Alexander of Lincoln
Alexander of Lincoln | |
---|---|
Archdeacon of Salisbury | |
Orders | |
Consecration | 22 July 1123 |
Personal details | |
Died | February 1148 |
Alexander of Lincoln (died February 1148) was a medieval English
Although Alexander was known for his ostentatious and luxurious lifestyle, he founded a number of religious houses in his diocese and was an active builder and literary patron. He also attended church councils and reorganised his diocese by increasing the number of archdeaconries and setting up
Early life
Alexander was a nephew of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury,
Alexander's birthdate is unknown.
Bishop
Alexander was nominated to the see of Lincoln in April 1123 and was consecrated bishop on 22 July 1123,[10] at a ceremony held in Canterbury.[1] He owed his appointment to his uncle's influence with King Henry I; the Peterborough version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle noted that Alexander's appointment to the episcopate was done entirely for the love of Roger.[11]
During his time as bishop Alexander secured the submission of
Although Alexander was a frequent witness to royal charters and documents, there is no evidence that he held an official government position after his appointment as bishop, unlike his relatives Roger and Nigel.[3] Nevertheless, Alexander subsequently appears to have become a regular presence at the royal court. He frequently attested royal charters after 1123, and probably acted as a royal justice in Lincolnshire and the town of Lincoln.[9] He also held the royal castles at Newark, Sleaford and Banbury,[17] and gave confirmations of grants to the church at Godstow.[18]
Alexander was probably at the 1125 church council held at Westminster by the papal legate John of Crema, and shortly afterwards accompanied the legate on his journey back to Rome.[3] He was still in Rome in 1126, and may have helped to obtain a papal confirmation of his uncle's possession of Malmesbury Abbey, Abbotsbury Abbey, and Horton.[19] At some point during his episcopate, an eighth archdeaconry was established in his diocese, for the West Riding area of Lindsey.[20] Besides these reorganisations, Alexander had a number of clerics in his personal household, including Gilbert of Sempringham, who later founded the Gilbertine order. Other members of the bishop's household were Ralph Gubion, who became abbot of St Albans, and an Italian Bible scholar named Guido or Wido, who taught that subject while serving Alexander.[3]
Alexander presided over the organisation of his diocese into prebends to support the cathedral clergy; he established at least one new prebend and augmented two others. He also attended the church councils in 1127 and 1129 that were convened by William de Corbeil, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Later, during 1133 and 1134, he and the archbishop quarrelled, but the exact nature of their dispute is unknown. William and Alexander travelled to Normandy in 1134 to seek out King Henry to settle their dispute.[3]
Reign of Stephen
After Henry's death in 1135 the succession was disputed between the king's nephews—
The election of Theobald of Bec to the Archbishopric of Canterbury was announced at the Council of Westminster in 1138.[23] The medieval chronicler Gervase of Canterbury writes that 17 bishops attended the council, which implies that Alexander was present.[24][c] After a failed expedition to Normandy in 1137, the influence of Alexander's uncle, Roger of Salisbury, waned at the court of King Stephen, but the king took no action against the family that might incite them to rebel.[17] In early 1139 Stephen may have named William d'Aubigny as Earl of Lincoln,[d][26] perhaps in an effort to limit Alexander's influence in Lincolnshire.[17]
In June 1139 a knight was killed during a fight in Oxford between a party of Roger of Salisbury's men and a group of noblemen. The king ordered Roger to attend his court to explain the circumstances of the incident and to surrender custody of his castles, which Roger refused to do, resulting in his and Alexander's arrest; Roger's other nephew, Nigel, evaded capture.[27] Another possible explanation for the arrests is offered by the Gesta Stephani, a contemporary chronicle, which reported the king's fear that Roger and his nephews were plotting to hand their castles to the Empress Matilda. Stephen may alternatively have been attempting to assert his rights over the castles, and demonstrate his authority over powerful subjects.[28] Alexander was imprisoned in Oxford, in conditions described by some medieval chroniclers as bad.[29]
Since the work of Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the years before 1154 and who regarded Stephen's actions as treachery against the clergy that earned him punishment from God,[30] Alexander's arrest has been seen by many historians as a turning point in Stephen's reign.[31] Writing in the 1870s, the historian William Stubbs felt that the arrest destroyed the royal administration, but modern historians have advanced differing explanations for the troubles that followed, not all of which are related to the bishop's arrest.[30]
After Roger and Alexander's arrests Nigel defied the king. The bishops' castles refused to surrender to the king, therefore Stephen threatened to starve Alexander and Roger until they did.[27] Sleaford and Newark surrendered and were given into the custody of Robert, the Earl of Leicester. Earl Robert also seized some of Lincoln's episcopal estates that had been disputed between the earl and the bishop.[32] Alexander subsequently excommunicated Earl Robert when the earl refused to return the castle to Alexander's custody.[33] Alexander then successfully applied to Pope Innocent II in 1139 for support in his efforts to recover Newark castle from Earl Robert.[34]
Stephen's brother,
