Nigel, Bishop of Ely

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Nigel

Exterior view of Ely cathedral, where Nigel may be buried
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Ely
Title Bishop of Ely
Period in office 1133–1169
Predecessor Hervey le Breton
Successor Geoffrey Ridel
Religious career
Previous post Archdeacon of Salisbury
Personal
Date of birth about 1100
Date of death May 30, 1169

Nigel (d. 1169) (sometimes Nigel Poor[1] or Nigel of Ely) was an Anglo-Norman bishop of Ely. He came from a family of ecclesiastics, as his uncle was also a bishop and governmental minister for King Henry I of England. Nigel owed his advancement to his uncle, who also secured a bishopric for Nigel's brother Alexander. As a royal servant, Nigel served as Treasurer of England under Henry I, before being appointed to the see, or bishopric, of Ely in 1133.

After the ascension of King Stephen of England, the successor of Henry I, Nigel remained Treasurer for only a short time, before his family was ousted from political office by the king. After rebelling, Nigel was eventually reconciled with Stephen, but when Stephen died Nigel was returned to the Treasurership by Stephen's successor King Henry II of England, in order to restore order to the treasury. He was succeeded in office by his son, Richard FitzNeal, who he had trained in the operations of the Exchequer, or treasury of England.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Nigel's exact date of birth is uncertain, but it was probably sometime about 1100.[2] His uncle was Roger of Salisbury, Bishop of Salisbury, who saw to Nigel's education,[3] at the school of Laon,[4] where he probably studied mathematics under[5] Anselm of Laon.[2] Other students at Laon included William de Corbeil, later Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert de Bethune, who became Bishop of Hereford, Geoffrey le Breton, later to be Archbishop of Rouen, and men who held other bishoprics in the Anglo-Norman kingdom.[6] Nigel held a prebend, an ecclesiastical office in the cathedral, in the see of London before he held the office of Archdeacon of Salisbury.[7] Nigel's brother was Alexander of Lincoln, who later became Bishop of Lincoln.[5]

[edit] Treasurer under Henry I

He was Lord High Treasurer in the reigns of Henry I of England[8] and Henry II of England, first appearing as treasurer about 1126.[9][10] He served as treasurer for both England and Normandy.[11] In 1133 Roger of Salisbury secured the bishopric of Ely for Nigel; Ely had been without a bishop since 1131. After a two year vacancy, King Henry made the appointment because he was returning to Normandy, and was settling outstanding business before leaving England. Ely was not the only bishopric filled, as Henry appointed two other bishops at this time. Geoffrey Rufus was appointed to Durham, and Æthelwold was named to the newly created Diocese of Carlisle.[12] Nigel was consecrated on October 1, 1133,[13] at Lambeth by William de Corbeil, the Archbishop of Canterbury.[2] He continued to hold the office of Treasurer until 1136, when he was replaced by a relative, Adelelm.[9] The Constitutio domus regis, or Establishment of the King's Household may have been written by Nigel, or possibly for his use.[2][14]

[edit] Stephen's early reign

After Stephen's accession, Nigel was at first retained as Treasurer; but, like his uncle and his brothers, the king came to suspect him of secretly supporting the Empress Matilda, King Henry I's daughter and Stephen's rival for the throne of England. At a court held at Oxford in June 1139, Stephen required Roger of Salisbury, Alexander of Lincoln, and Nigel to surrender their castles.[15] The prime movers behind Stephen's move against the bishops were the Beaumont family, headed by the twin brothers Robert, Earl of Leicester, and Waleran, Count of Meulan,[16] who wished to be the main advisors of the king.[17][18] Nigel managed to escape arrest by first fleeing to the castle of Devizes,[19] which surrendered three days after the king invested it.[20] Stephen had threatened to hang Roger in front of the castle unless it was surrendered, and this led Nigel to surrender. All three bishops then submitted and surrendered their secular offices and castles. They were, however, allowed to retain their dioceses.[18]

Nigel
In office
c.1126 – c.1133
Monarch Henry I
Preceded by none
Succeeded by Adelelm
In office
c.1154 – c.1158
Monarch Henry II
Preceded by Adelelm
Succeeded by Richard FitzNeal

Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, who was Bishop of Winchester and papal legate in England, tried to bring Stephen to trial for his treatment of the bishops, but did not succeed. Bishop Roger died in December 1139 while in the king's custody.[15] After the death of his uncle, Nigel, then in East Anglia, revolted. The revolt was quickly suppressed in early January, and Nigel took refuge at the court of Stephen's rival the Empress Matilda. Nigel's own cathedral chapter had opposed the revolt, and refused to support him. The revolt stood little chance of succeeding, for there were no supporters of Matilda close to East Anglia, and it is likely that Nigel reacted more out of fear and anger at his uncle's death than anything else.[21] It appears likely that Nigel appealed to Pope Innocent II at this time, for in October 1140 Innocent issued a papal bull, or papal instruction, ordering the restoration of Nigel to his bishopric.[2] In 1141, Nigel, along with his brother Alexander, was one of the supporters of Matilda who, after the capture of Stephen by Matilda's forces, reached an agreement with Henry of Blois to replace Stephen with Matilda on the throne.[22] Ultimately, this agreement came to nothing when the chief supporter of Matilda, her half-brother Robert of Gloucester, was captured and later exchanged for Stephen.[23]

In 1143, Nigel became involved in a quarrel with the powerful Henry of Blois. Charges of depriving a priest of a church, giving church property to laymen, and encouraging sedition were brought against Nigel, and he was forced to go to Rome to defend himself, only reaching Rome in 1144. He did not return to his diocese until 1145.[24] While he was in Rome, Pope Lucius II issued a number of rulings in Nigel's favor, ordering his restitution to Ely.[2] He was then finally reconciled with Stephen by paying a fine of 200 pounds and offering his son Richard fitzNeal as a hostage.[25] While Nigel was at Rome, Ely was attacked by the king's forces. The monks sent to Geoffrey de Mandeville for aid, and Geoffrey came and occupied the Isle of Ely, while the king's forces occupied the lands of the diocese outside the Isle. Both occupying forces did damage to the lands of the diocese and the cathedral chapter.[26]

[edit] Stephen's later reign and under Henry II

By 1147, Nigel was again witnessing Stephen's charters, and in 1153 or 1154 he was named in a grant of lands to St Radegund's priory in Cambridge. The bishop also was a witness to the charter of Stephen that left England to Matilda's son, Henry of Anjou. When Henry succeeded Stephen, Nigel was present at the coronation.[2]

After the accession of Henry II Nigel was summoned to reorganize the Exchequer. The king had to ask Nigel several times to return before the bishop agreed, and one reason for Nigel's reluctance may have been that he would have to work with Robert, count of Leicester, who had been one of those responsible for turning Stephen against Nigel's family in 1139.[27] Nigel was the only surviving minister of Henry I, and his knowledge of the exchequer was needed to help reorganize the revenues of the king.[28] It may be that the survival of the lone Pipe Roll, a type of financial record of the Exchequer, from Henry I's reign, that of the year 1130, owes something to the fact that it may have been Nigel's own copy, which he brought with him to the Exchequer when he returned under Henry II. Nigel was able to increase the revenues over what had been collected under Stephen, but was unable to quickly return them to the amounts collected under Henry I.[29] It may have been Nigel who urged the king to attempt to recover estates that had been alienated during Stephen's reign.[30]

Nigel also served as a royal justice under Henry II. However, his relations with the monks of his cathedral chapter, which had never been good, continued to be marked by quarrels. In 1156, the English Pope Adrian IV threatened to suspend Nigel from office unless the bishop restored to the church all the lands that had belonged to the church when Nigel became bishop. The restitution was hampered by the absence of the king from England, and the dispute dragged on until finally it was resolved by Nigel pledging in front of Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, to restore the lands. Even this did not end the quarrels with the monks, as Nigel then named a married clerk as sacrist of Ely, which action was condemned by Thomas Becket, the new Archbishop of Canterbury.[2]

[edit] Death and legacy

The tomb of King Henry II of England, who summoned Nigel to reorganize the Exchequer.
The tomb of King Henry II of England, who summoned Nigel to reorganize the Exchequer.

He died on May 30, 1169.[13] Either in 1164 or in 1166, or possibly both, Nigel had been struck by paralysis, and after this he seems to have withdrawn from active affairs. He took little part in the disputes between the king and Becket. He may have been buried at Ely, where a 12th century marble slab may mark his tomb.[2]

Nigel was a married bishop,[31] and his son Richard fitzNeal was later Lord Treasurer and Bishop of London.[8] Another son was William, called William the Englishman.[2] Richard, who wrote the Dialogue of the Exchequer, was taught the procedures of the Treasury by his father.[11] His uncle Roger also had at least one son, Roger, who was chancellor for King Stephen, and Adelelm, who succeeded Nigel as treasurer was probably Roger's son also.[32] Besides his uncle, cousins, and brother, another relative was William of Ely, who succeeded Richard fitzNeal as treasurer in 1196.[33]

