henry of Blois. Henry was appointed a 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....
on 1 March 1139, which meant that Henry could now call church councils in England and had power equal to or exceeding that of Theobald. Theobald swore fealty to Stephen upon his election to Canterbury, recognising Stephen as the king of England.
Soon after his election Theobald selected his brother Walter to be archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
of Canterbury, and in 1148 promoted him to be Bishop of Rochester
Bishop of Rochester
The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the west of the county of Kent and is centred in the city of Rochester where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
. Theobald attended the council held by Stephen in June 1139 that deprived Roger of Salisbury
Roger of Salisbury
Roger was a Norman medieval Bishop of Salisbury and the seventh Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England.-Life:...
, Bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...
, and his nephews Nigel of Ely, Bishop of Ely
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
, and Alexander of Lincoln
Alexander of Lincoln
Alexander of Lincoln was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln, a member of an important administrative and ecclesiastical family. He was the nephew of Roger of Salisbury, a Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of England under King Henry I, and he was also related to Nigel, Bishop of Ely...
, Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
, of their castles. According to most historians, Theobald took little part in the controversy that followed the council, which eventually ended with Roger's death in 1139 and Nigel and Alexander's restoration to favour. Recently however, that view has been challenged by two historians who argue that Theobald took a more active role in the council. They base their view on a Vita, or Life of the 12th-century mystic Christina of Markyate
Christina of Markyate
Christina of Markyate was born in Huntingdon, England c. 1095–1100, and died perhaps after 1155. As a young girl or adolescent, named Theodora, she took a vow of chastity, so her parents' attempts to force her unwillingly into marriage led her to run away from home and go into hiding under the care...
, which narrates the events and gives a more central role to Theobald, instead of Henry of Blois, in challenging Stephen's arrest of the three bishops.
Civil war
Theobald's actions in the next few years are intertwined with the history of Stephen's ascension to the throne. Following King Henry's death in 1135 the succession was disputed between the king's nephews—Stephen and his elder brother, Theobald II, Count of Champagne—and Henry's surviving legitimate child MatildaEmpress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
, usually known as the Empress Matilda because of her first marriage to the German Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
, Henry V
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...
. King Henry's only legitimate son, William
William Adelin
William , surnamed Adelin , was the son of Henry I of England by his wife Matilda of Scotland, and was thus heir-apparent to the throne. His early death without issue caused a succession crisis.William was born in Winchester...
, had died in 1120. After Matilda was widowed in 1125, she returned to her father, who married her to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou
Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou
Geoffrey V , called the Handsome and Plantagenet, was the Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine by inheritance from 1129 and then Duke of Normandy by conquest from 1144...
. All the magnates of England and Normandy were required to declare fealty
Fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas , is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between...
to Matilda as Henry's heir, but when Henry I died in 1135, Stephen rushed to England and had himself crowned before either Theobald II or Matilda could react. The Norman barons accepted Stephen as Duke of Normandy, and Theobald II contented himself with his possessions in France. But Matilda was not resigned to the loss, and secured the support of the Scottish king, David
David I of Scotland
David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...
, her maternal uncle, and in 1138 the support of her half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England. He was called "Rufus" and occasionally "de Caen", he is also known as Robert "the Consul"...
, an illegitimate son of Henry I.
After the Battle of Lincoln
Battle of Lincoln (1141)
The Battle of Lincoln or First Battle of Lincoln occurred on 2 February 1141. In it Stephen of England was captured, imprisoned and effectively deposed while Empress Matilda ruled for a short time.-Account:...
in 1141, with Stephen in captivity in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Theobald did not immediately join the Empress. He claimed that he needed to talk to Stephen before switching his oath of fealty. After consulting in person with Stephen, he secured permission to accept the current conditions, and then joined Henry of Blois, who had switched sides, at Winchester in April for a legatine council
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
held to depose Stephen and crown Matilda as queen. Attendance at the council was sparse however, and the Empress could not be crowned because she did not hold London. After the unsuccessful attempt to crown Matilda, those gathered at Winchester had to flee before Stephen's forces; one of Matilda's chief supporters, her half-brother Robert of Gloucester, was captured. During their flight Theobald and his fellow bishops were robbed of their horses and ecclesiastical vestments. Theobald then took a leading part in the negotiations that led to the exchange of Robert for Stephen, which happened in November 1141. Henry of Blois, having switched sides again, then held another legatine council in Westminster, which reaffirmed Stephen as king. Theobald ceremonially crowned Stephen at Canterbury during the Christmas court held there.
