Tedbald

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Tedbald or Theobald was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury.

[edit] Biography

He was a Norman by descent and became a Benedictine monk at Bec late in the late eleventh or early in the twelfth century. In 1127 he was made prior, and abbot in 1137. On 28 December 1138, he was elected archbishop and was consecrated on 8 January following. He went to Rome for his pallium and took part in the second Lateran Council. He proved a wise and capable prelate, devout in his private life, charitable and a lover of learning. During the civil war he adhered to King Stephen, whom he crowned, though for a time he was at the Empress Maud's court, and always worked for the Angevin succession.

In his household, he collected many young men of ability, including his successor St. Thomas of Canterbury, and he encouraged the formation of scholars and statesmen of a new type. He was instrumental in the early spread of Roman law to England, inviting the Bologna-schooled jurist Roger Vacarius to join his administration and advise on legal matters.²

Theobald suffered many difficulties owing to the appointment of his suffragan bishop, Henry of Winchester, as legate. Among these was the appointment of St. William of York as archbishop of York, which Theobald felt bound to oppose. Celestine II did not reappoint Henry of Blois as legate and finally in 1150, or possibly before, Theobald was named legate by Blessed Eugene III, probably on the recommendation of St. Bernard (Ep. 238).

When the pope summoned the English bishops to a council at Reims in northern France, the king forbade them to go, whereupon Theobald defied the king and went. Though he saved the king from excommunication, his property was confiscated and he was banished. The pope then put England under interdict, which was disregarded except in Canterbury, and finally the king and archbishop were reconciled in 1148.

In 1151 Theobald held a legatine council in London. In the following year, acting on papal authority, he refused to crown Eustace, the king's son, and was again compelled to seek flight. While in Normandy he reconciled Henry of Anjou to Stephen, with the result that in 1153 the Treaty of Wallingford ended the Civil War.

On Stephen's death Theobald crowned Henry II of England, and during the rest of his life, though not without anxiety for the future of the Church, he maintained good relations with the Court, especially with his former disciple Thomas, who had now become chancellor. He expressed to John of Salisbury his hope that Thomas would succeed him. Throughout his pontificate he had continual trouble with the monks of Christchurch, but in every instance his action was justified finally.

He died on 18 April, 1161 and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, where eighteen years afterwards his body was found incorrupt.

[edit] Source

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. [1]

2 - R.H. Hemholz, Oxford History of the Laws of England v.1, Oxford University Press, Oxford:2004, p. 121.