Roger of Salisbury

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Roger of Salisbury
Chief Justiciar of England (de facto)
In office
? – 1116
Monarch Henry I
Stephen
Succeeded by Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester
In office
1101 – 1102
Monarch Henry I
Died December 11, 1139
Salisbury
Nationality Norman
Occupation Bishop
Profession clergy
Religion Christian:Catholic
Roger of Salisbury
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Salisbury
Title Bishop of Salisbury
Period in office 1102–1139
Predecessor Osmund de Sees, Earl of Dorset
Successor Henry de Sully, Abbot of Fecamp
Personal
Date of death December 11, 1139
Place of death Salisbury

Roger (or Roger le Poer) (died 1139) was a Norman medieval bishop of Salisbury and the seventh Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England.

Contents

[edit] Life

He was originally priest of a small chapel near Caen in Normandy. He was called "Roger, priest of church of Avranches" in his notification of election to the bishopric.[1] The future King Henry I, who happened to hear mass there one day, was impressed by the speed with which Roger read the service and enrolled him in his own service.[citation needed]

Roger, though uneducated, showed great talent for business. On coming to the throne, Henry almost immediately made him Chancellor in 1101. He held that office until late 1102.[2] On September 29, 1102 Roger received the bishopric of Salisbury, but he was not consecrated until August 11, 1107[3] owing to the dispute between Henry and Archbishop Anselm. He was consecrated at Canterbury.[1] In the Investitures controversy he skillfully managed to keep the favour of both the king and Anselm. Roger devoted himself to administrative business, and remodelled it completely. He created the exchequer system, which was managed by him and his family for more than a century, and he used his position to heap up power and riches. He became the first man in England after the King, and was in office, if not in title, justiciar. He was never called Justiciar during Henry's reign.[4]

He ruled England while Henry was in Normandy, and succeeded in obtaining the see of Canterbury for his nominee, William de Corbeil. Duke Robert seems to have been put into his custody after Tinchebrai. Though Roger had sworn allegiance to Matilda, he disliked the Angevin connection, and went over to Stephen, carrying with him the royal treasure and administrative system upon Stephen's accession in 1135. Stephen placed great reliance on him, on his nephews, the bishops of Ely and Lincoln, and on his son Roger le Poer, who was treasurer.

The King declared that if Roger demanded half of the kingdom he should have it, but chafed against the overwhelming influence of the official clique whom Roger represented. Roger himself had built at Devizes the most splendid castle in Christendom. He and his nephews seem to have secured a number of castles outside their own dioceses, and the old bishop behaved as if he were an equal of the King. At a council held in June of 1139, Stephen found a pretext for demanding a surrender of their castles, and on their refusal they were arrested.[4] After a short struggle all Roger's great castles were sequestrated. But Henry of Winchester demanded the restoration of the bishop.

The King was considered to have committed an almost unpardonable crime in offering violence to members of the church, in defiance of the scriptural command, "Touch not mine anointed." Stephen took up a defiant attitude, and the question remained unsettled. This quarrel with the church, which immediately preceded the landing of the Empress, had a serious effect on Stephen's fortunes. The moment that the fortune of war declared against him, the clergy acknowledged Matilda. Bishop Roger, however, did not live to see himself avenged. He died at Salisbury on December 11, 1139.[3] He was a great bureaucrat, and a builder whose taste was in advance of his age. But his contemporaries were probably justified in regarding him as the type of the bishop immersed in worldly affairs, ambitious, avaricious, unfettered by any high standard of personal morality.

Roger had a nephew Alexander (d. 1148), who became bishop of Lincoln in 1123. Other nephews included Adelelm, archdeacon of Dorset and later dean of the diocese of Lincoln, and Nigel of Ely, bishop of Ely. Roger's son Roger le Poer was Lord Chancellor for King Stephen.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c British History Online Bishops of Salisbury accessed on October 30, 2007
  2. ^ Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 81
  3. ^ a b Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 251
  4. ^ a b Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 69

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

See Sir J Ramsay's Foundations of England, vol. ii., and JH Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville.

Political offices
Preceded by
None (disputed)		 Chief Justiciar
Held the office without the title		 Succeeded by
Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester
Preceded by
William Giffard		 Lord Chancellor
1101[–1102		 Succeeded by
Waldric
Religious titles
Preceded by
Osmund de Sees, Earl of Dorset		 Bishop of Salisbury
1102–1139		 Succeeded by
Henry de Sully, Abbot of Fecamp
Persondata
NAME Roger of Salisbury
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roger le Poer
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Salisbury; Lord Chancellor of England
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 1139
PLACE OF DEATH