Matilda remained in England until 1148. The disorders were at their peak between 1142 and 1148, but her cause was never able to secure enough support to enable her to be crowned. Nor was Stephen able to decisively defeat Matilda's forces, which meant that England remained divided in allegiance between the two rivals. But while Matilda was in England, her husband Geoffrey was conquering Normandy, which he finally overran in 1144.
Difficulties with Henry of Blois
Theobald's dealings with Henry of Blois, the Bishop of WinchesterBishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
, his suffragan bishop
Suffragan bishop
A suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop. He or she may be assigned to an area which does not have a cathedral of its own.-Anglican Communion:...
, were strained because of Henry's position as papal legate. Henry supported the appointment of William FitzHerbert as Archbishop of York in 1141, which Theobald opposed. Although Theobald spoke out against the manner of election, he took little active part in the subsequent electoral disputes, which resulted eventually in the deposition of FitzHerbert and his replacement at York by Henry Murdac
Henry Murdac
Henry Murdac was abbot of Fountains Abbey and Archbishop of York in medieval England,-Early life:Murdac was a native of Yorkshire. He was friendly with Archbishop Thurstan of York, who secured his promotion in the cathedral chapter of York Minster, however Murdac resigned soon afterwards when...
. But in September 1143, Henry's legatine powers lapsed when Pope Innocent II
Pope Innocent II
Pope Innocent II , born Gregorio Papareschi, was pope from 1130 to 1143, and was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the antipope Clement III .-Early years:...
, who had made the legatine appointment, died. Celestine II
Pope Celestine II
Pope Celestine II , born Guido di Castello, was pope from 1143 to 1144.-Early life:Guido di Castello, possibly the son of a local noble, Niccolo di Castello, was born either in Città di Castello, situated in Paterna Santa Felicita upon the Apennines, or at Macerata in the March of Ancona.Guido had...
was elected on 26 September 1143, but he was an opponent of Stephen, and thus was not favourably inclined towards Stephen's brother Henry either. In order to secure appointment as legate, Theobald travelled to Rome in December 1143, arriving shortly before Celestine's death on 8 March 1144. Theobald was probably accompanied by Nigel, Bishop of Ely, and Roger de Clinton
Roger de Clinton
Roger de Clinton was a medieval Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. He was responsible for organising a new grid street plan for the town of Lichfield in the 12th century which survives to this day.-Life:...
, Bishop of Coventry
Bishop of Coventry
The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary of the England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichfield....
. Before his death, Celestine forbade Theobald "to allow any change to be made in the position of the English crown, since the transfer of it had been justly denounced, and the matter was still under dispute". This became the papal policy, and was a significant change from the recognition of Stephen as king by Pope Innocent II soon after Stephen's coronation in 1135. It essentially forbade Theobald to crown any successor to Stephen, especially while Stephen was still alive.
After Celestine's death Theobald returned to England, stopping at St Denis Abbey in Paris to help Suger, the abbot, consecrate the newly rebuilt abbey church and its altars. Theobald was the only bishop present at the ceremony whose diocese was not in France. Meanwhile Henry of Blois had arrived in Rome and begun negotiations with the new pope, Lucius II
Pope Lucius II
Pope Lucius II , born Gherardo Caccianemici dal Orso, was pope from March 9, 1144, until his death Feb 15, 1145. His pontificate was notable for the unrest in Rome associated with the Commune of Rome, and its attempts to wrest control of the city from the papacy.-Early life:Gherardo Caccianemici...
, over the elevation of the bishopric of Winchester to an archbishopric. It appears that Lucius appointed a legate, Cardinal Icmar
Icmar of Tusculum
Icmar was a French cardinal.He entered the Benedictine order of the Congregation of Cluny in the monastery of Saint-Martin des Champes in Paris; for a some time, he was a monk at Cluny. Later, he became abbot of the monastery S. Maria Nuova in the diocese of Poitiers. He was a friend of St...
, the Bishop of Tusculum, to travel to England and oversee the project, but Lucius died before anything was accomplished.
