Roger of Worcester

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roger
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Worcester
Title Bishop of Worcester
Period in office 11631179
Predecessor Alured
Successor Baldwin
Personal
Date of death August 9, 1179
Place of death Tours

Roger of Worcester (died Tours, 9 August 1179) was Bishop of Worcester from 1164 to 1179. He had a major role in the controversy between Henry II of England, who was Roger's cousin, and Archbishop Thomas Becket.[1]

Contents

[edit] Life

Roger's father was Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester.[2] His illegitimate half-brother Richard was Bishop of Bayeux from 1135 to 1142.[3] Roger was a younger son and he was educated with the future king, Henry II, afterwards ordained priest, and consecrated Bishop of Worcester by Thomas Becket, on 23 August 1163.[4] He adhered loyally to Thomas, and though one of the bishops sent to the pope to carry the king's appeal against the archbishop, he took no active part in the embassy, nor did he join the appeal made by the bishops against the archbishop in 1166, thus arousing the enmity of the king.

When Thomas desired Roger to join him in his exile, Roger went without leave in 1167, Henry having refused him permission. He boldly reproached the king when they met at Falaise in 1170, and a reconciliation followed. After the martyrdom of St. Thomas, England was threatened with an interdict, but Roger interceded with the pope and was thereafter highly esteemed in England and at Rome. Pope Alexander III, who frequently employed him as delegate in ecclesiastical causes, spoke of him and Bartholomew Iscanus Bishop of Exeter, as "the two great lights of the English Church".

He died on August 9, 1179[4] or on August 10. His death was commemorated on August 9.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Mary G. Cheney, Roger, Bishop of Worcester 1164 - 1179_. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980
  2. ^ a b British History Online Bishops of Worcester accessed on November 3, 2007
  3. ^ Spear "The Norman Empire and the Secular Clergy" Journal of British Studies p. 5
  4. ^ a b Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 260

[edit] References

  • British History Online Bishops of Worcester accessed on November 3, 2007
  • Cheney, Mary G. Roger, Bishop of Worcester 1164 - 1179 Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980
  • Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961
  • Spear, David S. "The Norman Empire and the Secular Clergy, 1066-1204" The Journal of British Studies Volume XXI Number 2 Spring 1982 p. 1-10

[edit] External links

Religious titles
Preceded by
Alured
Bishop of Winchester
11631179
Succeeded by
Baldwin

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

Persondata
NAME Roger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Worcester
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 1179
PLACE OF DEATH Tours
Languages