Aelred of Rievaulx

In 1134, a man in his 20s entered Rievaulx, a Cistercian abbey in North Yorkshire. A sentence like this has been written many times in this blog, but it usually refers to a younger son of a family who had no prospects in life other than the church. In this case, however, the young man had already had a significant career that could have lasted his whole lifetime, and he gave it all up. A monk at Rievaulx who knew Aelred, Walter Daniel, wrote a biography of Aelred, giving us more biographical detail than we usually have on anyone from this time period.

Aelred of Rievaulx was born c.1110 in Hexham in Northumberland, one of three sons of a priest named Eilaf. (Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury's prohibition against clerical marriage was very recent.) Although priests still had sons, a 1095 order from the Council of Claremont forbade the sons of priests to become priests (the idea was to prevent inheritance of benefices, since a bishop or higher-ranking prelate should decide where a benefice goes when a priest dies).

He would have been educated at the cathedral school at Durham. We know he spent several years at the court of King David I of Scotland, and was there long enough to rise to the title echonomus, a word related to "economy" and indicating that he was a steward or seneschal, possible the steward of the king's household, managing all of the "below stairs" members of staff. While in this role, Walter Daniel tells us of an incident where a knight harassed him and used a degrading sexual slur. Daniel uses this anecdote as an example of Aelred's capacity for forgiveness, but the incident seems to have made Aelred depressed and disillusioned with court life.

On a mission for David to Thurstan, Archbishop of York, Aelred learned of Rievaulx Abbey, founded only two years earlier by monks from Clairvaux Abbey in northeastern France. Aelred realized that a religious life was his true calling, and joined Rievaulx. A few years later he was part of a delegation to Rome to see Pope Innocent II. The purpose was to present northern England delegates who opposed the election of Henry de Sully as Archbishop of York; although de Sully was an abbot, his main qualification was that he was a nephew of Stephen of Blois, whose seizing of the throne of England caused The Anarchy. Their delegation was successful.

After Rome, Aelred in 1143 was made abbot of Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire, founded that year as a daughter house of Rievaulx. Not long after, in 1147, he was made abbot of Rievaulx itself. According to his biographer, Aelred "doubled everything" at Rievaulx. The buildings, the members, the resources—all increased under Aelred at what was an already flourishing complex.

Tomorrow, we'll talk more about Aelred's leadership and authorship. See you then.

Thurstan of Bayeaux

Thurstan (or Turstin) of Bayeaux (c.1070 - 1140) was the son of a priest (this was before Anselm disallowed priests in England to marry). Born at Bayeaux, his father became a canon at St. Paul's in London by 1104.

Thurstan was a clerk under Kings William Rufus and Henry I. For a time he was Henry's almoner, responsible for distributing alms to the poor.* Henry selected Thurstan as the next Archbishop of York after the death of Thomas II of York. Thomas had refused to recognize Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury as his superior, and got his pallium from a papal legate and not bestowed on him by Canterbury. This was part of the Canterbury-York dispute.

In Thurstan's case, Anselm had been succeeded by Ralph d'Escures, who likewise would not support Thurstan's elevation to archbishop unless Thurstan professed obedience to Canterbury. This Thurstan would not do.

To be clear, he did not need to. Henry decided to quash the Canterbury-York controversy at the 1116 Council of Salisbury by ordering Thurstan to submit to d'Escures. Thurstan resigned the archbishopric instead of submitting. Meanwhile, however, Pope Paschal had sent him and the king letters that supported Thurstan against Canterbury. Thurstan's resignation was ignored. The next two popes repeated Paschal's orders, and in October 1119 Thurstan was in Reims being consecrated by Pope Calixtus II, even though Calixtus had earlier told King Henry that he would not consecrate Thurstan until the king gave his consent.

Henry was outraged, and vowed that Archbishop Thurstan would not set foot in England. Thurstan stayed on the continent with Calixtus. He also visited Henry's favorite sibling, his sister Adela of Normandy. Adela helped convince Henry to reconcile with Thurstan. Calixtus had also threatened interdict on England (no sacraments could be administered to the faithful) if Henry did not comply. When Adela retired from active life and entered the monastery of Marcigny at Easter 1120, Thurstan escorted her. A year later he ws recalled to England. (I can't help thinking Adela had a large hand in changing her brother's mind.)