Disputes with Stephen
Theobald was back in Paris in May 1147 to meet with the new pope, Eugene III; among the issues probably discussed was Theobald's dispute with Bernard of St David's. Relations at this time between Theobald and Stephen seem to have been good, but when Eugene summoned the English bishops to the Council of RheimsCouncil of Reims (1148)
In 1148, a Council of Reims was called by Pope Eugene III to consider a number of regulations, or canons, for the Church, as well as to debate some other issues. Originally the summons for the council went out in October 1147 and it was supposed to be held in Trier, which is now in Germany, but...
in April 1148 the king forbade all of them to attend except for three he nominated: Chichester
Hilary of Chichester
Hilary was a medieval Bishop of Chichester in England. English by birth, he studied canon law and worked in Rome as a papal clerk. During his time there, he became acquainted with a number of ecclesiastics, including the future Pope Adrian IV, and the medieval writer John of Salisbury...
, Hereford
Robert de Bethune
Robert de Bethune was a medieval Bishop of Hereford. The son of a knight, he became a teacher before becoming a canon, a type of monk, by 1115. He was elected prior of Llanthony Priory in the middle 1120s, and was named bishop by King Henry I of England in 1130...
and Norwich
William de Turbeville
William de Turbeville William de Turbeville William de Turbeville (or William Turbe; circa (c. 1095 – January 1174) was a medieval Bishop of Norwich.-Life:Turbeville was educated in the Benedictine cathedral priory of Norwich. Here he also made religious profession, first as a teacher and later as...
. Despite having been specifically refused permission Theobald sneaked away in a fishing boat, presumably accompanied by Gilbert Foliot
Gilbert Foliot
Gilbert Foliot was a medieval English monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Gloucester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Born to an ecclesiastical family, he became a monk at Cluny Abbey in France at about the age of twenty...
, who attended the council with him. Theobald had a number of reasons for defying the king: chiefly his obedience to the pope's order commanding his attendance, but also to keep the papacy from favouring the newly elected Archbishop of York, Henry Murdac, in the disputes between York and Canterbury. Murdac was known to be close to his fellow Cistercian Eugene.
Bethune, the Bishop of Hereford, died during the council, and Eugene nominated Foliot as his successor at Theobald's urging. One of the council's last acts was to suspend the non-attending bishops from their offices. The only English bishop specifically named was Henry of Blois, but the others who did not attend were presumably also suspended although not named. Henry of Blois was singled out for special handling, as the papacy ordered that he could not be reinstated by Theobald; Eugene reserved to himself the power to restore Henry. Theobald appears to have reinstated most of the bishops quickly, as Foliot wrote later in 1148 that only the bishops of Winchester, Durham, Worcester, Bath and Exeter were still suspended. Theobald forgave the bishops of Exeter, Worcester and Bath on 11 November 1148, according to the later chronicler Gervase of Canterbury
Gervase of Canterbury
Gervase of Canterbury was an English chronicler.- Life :...
. Gervase also lists Hilary of Chichester
Hilary of Chichester
Hilary was a medieval Bishop of Chichester in England. English by birth, he studied canon law and worked in Rome as a papal clerk. During his time there, he became acquainted with a number of ecclesiastics, including the future Pope Adrian IV, and the medieval writer John of Salisbury...
as one of those forgiven by Theobald on that date, but as Hilary attended the council it is likely that this is an error. Durham may have been omitted because he was a suffragan bishop of the Archbishop of York, and his reinstatement was in his archbishop's hands.
The king was angry with Theobald for attending the council, even though the archbishop intervened with Eugene, who was displeased with the king for forbidding the bishops' attendance. Theobald persuaded Eugene against excommunicating Stephen, asking the pope to allow the king to make amends for his behaviour. But Stephen was unimpressed with Theobald's intercession; he confiscated Theobald's property and banished the archbishop. In September 1148, the pope put England under interdict
Interdict (Roman Catholic Church)
In Roman Catholic canon law, an interdict is an ecclesiastical censure that excludes from certain rites of the Church individuals or groups, who nonetheless do not cease to be members of the Church.-Distinctions in canon law:...
, which was ignored except in Canterbury. At first Theobald was in exile at St Omer
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer , a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais. The town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area....
, where he consecrated Gilbert Foliot as Bishop of Hereford
Bishop of Hereford
The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury.The see is in the City of Hereford where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Ethelbert which was founded as a cathedral in 676.The Bishop's residence is...
. He then returned to England and set himself up in Framlingham
Framlingham
Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District of Suffolk, England. Commonly referred to as "Fram" by the locals, it is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has a population of 3,114 at the 2001 census...