Nigel was active in draining The Fens, the swampy land around Ely, in order to increase the agricultural lands around his bishopric.[34] He also fortified the Isle of Ely with stone defenses.[35] Early in his time as bishop he was active in recovering lands of the church that had been lost, and soon after his consecration he ordered an inquest made into the lands actually owned by the diocese and cathedral chapter.[36] The bishop spent most of his life in debt to various moneylenders, only managing to clear his debts in the year he died with the help of his son.[37] The monks of his cathedral chapter did not like the fact that they were required to pay for the bishop's appeals to Rome to recover his see, or pay for regaining the king's favor. Their dislike of their bishop is evident in the Liber Eliensis, the house chronicle of the abbey-turned-bishopric.[38]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Brett The Church Under Henry I p. 110 footnote 4
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hudson "Nigel (c.1100–1169)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ^ Cantor Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture p. 298
  4. ^ Cantor Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture p. 293 footnote 122
  5. ^ a b Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 p. 88
  6. ^ Hollister Henry I p. 432
  7. ^ Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: volume 2: Monastic cathedrals (northern and southern provinces): Bishops: Ely
  8. ^ a b Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 p. 79
  9. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 103
  10. ^ Green The Government of England p. 263
  11. ^ a b Chibnall Anglo-Norman England p. 125
  12. ^ Hollister Henry I p. 464
  13. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 244
  14. ^ Lyon Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England p. 112
  15. ^ a b Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 pp. 95-96
  16. ^ Huscroft Ruling England p. 73
  17. ^ Crouch The Reign of King Stephen pp. 93-97
  18. ^ a b Davis King Stephen pp. 28-30
  19. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 137
  20. ^ Crouch The Reign of King Stephen p. 96
  21. ^ Crouch The Reign of King Stephen p. 115
  22. ^ Davis King Stephen p. 52
  23. ^ Huscroft Ruling England p. 74
  24. ^ Davis King Stephen pp. 77-78
  25. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings pp. 49-50
  26. ^ Knowles The Monastic Order in England pp. 270-271
  27. ^ Warren Henry II p. 266
  28. ^ Huscroft Ruling England p. 155
  29. ^ Matthew King Stephen pp. 218-219
  30. ^ Richardson The Governance of Mediaeval England pp. 262-263
  31. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 183
  32. ^ Green The Government of England p. 185
  33. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 391
  34. ^ Barlow The Feudal Kingdom of England p. 267
  35. ^ Crouch The Reign of King Stephen p. 94 footnote26
  36. ^ Miller The Abbey and Bishopric of Ely pp. 167-169
  37. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 349
  38. ^ Matthew King Stephen pp. 136-137

[edit] Sources

  • Barlow, Frank (1979). The English Church 1066-1154: A History of the Anglo-Norman Church. New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-50236-5. 
  • Barlow, Frank (1988). The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216, Fourth Edition, New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-49504-0. 
  • Bartlett, Robert C. (2000). England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075-1225. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822741-8. 
  • Brett, M. (1975). The English Church under Henry I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821861-3. 
  • Chibnall, Marjorie (1986). Anglo-Norman England 1066-1166. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-15439-6. 
  • Cantor, Norman F. (1958). Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England 1089-1135. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 
  • Crouch, David (2000). The Reign of King Stephen: 1135-1154. New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-22657-0. 
  • Davis, R. H. C. (1990). King Stephen 1135-1154, Third Edition, New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-04000-0. 
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  • Green, Judith A. (1986). The Government of England Under Henry I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37586-X. 
  • Greenway, Diana E. (1971). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: volume 2: Monastic cathedrals (northern and southern provinces): Bishops: Ely. Institute of Historical Research. 
  • Hollister, C. Warren; Frost, Amanda Clark (ed.) (2001). Henry I. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08858-2. 
  • Hudson, John "Nigel (c.1100–1169)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2008-03-08. 
  • Huscroft, Huscroft (2005). Ruling England 1042-1217. London: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-84882-2. 
  • Knowles, David (1976). The Monastic Order in England: A History of its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council, 940-1216, Second Edition, reprint, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-05479-6. 
  • Lyon, Bryce Dale (1980). A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England, Second Edition, New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-95132-4. 
  • Matthew, Donald (2002). King Stephen. London: Hambledon & London. ISBN 1-85285-514-2. 
  • Miller, Edward (1951). The Abbey and Bishopric of Ely, Reprint edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
  • Poole, Austin Lane (1955). From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216, Second Edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-821707-2. 
  • Richardson, H. G.; Sayles, G. O. (1963). The Governance of Mediaeval England. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 
  • Warren, W. L. (1973). Henry II. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03494-5. 
Political offices
New title Lord High Treasurer
c1126		 Succeeded by
Adelelm
Preceded by
Adelelm		 Lord High Treasurer
c.1154-c.1158		 Succeeded by
Richard FitzNeal
Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Hervey le Breton		 Bishop of Ely
1133–1169		 Succeeded by
Geoffrey Ridel
Persondata
NAME Nigel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Poor, Nigel; Nigel of Ely
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Ely; Lord High Treasurer
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1169
PLACE OF DEATH