Talk:Gerard, Archbishop of York

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Good article Gerard, Archbishop of York has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.
April 21, 2008 Good article nominee Listed
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[edit] Another title for this article

At some point he should probably be moved to something other than this title. His entry on the DNB states he was known as "Gerard", with no nicknames at all. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 6 - York also just calls him Gerard, and has no other names listed in the footnotes. Not a high priority, but probably something that should be done at some point. I'd do it, but moving articles is something I flub consistantly. I'll let someone else flub it up! Ealdgyth | Talk 22:47, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Unless someone objects, I will move this article to it's redirect shortly. Gerard, Archbishop of York is a better fit for the article, as that is the highest ranked title he held. Ealdgyth | Talk 16:22, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GA review

An informative article that is obviously very close to the GA standard, but there are a few things that I think need to be fixed before it's listed, most if not all of them pretty minor:

  • "Gerard (died 21 May 1108) was an English clergyman who eventually became Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England." What is the "eventually" trying to say?
  • "He was the nephew of two other clergymen, he became a member of the clergy at Rouen ...". It seems to me that there is just a liitle too much detail in the lead, like this comment about him being a nephew.
  • "The legate secured Rufus' recognition of Urban, but refused to consider the deposition of Anselm, and at the king's court at Windsor, Rufus consented to Anselm receiving the pallium". Reads very awkwardly, and I'm not sure what this means. Did the legate refuse to consider the matter? If Rufus could just give the pallium to whoever he wanted, then why was the legate asked anyway? Wouldn't is be simpler to say something like "Rufus appointed Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury"?
  • "Gerard then worked to craft a compromise in the Investiture Crisis, and by 1107, King Henry and Anselm had reached an agreement. Eventually Gerard agreed to a compromise on the matter of obedience to Anselm. King Henry proposed that Anselm accept a witnessed oath ...". Starting the second sentence with the word "eventually" makes me think that the 1107 agreement is not the same as the eventual agreement.
  • "After 1105 Gerard slowly began to support the Gregorian reforms". I think that Gregorian reforms needs to be explained.
  • "He also encouraged at least one of his clergy to study Hebrew,and some people considered his ownership of a Hebrew psalter to be disturbing". This Hebrew link needs to be explained. Why is it significant that he encouraged someone to study Hebrew, and why would anyone find that disturbing?
  • "Is there no information on where Gerard might have been born? What was his link to Rouen? "Originally a precentor in Rouen cathedral ...". From when?
  • "He was associated with the author of the Quadripartitus and the Leges Henrici Primi." It's not clear who this "he" being referred to is, Gerard or William of Malmesbury? What's significant about those two works? What does "associated" mean?


As is customary on these occasions, I'm placing this article on hold. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 19:04, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

thanks Malleus. All those look pretty easy to deal with, if I don't get to them tomorrow, I'll get them done when I get home from the road Monday night or Tuesday. Ealdgyth - Talk 01:46, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
I think I've clarified them all. Let me know if there are other concerns, or if I broke something seriously... Ealdgyth - Talk 23:58, 20 April 2008 (UTC)


This has obviously got to be listed as a GA, which I'll do now. Only one slight nit-picking point left from me. The lead describes Gerard as a "royal chancellor", yet later he's described as "Lord Chancellor". Were there other kinds of royal chancellors other than Lord Chancellors? Anyway, nice work. It's amazing what you early history buffs can conjure out of almost nothing in terms of available sources. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. :-) --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 00:19, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

the exact title is somewhat changable in this time frame. Technically, the title Lord Chancellor wasn't used for quite a while after this time, but historians often use it for this time frame anyway. Royal chancellor basically equals lord chancellor. There were other chancellors, but not other royal ones. So i clarified it. Ealdgyth - Talk 00:31, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
Oh, and thank you for the compliment. Not sure he's going to FAC or not, we'll see what else I uncover. Ealdgyth - Talk 00:31, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
Walter de Coventre made it to FA, so no reason why Gerard can't as well. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 00:46, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Survey

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