, which was held by Hugh Bigod
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk was born in Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, England.He was the second son of Roger Bigod , Sheriff of Norfolk, who founded the Bigod name in England...
, an adherent of the Empress. From there he conducted the ecclesiastical business of England, but Theobald's presence in the country posed a threat to Stephen's authority, and Stephen quickly settled the differences between the two.
Henry of Blois had lost his legateship before Celestine became pope, but it was not until about 1150 that Theobald was appointed legate by Eugene III, perhaps owing to the exhortations of Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...
. Theobald held the legatine powers in England until his death in 1161. In 1151 Theobald held a legatine council
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
in London. The council was attended by the king and Eustace
Eustace IV of Boulogne
Eustace IV was a Count of Boulogne and the son and heir of King Stephen of England. He became the Heir Apparent to his father's lands by the death of an elder brother before 1135, and inherited Boulogne through his mother, Matilda of Boulogne.In 1137, he did homage for Normandy to Louis VII of...
, the king's eldest son, as well as other members of the nobility. The council decreed eight canons, or ecclesiastical statutes, including ones condemning the pillaging of church properties and the imposition of financial levies on the clergy. Another canon of the council stated that bishops should no longer pursue violators of church property in the royal courts, but should use ecclesiastical courts instead. The other canons dealt with procedural matters arising from excommunications for abusing church property.
The next year, the archbishop refused to crown Eustace and was again exiled by Stephen, who was attempting to secure the succession for his son by imitating the Capetian dynasty
Capetian dynasty
The Capetian dynasty , also known as the House of France, is the largest and oldest European royal house, consisting of the descendants of King Hugh Capet of France in the male line. Hugh Capet himself was a cognatic descendant of the Carolingians and the Merovingians, earlier rulers of France...
of France, which usually saw the king's heir crowned during his father's lifetime. Although Theobald claimed papal authority for refusal, based on the prohibition by Celestine, it was more probable that he and the bishops had no desire to prolong the civil war. Stephen demanded in April 1152 that Theobald crown Eustace, but the archbishop once again refused, and went into exile in Flanders. Theobald claimed that Stephen had gained the throne through perjury, implying that if the archbishop crowned Eustace, Theobald would be perpetuating this crime. The king and the archbishop reached a truce in August.
In January 1153 Henry of Anjou
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
, Matlida's son, invaded England in pursuit of his claim to the throne, and with the death of Eustace in August 1153, Stephen gave up. Theobald was instrumental in the negotiations between Henry and Stephen that resulted in the Treaty of Wallingford
Treaty of Wallingford
The Treaty of Wallingford of 1153, aka Treaty of Winchester or as the Treaty of Westminster, was an agreement that effectively ended the civil war known as the Anarchy, caused by a dispute between Empress Matilda and her cousin King Stephen of England over the English crown...
, securing Henry's succession to the throne. Theobald was also present when Henry of Anjou met with Stephen's second son William, probably after Eustace's death, to settle William's lands and status after Henry succeeded Stephen. Pope Eugene III forced Stephen to reverse the sentence of banishment, and Theobald returned to his see. Later it was mainly Theobald and Henry of Blois who negotiated the treaty ending the civil war, as neither Stephen nor Henry of Anjou were interested in a compromise. Henry of Blois and Theobald, who had previously found working together difficult, managed to secure an end to the disorders in England.
Under Henry II
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
on 19 December 1154 at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
.
For most of the remainder of Theobald's life he was occupied with ecclesiastical affairs in his diocese, as well as attending the royal court when Henry was in England. In January 1155 Theobald helped to secure the Chancellorship for his protege, Thomas Becket, an action that Barlow speculates happened because Theobald hoped to secure more influence with the king through Becket. If this was his hope, Barlow notes that it did not materialise. Although the king and the archbishop occasionally clashed when their interests conflicted, both appear to have wished to minimise the disputes and were willing to compromise to secure good relations. As an example, when Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV , born Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare, was Pope from 1154 to 1159.Adrian IV is the only Englishman who has occupied the papal chair...
died in September 1159, two rival claimants for the papal throne emerged. King Henry, following the custom of his grandfather Henry I
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...
, forbade the bishops to recognise either claimant. Eventually, after Henry weighed the political factors, he recognised Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...
, and it was only then that Theobald also recognised Alexander as pope.
