Godfrey of Chichester

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Godfrey of Chichester
Bishop of Chichester
See Diocese of Chichester
Appointed 1088
Term ended 25 September 1088
Predecessor Stigand
Successor Ralph
Personal details
Died 25 September 1088
Denomination Catholic

Godfrey (died 1088) was a medieval Bishop of Chichester. The first Bishop of Chichester, was Stigand who died in 1087, it seems that he was followed by Godfrey. Confusion over the succession, was generated by William of Malmesbury, who suggested that Stigand was succeeded by a Bishop William.

Background

Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the English church was gradually restructured along the lines of the episcopal organization in Normandy. As part of this process, almost all of the Anglo-Saxon bishops of English Sees were replaced by Normans. In 1070 Æthelric II of Selsey was deposed from his episcopate and replaced by William the Conqueror's chaplain Stigand. Then under Stigand the See was transferred from Selsey to Chichester .[1]

Life

19th century plan of Chichester cathedral
Plan of Chichester Cathedral. Note cloisters and Paradise on the right.

On Stigand's death, Godfrey was nominated, by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1087-1088; his nomination is recorded in the Acta Lanfranci a text recorded in the 11th or 12th century.[2][3][4] Godfreys death on 25 September 1088 is recorded in the Annales Cicestrensis, under 1088.[2][5][6]


Little is known of his background, except he had been a royal chaplain.[7][8][9] So little was known of him, that the medieval historians, William of Malmesbury and Florence of Worcester mistakenly called him William instead of Godfrey.[10][11]

The lead cross

In Christianity, it was unusual for the deceased to be interred with the accoutrements of life, the only exceptions were the vestments that some great men such as bishops were buried.[12] According to Lanfranc's Constitutions a written absolution of sins would be placed on the chest of a dead monk in their tomb, while an inscribed lead cross served a similar purpose for prelates.[12] In 1830, some workmen, digging a drain in the medieval burial ground, known as Paradise, a part of the cathedral cloisters, discovered a lead cross.[2] Four years earlier a stone coffin had been found in the same area, it is believed that the two were linked.[2] The cross had a Latin inscription on it, the translation in English reads:

We absolve you, O Bishop Godfrey, in place of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, to whom the Lord gave the power of binding and releasing, so that in so far as your accusation warrants and the remission pertains to us. God the omnipotent redeemer, the kind forgiver, may be to you the healing of all your sins. Amen. On 25th September, on the feast of St Fermin bishop and martyr, Bishop Godfrey of Chichester died. On the same day it was five days after the (new) moon. [2]

The first part of the text, as far as the amen, is a papal absolution relating to Godfrey.[2]

The vacant bishopric

After Godfrey's death, the see lay vacant until 1090 or 1091.[13] The 19th century historian W.R.W. Stephens said that the cause of the vacancy was due to "the grasping avarice of the red king, who protracted episcopal vacancies to the utmost extent, that he might enrich his own treasury with the temporalities of the sees."[14] The church and William II were certainly in conflict for much of his reign.[15] When bishoprics and abbeys became vacant William was able to take the revenues from them until the post was filled by a new bishop or abbot, William would often auction these positions off to the highest bidder. [16]

Notes

  1. ↑ Kelly "Bishopric of Selsey" Chichester Cathedral: An Historic Survey p. 9
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Okasha "The Lead cross of Bishop Godfrey of Chichester" Sussex Archaeological Collection 134 pp. 63-69
  3. ↑ Bately. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Volume 3. MS A. p. 87
  4. ↑ Douglas English Historical Documents 1042-1189 p 679. The translation is given as: "In the eighteenth year (August 1087- August 1088) when King William died overseas, Lanfranc chose his son William as king, even as his father has desired and hallowed and crowned him in the church of the blessed Peter, which is in the western part of London. In the same year in the metropolitan see of Canterbury he examined and consecrated Godfrey to be bishop of Chichester..."
  5. ↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 238
  6. ↑ Mayr-Harting Diocesis Cicestrensis: Acta of the Bishops of Chichester p. 65
  7. ↑ Barlow William Rufus pp. 93–94
  8. ↑ Barlow William Rufus p. 147
  9. ↑ Barlow William Rufus p. 179
  10. ↑ William of Malmesbury. Gesta Pontificum Anglorum. Bk2. Ch.96. accessed 28 August 2013
  11. ↑ Barlow English Church p. 66 footnote 70
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Bartlett. England under the Norman and Angevin Kings. pp. 596-597
  13. ↑ Barlow English Church p. 68
  14. ↑ Stephens Memorials of the South Saxon See p. 47
  15. ↑ Starkey. Monarchy. p. 156.
  16. ↑ Barlow William Rufus pp. 233-238.

References

  • Barlow, Frank (1979). The English Church 1066–1154. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-50236-5. 
  • Barlow, Frank (1983). William Rufus. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04936-5. 
  • Bately, Janet, ed. (1986). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Volume 3 MS A. Cambridge, England: Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-103-0. 
  • Bartlett, Robert (2000). England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075–1225. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822741-8. 
  • "Bishops of Chichester". British History Online. Retrieved 20 October 2007. 
  • Douglas, David C., ed. (1981). English Historical Documents: 1042-1189 2nd Edition. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-32500-8. 
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  • of Malmesbury, William (2002). Preest, David, tr, ed. The Deeds of the Bishops of England (Gesta Pontificum Anglorum) by William of Malmesbury (Ecclesiastical History). Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-8511-5884-6. 
  • Mayr-Harting, H. (1964). Diocesis Cicestrensis: The Acta of the Bishops of Chichester 1075 – 1207 Part CXXX. Canterbury and York Society 56. Canterbury & York Society. ISBN 0-907239-04-8. 
  • Okasha, Elisabeth (1996). Sussex Archaeological Collection. 134. Lewes, Sussex: Sussex Archaeological Society. 
  • Starkey, David (2004). The Monarchy of England Volume I. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0-7011-7678-4. 
  • Stephens, W. R. W. (1876). Memorials of the South Saxon See and Cathedral Church of Chichester. London: Bentley. 
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Stigand		 Bishop of Chichester
1088 		Succeeded by
Ralph de Luffa
High Medieval
Late Medieval
Early modern
Late modern
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