One of Thurstan's more controversial moves was to make a bishop out of a man who was obscure of birth, boastful of his (fictitious) parentage, haughty and materialistic. Thurstan wanted to create more bishops to oversee more dioceses in northern England. One of these was Wimund, who was made Bishop of the Isles, including the Hebrides and the Isle of Mann. When Thurstan created a bishop for galloway, Wimund objected because he felt he had jurisdiction over Galloway. Wimund did more than object: he decided to compensate for the loss of revenue by losing Galloway that he became essentially a pirate, a story I told here.

Thurstan eventually resigned his position on 21 January 1140 in order to fulfill a lifelong goal of becoming a Cluniac monk at Pontefract. He died there on 6 February, after a two-week retirement.

Two years earlier, he had been essential in raising an army against the Scots. For the story of the Battle of the Standard, you'll have to come back tomorrow.

*The United Kingdom still has a Lord High Almoner.

Ralph d'Escures

While Anselm was still abbot of Bec and avoiding the journey to England to become Archbishop of Canterbury because of William II's authoritarian attitude, he attended the installation of his friend Ralph d'Escures as abbot of St. Martin at Séez (northwestern France). d'Escures had been at Bec with Anselm.

Orderic Vitalis, a contemporary chronicler, said he was well-educated and loved by all. The critical-of-clergy William of Malmesbury even said good things about him, although William says that d'Escures occasionally lapsed into inappropriate behavior.

Not long after becoming abbot of St. Martin, d'Escures was in England, visiting St. Martin's daughter house, Shrewsbury Abbey.* Henry I was having trouble with Robert, Earl of Shrewsbury, and some chroniclers say it was Ralph who mediated in Robert's surrender. Robert demanded homage from d'Escures, because Shrewsbury Abbey was in Robert's domain, but d'Escures refused. Pope Urban II had declared that clergy should not owe homage to secular lords, and d'Escures was willing to fight that fight.

d'Escures remained in England, and was one of the clergy who examined the body of St. Cuthbert when it was disinterred for travel, declaring it to be uncorrupted. In August 1108, he was made Bishop of Rochester at the death of Gundulf, and less than a year later attended Anselm's deathbed. He was chosen to succeed Anselm, but not appointed until April 1114. Henry I tried to appoint Faricius, the Abbot of Abingdon. The bishops and secular nobles objected, however, because Faricius was Italian and they wanted a Norman for the position.

It was now up to Pope Paschal II to grant the pallium, without which an archbishop could not be properly consecrated. Paschal was reluctant, however: just as Anselm had fought for the autonomy of the English Church from secular authority, the pope noticed an alarming amount of independence of the English Church from papal authority. England was naming bishops to dioceses without consulting with or getting approval from the pope.

d'Escures also refused to confirm a new Archbishop of York, because the candidate, Thurstan, would not profess obedience to Canterbury. Paschal supported Thurstan, but d'Escures still refused. After Paschal's death, d'Escures held out on Thurstan through two other popes, Gelasius II and Calixtus II (who finally settled the Investiture Controversy).

In July 1119, as he finished Mass and was removing his vestments, he suffered a stroke, becoming unable to speak clearly and partially paralyzed. He insisted on still being involved in important affairs, however. When King Henry I married Adeliza of Louvain (his first wife, Matilda of Scotland, had died a year earlier), d'Escures wanted to officiate. Unable to perform himself, however, he stubbornly forced his own choice of officiant on the ceremony rather than the king's choice.

Ralph d'Escures died on 20 October 1122, and was buried in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral three days later.

Thurstan was still not installed as Archbishop of York, so with Ralph gone, one would expect that the York-Canterbury controversy would end. Not quite. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the ups and downs of Thurstan's journey to York, and how he inadvertently created a pirate.

*Inciodentally, the site of the Brother Cadfael mysteries.