However, not everything was always harmonious between the king and the archbishop. In 1156, Theobald supported the efforts of Osbert de Bayeux
Osbert de Bayeux
Osbert de Bayeux was a medieval English cleric and archdeacon in the Diocese of York. A relative of Thurstan, the Archbishop of York, Osbert probably owed his ecclesiastical positions to this relative...
, who was accused of poisoning William the Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, to secure a trial for his alleged crimes in an ecclesiastical court rather than in the royal court. The crime had taken place during Stephen's reign, but Stephen's death had prevented Osbert from being tried in 1154. The delay allowed the shifting of the trial to the church courts, which Henry opposed. Although Theobald's position displeased the king no open rupture ensued. Theobald himself admitted to the papacy in 1154 that English custom was to try clergy for crimes in the secular courts.
Theobald called a church council at London in June 1160, which dealt partly with the issues of the papal schism; his health was poor and he had to be taken to the council in a litter. A further cause of distress to Theobald was what he saw as the ingratitude of Becket, who did not visit the ailing archbishop.
Relations with his cathedral clergy
Theobald's cathedral chapterCathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
was composed of monks, and he was considered the abbot of the monastery of Christ Church Cathedral. Because of his episcopal duties, the regular running of the cathedral was the responsibility of the prior. At the time of Theobald's election there were about 140 monks in the chapter, and they seem to have expected that Theobald, being a monk himself, would take their side in disputes and continue to support their needs. Theobald began well, sending a party of monks from the cathedral to St Martin's Priory at Dover, which had been settled with canons
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
instead of monks. Theobald replaced the canons with the monks. Theobald also refounded a collegiate church at South Malling in order to provide benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
s for his cathedral chapter.
Theobald worked with his first prior, Jeremiah, to eliminate clerical marriage in the diocese. But Jeremiah had been elected during the vacancy before Theobald's election, and the monks had not secured papal permission for the election of a new prior, so eventually Theobald decided to remove Jeremiah and install his own choice as prior. Jeremiah appealed to the papacy, but Theobald deposed him while the appeal was ongoing, and appointed Walter Durdent
Walter Durdent
Walter Durdent was a medieval Bishop of Coventry.Durdent was consecrated on 2 October 1149. He died on 7 December 1159. He was a Benedictine monk before his elevation to the episcopate. He was prior of Christ Church Priory in Canterbury when he was elected through the influence of Archbishop...
as prior. Innocent II, however, appointed Henry of Blois to hear the case, and Henry sided with Jeremiah and ordered Jeremiah's reinstatement. Theobald then refused to perform any services in the cathedral until Jeremiah was removed by the chapter. The lack of services would have deprived the monks of income, and Theobald's threat had the desired effect, as Jeremiah resigned his office and left Christ Church for St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. Durdent was reinstalled as prior and remained in that position until he became Bishop of Coventry in October 1149.
At Easter, 1151, Theobald took over the management of the chapter's estates, as the new prior, Walter Parvus, was not up to the task. At first, there were no disputes, but soon the monks felt that Theobald was cheating them and imposing too rigorous a definition of poverty, and asked that the stewardship of the estates be restored to Parvus. Theobald refused and the monks attempted to appeal to the papacy. Their envoys, however, were caught by agents of the archbishop and the appeal went nowhere. Theobald then deposed Parvus and appointed a new prior. Theobald's relations with the monks after this point seem to have been without incident.
Relations with other monastic houses
Theobald also had a dispute with St Augustine's Abbey over the right of the archbishop to receive annual payments, and whether those payments were for sacraments performed by the archbishop, which would have been uncanonical, or were for other reasons. The dispute was eventually settled by a compromise in which St Augustine's continued to make the payments but they were specifically stated not to be for sacraments. Another dispute with St Augustine's concerned the right of the archbishops to have a say in the election of new abbots and whether or not the abbots would make a profession of obedience to the archbishops. This was eventually settled by a papal mandate of 1144 instructing the abbots to profess obedience.The conflict re-surfaced in 1149, when some of the monks of St Augustine's, led by their prior and sacrist, refused to obey the interdict placed on England by Theobald and Pope Eugene III. Theobald had the two officials excommunicated and publicly flogged. When the previous abbot of St Augustine's died in 1151, the prior, Silvester, paid the king for the right to administer the abbey and to hold a free election for a new abbot. The monks then proceeded to elect Silvester as the new abbot, but Theobald refused to confirm the election, accusing Silvester of buying the office. Eventually, however, Pope Eugene III ordered Theobald to allow Silvester to take up the office, which Theobald did in August 1152. Theobald and St Augustine's also came into conflict over the abbey's claims of exemption from the archbishops' oversight, because it owed obedience directly to the pope. Papal documents held at Rome backed the abbey, but there were no English royal charters that gave the abbey its liberty from the archbishops. Theobald attempted to end the confusion by legal actions both at Rome and in England, but the record was mixed. The documents at Rome clearly favoured the abbey, but at a royal council held at Northampton in 1157, Henry II ruled in favour of Theobald. As part of the settlement Silvester, as abbot, was required to make a formal profession of obedience to Theobald, something he had been attempting to avoid since his election. The struggle with Silvester was just one event in the long history of the dispute between Canterbury and St Augustine's.
