Thomas of Bayeux

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Thomas I of York
Archbishop of York
The Accord of Winchester of 1072. Thomas' signature is on the right, next to Lanfranc's
Enthroned unknown
Ended November 18, 1100
Predecessor Aldred
Successor Gerard
Consecration May 23, 1070
Birth name Thomas
Died November 18, 1100
York
Buried York Minster
Christianity Portal

Thomas of Bayeux (died November 18, 1100), Archbishop of York, was a native of Bayeux. He was educated at Liège in France, before becoming a royal chaplain to Duke William of Normandy, later King William I of England. After the Norman Conquest, the king nominated Thomas to replace Aldred as archbishop. After Thomas refused to give an oath of obedience to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc refused to consecrate Thomas. The king eventually persuaded Thomas to submit. Thomas and Lanfranc continued to clash over ecclesiastical issues, including the primacy of Canterbury, what dioceses belonged to the province of York, and the question of York's obedience to Canterbury.

After King William I's death, Thomas served King William II of England, helping to put down a rebellion led by Thomas' old mentor Odo of Bayeux. Thomas also attended the trial of the Bishop of Durham, William de St-Calais, who was Thomas' sole suffragan. During William II's reign, Thomas once more became involved in the dispute with Canterbury over the primacy, as Thomas refused to consecrate the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, if Anselm was named the primate of England. With the sudden death of William II in 1100, Thomas arrived too late to crown King Henry I, but died soon after the coronation.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Thomas is sometimes referred to as Thomas I to distinguish the elder Thomas from his nephew Thomas, who was also an Archbishop of York. The elder Thomas' father was a priest[1] named Osbert and his mother was named Muirel, but little else is known of his parents.[2] His brother was Sampson, who later was Bishop of Worcester from 1086 until 1112. Under the patronage of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, both boys were sent to Liège for education.[2][3] Thomas may also have studied with Lanfranc in Normandy, while Lanfranc was still teaching at the Abbey of Bec.[4][5] Thomas then returned to Normandy to become one of Bishop Odo's officials and a chaplain, or secretary.[6] He was a canon and the treasurer of Bayeux Cathedral as well as a member of Duke William's ducal clergy before the Conquest. The new king named him a royal clerk after the Battle of Hastings.[7]

[edit] Archbishop under William I

Odo of Bayeux, shown here on the Bayeux Tapestry, was an early patron of Thomas.
Odo of Bayeux, shown here on the Bayeux Tapestry, was an early patron of Thomas.

In 1070 Thomas succeeded Aldred as archbishop of York, being nominated on May 23 and probably consecrated on December 25.[8] He declined to promise obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc, so Lanfranc refused to consecrate him. Thomas argued that that Lanfranc's demand was unprecedented, as no other archbishop of York had been required to swear such an oath before.[9] King William wanted clear lines of authority in the church to match the lines of authority in the secular sphere, so the king supported Lanfranc in the dispute. Royal pressure induced Thomas to submit to Lanfranc and Thomas was consecrated, but his profession of obedience was made verbally to Lanfranc personally and not in writing or to the archbishops of Canterbury.[7][10][11]

The next year both archbishops travelled to Rome for their palliums and while he was there Thomas asked Pope Alexander II to decree that the sees of Canterbury and York were equal. Thomas also sought to have the pope declare that the northern sees of Worcester, Dorchester,[12] and Litchfield were part of the archdiocese of York rather than Canterbury.[10] The pope, however, referred the dispute to a council of English prelates, and this met at Windsor during Whitsuntide in 1072. After deliberating, the council decided that the archbishop of Canterbury was the superior of the archbishop of York and further ruled that York had no rights south of the Humber River. The council also ruled that York's province included Scotland.[13][4] All these decisions were ratified in the Accord of Winchester that year.[14][10] It was also decided that the archbishops of York must submit professions of obedience to the archbishops of Canterbury and that the see of Canterbury was the primatial see of England.[10] Thomas then made a written profession of obedience, sometime after late May.[7] Lanfranc wrote to Alexander II, attempting to get a written papal privilege of Canterbury's primacy, but Alexander replied that Lanfranc must personally resubmit the case to the papal court before a papal privilege could be issued. Alexander died in 1073. His successor, Pope Gregory VII, was opposed to the idea of primacies, and the matter of the papal privilege for Canterbury went nowhere.[9]