As well as St Augustine's, the abbots of a number of other monasteries in the diocese of Canterbury are known to have professed obedience to Theobald, as the documents recording the events survive. Not only abbots and priors from within Canterbury, but some from other dioceses swore to obey Theobald, although normally such oaths would have gone to their diocesan bishop instead. Most of these exceptions occurred because the monastic house claimed exemption from the oversight of their diocesan bishop, and had a tradition of making those oaths to Canterbury instead. Besides these events, Theobald also intervened in the elections of some abbots, although not always successfully. He attempted to secure the right of Gilbert Foliot to remain Abbot of Gloucester
Abbot of Gloucester
Abbot of Gloucester was the title of the head of Gloucester Abbey in Gloucester, England. The following table lists some of the abbots, and is taken from Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 940 to 1216....
after Foliot's election as Bishop of Hereford, but a new abbot was elected by the monks of Gloucester. Theobald was more successful in securing the election of William, who had previously been a monk at Christ Church, to be Abbot of Evesham
Abbot of Evesham
The Abbot of Evesham was the head of Evesham Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Worcestershire founded in the Anglo-Saxon era of English history. The succession continued until dissolution of the monastery in 1540:-List:...
over the objections of some of the monks of Evesham.
Theobald also became embroiled in the dispute between Hilary, the Bishop of Chichester, and Walter de Lucy
Walter de Lucy
Walter de Luci , Abbot of Battle Abbey, was the brother of Richard de Luci, who was Chief Justiciar of England.-Biography:...
, the abbot of Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
, over Hilary's claims to jurisdiction over the abbey and the abbey's counter-claims that it was exempt from episcopal supervision. The abbey had never received a papal exemption, but relied instead on its royal foundation by King William I of England
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
and its status as an eigenkirche
Proprietary church
During the Middle Ages, the proprietary church was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what in English law is "advowson", that of nominating the ecclesiastic personnel...
, or proprietary church of the king. Under King Stephen, the abbey's claims prevailed, but after Stephen's death Hilary excommunicated the abbot, who appealed to the papacy. Theobald supported the bishop, who eventually secured a trial before King Henry II. It was a minor setback for Theobald when the case was eventually decided in Battle's favour, mainly on the basis of charters that were thought at the time to be genuine, but modern historians have come to believe were forged.
Relations with other bishops
Theobald was instrumental in securing the subordination of the Welsh bishoprics to Canterbury. His first act in this area was the consecration of MeurigMeurig (bishop)
Meurig was a Welsh cleric who was Bishop of Bangor from 1139 to 1161.Meurig continued the rebuilding of Bangor Cathedral....
as Bishop of Bangor
Bishop of Bangor
The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor.The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and a small part of Montgomeryshire...
in 1140, during which Meurig made a profession of obedience like those made by other bishops subject to Canterbury. Bernard
Bernard, Bishop of St David's
Bernard was a Norman Bishop of St David's, appointed by Henry I. He also served as Chancellor to Queen Adeliza. He was the last bishop to dispute the primacy of the see of Canterbury. He founded Whitland Abbey....
, Bishop of St David's
Bishop of St David's
The Bishop of St David's is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St David's.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 David's in Pembrokeshire, founding St David's Cathedral. The current Bishop of St...
, contested Theobald's right to consecrate Meurig and instead asserted that St David's should be considered an archbishopric, and that Bernard should receive a pallium. This went against the last half-century of precedent that Canterbury had jurisdiction over the four Welsh sees, a precedent that dated back to Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
's days when Anselm had consecrated Urban as Bishop of Llandaff
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 located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul , in the village of Llandaff, just north-west of the City of...
in 1107.