In 1073, Thomas, with the help of Saint Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester and Peter, Bishop of Chester, consecrated Radulf, Bishop of Orkney. This was an attempt to improve York's authority in Scotland.[15]

[edit] Serving William II

The tomb of William the Conqueror in Caen, which Thomas wrote an epitaph for.
The tomb of William the Conqueror in Caen, which Thomas wrote an epitaph for.

After the death of the Conqueror, Thomas was loyal to the third son, William Rufus, who had inherited England instead of the oldest brother, Robert Curthose. Thomas supported Rufus, even though the new king faced a rebellion led by Thomas' old mentor Odo of Bayeux. The archbishop accompanied the king on his campaigns to put down the rebellion.[16] After the rebellion was over, Thomas was in attendance at the trial in 1088 of William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham who had rebelled with Odo. William was Thomas' sole suffragen bishop, but it was Thomas who pronounced the sentence that William must first be tried for rebellion against the king before he could be reinvested with his bishopric.[17]

In 1092 and again in 1093 the dispute with Canterbury broke out again, when Thomas complained about actions he felt were infringements of York's rights. The first of these occasions was over the dedication of Remigius de Fécamp's new cathedral at Lincoln[4] and the second was over the consecration of St Anselm as Archbishop of Canterbury. At the consecration of Anselm, Thomas refused to consecrate Anselm as long as Anselm was referred to as primate of England. The consecration was finally performed when Anselm was named the metropolitan of Canterbury.[18] The medieval chronicler Eadmer, Anselm's biographer and a Canterbury partisan, says that Anselm was consecrated as the primate. Hugh the Chantor, who was a member of the York community, stated that the metropolitan title was used.[19] Modern historical opinion is divided, with Frank Barlow, author of The English Church 1066-1154 inclined towards the primatial title,[20] but with Richard Southern, in his biography of Anselm, leaning towards the metropolitan title.[21] The whole affair is probably subject to much duplicity and dishonesty, with both sides presenting biased accounts.[20]

Herbert de Losinga was appointed a papal legate in 1093 by Pope Urban II to investigate the matter of Thomas' profession to Lanfranc, but Herbert seems to have done nothing about investigating the issue.[4] Also in 1093, King William II gave the archbishops of York the right to appoint the abbot of Selby Abbey in compensation for the loss of York's claim to be the metropolitan of Lincoln.[22] While Anselm was in exile after quarreling with the king in 1097, Thomas consecrated Herbert de Losinga as bishop of Norwich, Ralph de Luffa to the see of Chichester, and Hervey le Breton as bishop of Bangor.[4][23] In 1100 after the sudden death of King William II and the seizure of power by his younger brother Henry, Thomas arrived in London too late to crown Henry I, as the ceremony was performed by Maurice, Bishop of London, in the absence of both archbishops. Anselm at this time was still in exile.[24][25] At first Thomas was angry at the slight, but it was explained that the king had worried over the chance of disorder in the kingdom if there was a delay. Thomas was allowed to crown the king publicly at a church council held soon after the coronation, which mollified him.[26]

[edit] Death and legacy

Thomas died at York on November 18, 1100.[8] Among his works as archbishop, Thomas rebuilt York Minster. During his time at York Thomas was held to be an excellent archbishop.[4] He made sure that his cathedral clergy was well cared for, and repaired the cathedral itself. He also did much to promote trade in the city of York.[27] He also helped the careers of his family, for two of Thomas' nephews became bishops or archbishops. Thomas II of York became Archbishop of York in 1108,[7] and Richard became Bishop of Bayeux in 1107.[28]