Also in 1140, Theobald consecrated Uhtred as Bishop of Llandaff, with Uhtred also swearing to obey Theobald. Likewise, when Theobald consecrated Gilbert as Bishop of St Asaph
Bishop of St Asaph
The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of St Asaph in the town of...
in 1142, a similar profession of obedience was made. Along with these consecrations, Theobald's legal efforts enabled him to withstand the attempts of Bernard to turn St David's into an archbishopric, and when Bernard was succeeded by David FitzGerald
David Fitzgerald
David Andrew Fitzgerald was an Australian first-class cricketer who played for the Southern Redbacks. He was a right-handed batsman and earned a reputation for grafting out long innings....
in 1148, Theobald secured the new bishop's profession of obedience to Canterbury, thus ending the efforts to remove Wales from Canterbury's jurisdiction. Also in 1148, Pope Eugene decided in favour of Canterbury and against the claims of St David's, securing Canterbury's jurisdiction over Wales.
Theobald even maintained the theoretical claim of Canterbury to jurisdiction over Irish sees by consecrating Patrick as Bishop of Limerick
Bishop of Limerick
The Bishop of Limerick is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Limerick in the Province of Munster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it still continues as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:The diocese of...
in 1140. That, however, was the last assertion of the claim, as in 1152 the papal legate Giovanni Paparo reorganised the Irish dioceses and settled the issue by appointing the Archbishop of Armagh
Archbishop of Armagh
The Archbishop of Armagh is the title of the presiding ecclesiastical figure of each of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland in the region around Armagh in Northern Ireland...
the primate of Ireland.
Relations with bishops in England remained good, with little activity in the long-running Canterbury-York dispute
Canterbury-York dispute
The Canterbury–York dispute was a long-running conflict between the archdioceses of Canterbury and York in medieval England. It began shortly after the Norman Conquest of England and dragged on for many years. The main point of the dispute was over whether Canterbury would have jurisdiction, or...
over the primacy of Britain. Theobald obtained a vague confirmation of his see's primacy from Celestine II in 1143–1144, but at the Council of Reims in 1148 Eugene clarified that this primacy did not effect the claims of York to be independent of Canterbury. Because of the unsettled election disputes during the 1140s over the see of York, when it was contested between William of York and Henry Murdac, Theobald faced little challenge from either William or Murdac as to the traditional dispute between Canterbury and York. When William of York died in 1154, Theobald secured York for his protege, Roger de Pont L'Evêque
Roger de Pont L'Evêque
Roger de Pont L'Évêque was a contemporary of Thomas Becket and later Archbishop of York. Born in Normandy, he preceded Becket as Archdeacon of Canterbury, and together with Becket served Theobald of Bec while Theobald was Archbishop of Canterbury...
. Further peace between the two sees was ensured when Theobald consecrated Roger without requiring a profession of obedience, which had previously been a major bone of contention between the two.
Patronage and household
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
. Theobald was instrumental in the early spread of Roman law to England, inviting the Bologna-schooled jurist Vacarius
Vacarius
Roger Vacarius was an Italian authority in civil and Canon law, who became the first known teacher of Roman law in England.Apparently educated in Bologna, he was brought to Canterbury, possibly by Thomas Becket, to serve as counsel to the Archbishop of Canterbury Theobald of Bec, in his struggle...
to join his administration and advise on legal matters. Whether Vacarius actually started a school in Theobald's household is unclear, but in the 1140s he taught briefly at Oxford. Theobald was instrumental in fostering the teaching of canon law in England; the conflict that later arose between Henry II and Thomas Becket had its roots in disputes that were exposed during Theobald's time in office. While still in Normandy, Theobald had made an intense study of ecclesiastical or canon law, which he continued after being elected archbishop.
Although Theobald was a monk, his episcopal household was not monastic in character. As he settled into the role of archbishop, he seems to have left most of his monastic habits behind, although he continued to have a monk as a companion. His nephews and brother benefited from his nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
, with his nephews becoming part of his household early in his archepiscopate. The four nephews—Guillaume, Gilbert, Roger and Lechard—were witnesses to a charter of Theobald's dated to about 1150 or 1153. After Theobald's death, Guillaume was a clerk in Bartholomew
Bartholomew Iscanus
Bartholomew Iscanus was a medieval Bishop of Exeter.-Early life:Bartholomew was a native of Normandy, and was probably born in Millières, a village in the Cotentin near Lessay and Périers. He was a clerk of Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury before becoming Archdeacon of Exeter in 1155...
, the Bishop of Exeter
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The incumbent usually signs his name as Exon or incorporates this in his signature....
's household in around 1172.
Another charter of Theobald's from about 1152 shows the usual household staff that surrounded him. It was witnessed by the archbishop's crossbearer, three of Theobald's nephews and the clerk who presumably was in charge of them, a chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
, two chaplains who were monks, a butler, dispenser, chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....
, steward, cook, usher, porter and marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
. Theobald also at about the same time granted a mill to his baker named William and some lands to his cook William and the cook's heirs.
Theobald was the patron of three eminent men: Becket, Vacarius, and John of Salisbury
John of Salisbury
John of Salisbury , who described himself as Johannes Parvus , was an English author, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres, and was born at Salisbury.-Early life and education:...
. John of Salisbury was secretary to Theobald for many years, and after Theobald's death became Bishop of Chartres. It was during John's time as secretary that he wrote his two most famous works, the Policraticus
Policraticus
Policraticus is a book of ethical and political philosophy written by John of Salisbury around 1159. Although addressing a wide variety of ethical questions, it is most famous for attempting to define the responsibilities of kings and their relationship to their subjects...
and the Metalogicon. Others who studied for a time in Theobald's household were Roger de Pont L'Evêque, later Archbishop of York, John Belemis
John of Canterbury
John of Canterbury was bishop of Poitiers 1162 to 1181 and archbishop of Lyon 1181 to 1193. He became a “cosmopolitan and much-respected churchman”....
, later Archbishop of Lyons, John de Pageham
John de Pageham
-Life:He was a clerk of Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury before he was selected to become bishop. He was ordained a priest on 3 March 1151. He was consecrated on 4 March 1151. He died in 1157, possibly in December.-References:...
, later Bishop of Worcester
Bishop of Worcester
The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. He is the head of the Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury...
, Bartholomew Iscanus
Bartholomew Iscanus
Bartholomew Iscanus was a medieval Bishop of Exeter.-Early life:Bartholomew was a native of Normandy, and was probably born in Millières, a village in the Cotentin near Lessay and Périers. He was a clerk of Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury before becoming Archdeacon of Exeter in 1155...
, later Bishop of Exeter, William of Northall
William of Northall
-Life:He was a clerk of Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury and of Richard of Dover, also Archbishop of Canterbury. He held a prebend in the diocese of London and was Archdeacon of Gloucester from 1177 or 1178....
, later Bishop of Worcester, and William de Vere
William de Vere
-Biography:The son of Aubrey de Vere II and Adeliza of Clare, probably the fourth of five sons, and brother of Aubrey de Vere III first earl of Oxford, de Vere spent part of his youth at the court of King Henry I of England and his second wife, Queen Adeliza of Leuven. Little is known of his...
, later Bishop of Hereford. In all, his household produced three archbishops and six bishops. The household itself, although not formally a school, acted as one, with many going on to careers in the church.
Death and legacy
Theobald died on 18 April 1161, after a long illness, at his palace in Canterbury. He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, in the Holy Trinity Chapel, near the tomb of Archbishop Lanfranc. His coffin was opened in 1190 during repairs to the cathedral and his body was found to be uncorrupted, but efforts to secure his canonisation as a saint on the basis of that evidence were unsuccessful. He was reburied in the nave near the altar to St Mary, with his old marble tomb replaced above his new resting place. In 1787 his lead coffin was found in Canterbury.Although Theobald was troubled by the opposition of his suffragan Henry of Blois, he regained control of the English Church, secured the rights of his see, and helped maintain the unity of the realm. Contemporaries were somewhat divided on his effectiveness and personality. Gervase of Canterbury felt that he was too impetuous, probably because of Theobald's treatment of his priors at Christ Church. Henry of Huntingdon, who knew him, felt that he was a worthy archbishop. Theobald's legacy perhaps suffered because he was overshadowed by his successor, Becket. Modern historians have been kinder than his contemporaries; Frank Barlow
Frank Barlow (historian)
Frank Barlow CBE FBA FRSL was a British historian, known particularly for biographies of medieval figures.Barlow studied at St John's College, Oxford. He was Professor of History at the University of Exeter from 1953 until he retired in 1976 and became Emeritus Professor...
says of Theobald that he was "an upright man, but quick tempered, and sometimes spoke far too rashly".