Thomas composed the epitaph placed on William the Conqueror's tomb in St. Etienne Caen, although the chronicler Orderic Vitalis felt that he was chosen more for his rank than for his composition skills.[29] Thomas did not concern himself with the church-state issues involved in the Investiture Crisis, but was tenacious in defending the independence of his see against the efforts of Canterbury to assert primacy over the entirety of England.[30] Later authors, including both William of Malmesbury and Hugh the Chantor, praised Thomas for his generosity, chastity, elegance, and charm. He is said to have composed hymns, and patronized scholars and deserving clergy.[31] He was responsible for the introduction of the continental system of archdeacons, prebends for canons, deans, treasurers and precentors in the cathedral church at York.[4]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Barlow, Frank, William Rufus p. 198-199
  2. ^ a b Douglas William the Conqueror p. 129
  3. ^ Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 p. 250
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Cowdrey "Thomas (d. 1100)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition accessed November 11, 2007
  5. ^ Vaughn Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan p. 32-33
  6. ^ Chibnall Anglo-Norman England p. 126-127
  7. ^ a b c d British History Online Archbishops of York accessed on September 13, 2007
  8. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 281
  9. ^ a b Vaughn Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan p. 161-163
  10. ^ a b c d Douglas William the Conqueror p. 321-323
  11. ^ Chibnall Anglo-Norman England p. 39-40
  12. ^ Later, this see was relocated to Lincoln.
  13. ^ Duggan "From the Conquest to the Death of John" in Lawrence The English Church & the Papacy in the Middle Ages p. 103
  14. ^ Huscroft Ruling England 1042-1217 p. 128
  15. ^ Hudson Viking Pirates p. 165
  16. ^ Barlow William Rufus p. 95
  17. ^ Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 p. 283-284
  18. ^ Cantor Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture p. 64-65
  19. ^ Vaughn Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan p. 148
  20. ^ a b Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 p. 42-43
  21. ^ Southern Saint Anselm p. 340-341
  22. ^ Knowles The Monastic Order in England p. 631
  23. ^ Cantor Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture p. 50-52
  24. ^ Barlow The Feudal Kingdom of England p. 171
  25. ^ Cantor Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture p. 135-135
  26. ^ Crouch The Normans p. 166
  27. ^ Chibnall Anglo-Norman England p. 152
  28. ^ Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 p. 58
  29. ^ Barlow William Rufus p. 51
  30. ^ Cantor Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture p. 36
  31. ^ Barlow The English Church 1066-1154

[edit] References

  • 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. 
  • Barlow, Frank (1983). William Rufus. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04936-5. 
  • British History Online Archbishops of York accessed on September 13, 2007
  • Cantor, Norman F. (1958). Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England 1089-1135. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 
  • Chibnall, Marjorie (1986). Anglo-Norman England 1066-1166. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-15439-6. 
  • Crouch, David (2007). The Normans: The History of a Dynasty. London: Hambledon & London. ISBN 1-85285-595-9. 
  • Cowdrey, H. E. J. "Thomas (d. 1100)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 Online Edition accessed November 11, 2007
  • Duggan, Charles (1965). "From the Conquest to the Death of John". The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages (Reprint edition 1999). Sutton Publishing. p. 63-116. ISBN 0-7509-1947-7. 
  • 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. 
  • Hudson, Benjamin T. (2005). Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516237-4. 
  • Huscroft, Richard (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. 
  • Southern, R. W. (1990). Saint Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36262-8. 
  • Vaughn, Sally N. (1987). Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan: The Innocence of the Dove and the Wisdom of the Serpent. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05674-4. 

[edit] External links

Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Aldred		 Archbishop of York
1070–1100		 Succeeded by
Gerard
Persondata
NAME Thomas of York
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thomas of Bayeux
SHORT DESCRIPTION Archbishop of York
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH November 18, 1100
PLACE OF DEATH York