In 1141 Alexander and the citizens of the town of Lincoln requested that Stephen come to Lincoln and intercede with Ranulf de Gernon, the Earl of Chester, who was attempting to enforce what he regarded as his rights to Lincoln Castle. Stephen arrived and besieged Ranulf's wife and half-brother in the castle, but the earl escaped and sought aid from Robert of Gloucester, Matilda's half-brother and leading supporter. Following Robert's arrival in Lincoln a battle took place there on 2 February 1141, during which Stephen was captured by Matilda's forces.[37] Alexander was present at Oxford in July 1141, when the Empress Matilda held court and attempted to consolidate her hold on England.[38] The citizens of London objected to Matilda's rule when she arrived in their city, and drove her away; Robert of Gloucester was captured shortly afterwards. This reversal of the Empress' fortunes resulted in Stephen's release, after he was exchanged for Robert. The next few years, until 1148, saw a period of civil war in England, often called The Anarchy, when neither Matilda nor Stephen controlled the country.[39]
Patronage
Alexander was a supporter of Gilbert of Sempringham's new monastic order of the Gilbertines,[40] and he was also known as a patron of literature.[41] He commissioned Geoffrey of Monmouth to compose the Prophecies of Merlin,[42] which Geoffrey dedicated to him.[43] Alexander was a patron of the medieval chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, and requested that Henry write his historical work.[44]
Alexander rebuilt Lincoln Cathedral after it had been destroyed by fire at an unknown date.[45] He had the roof done with stone vaulting and began construction of the west front of the cathedral, which was finished under his successor.[3] The only remaining major traces of Alexander's work on the west end are the carved doors and the frieze on the west front.[46] The author of the Gesta Stephani claimed that Alexander's additions made Lincoln Cathedral "more beautiful than before and second to none in the realm".[47] Traditionally, Alexander has been credited with the commissioning of the baptismal font in Lincoln Cathedral, made of Tournai marble. Recent scholarship, however, has cast doubt upon this theory and suggests that the font was carved on the orders of Alexander's successor, Robert de Chesney.[48]
Stephen granted to Alexander the land on which the Old Palace of the bishops stands in Lincoln, although it is unclear whether it was Alexander or his successor as bishop who began the construction of the existing building. Stephen's grant added to an earlier one by King Henry, of the Eastgate in Lincoln as an episcopal residence. Work commissioned by Alexander has survived at the three castles he built at Newark-on-Trent, Sleaford, and probably Banbury.[3]
Alexander's nickname, "the Magnificent",[49] reflected his ostentatious and luxurious lifestyle.[45] Henry of Huntingdon records that this was a contemporary nickname. Alexander was rebuked by Bernard of Clairvaux for his lifestyle.[3] He may have been responsible for the education of an illegitimate son of King Henry's, as two charters of Alexander's are witnessed by a William, who is described as a son of the king.[50] He also advanced the careers of his family, naming his relative Adelelm as Dean of Lincoln during his episcopate. Another member of his household was Robert Gubion, who later became abbot of St Albans Abbey.[3]
The medieval chronicler
Death
Alexander spent most of 1145 and 1146 at the papal court in Rome,
Notes
- ^ Occasionally it is argued that Alexander, and Nigel, were really Roger's sons, but it is unlikely that Alexander was a son of Roger, as Alexander mentions his father and mother as well as his uncle Roger in a charter Alexander granted when founding Haverholme Priory in Lincolnshire.[3]
- ^ Henry I had more than 20 illegitimate children.[22]
- ^ There were only 17 dioceses in England at this time.[25]
- ^ It is not certain that he was ever actually Earl of Lincoln, as by 1141 he was called Earl of Sussex.[26]
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Greenway "Bishops" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300 Volume 3: Lincoln
- ^ a b Kealey Roger of Salisbury p. 24
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Smith "Alexander" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ a b c Kealey Roger of Salisbury pp. 272–276
- ^ Chibnall Anglo-Norman England p. 128
- ^ Kealey Roger of Salisbury p. 49 and footnote 74
- ^ Brett English Church p. 107 footnote 5
- ^ Greenway "Archdeacons of Salisbury" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300 Volume 4: Salisbury
- ^ a b Green Government of England p. 263 and footnote 309
- ^ a b Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 255
- ^ Kealey Roger of Salisbury p. 135
- ^ Brett English Church p. 132
- ^ Burton Monastic and Religious Orders p. 229
- ^ Brett English Church pp. 137–138
- ^ Brett English Church p. 140
- ^ Barlow English Church p. 203
- ^ a b c Crouch Reign of King Stephen pp. 93–94
- ^ Brett English Church p. 126
- ^ Kealey Roger of Salisbury p. 113
- ^ Brett English Church p. 201
- ^ Huscroft Ruling England pp. 71–73
- ^ Hollister Henry I p. 41
- ^ Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 92
- ^ Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 93 footnote 25
- ^ Barlow English Church p. 322
- ^ a b Keats-Rohan Domesday Descendants pp. 226–227
- ^ a b Matthew King Stephen pp. 91–92
- ^ Chibnall Empress Matilda p. 79
- ^ Kealey Roger of Salisbury p. 185
- ^ a b Matthew King Stephen pp. 84–85
- ^ Matthew King Stephen p. 2
- ^ Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 95
- ^ Kealey Roger of Salisbury pp. 201–202
- ^ Crouch Reign of King Stephen p. 311
- ^ Chibnall Anglo-Norman England pp. 92–93
- ^ Kealey Roger of Salisbury p. 190
- ^ a b Matthew King Stephen p. 102
- ^ Crouch Reign of King Stephen pp. 179–181
- ^ Huscroft Ruling England pp. 74–75
- ^ Lawrence Medieval Monasticism pp. 224–225
- ^ Brett English Church p. 184
- ^ Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 217
- ^ Short "Language and Literature" Companion to the Anglo-Norman World p. 200
- ^ Matthew King Stephen p. 39
- ^ a b Barlow English Church p. 86
- ^ Cannon Cathedral p. 73
- ^ Quoted in Cannon Cathedral p. 73
- ^ King "Tournai Marble Baptismal Font" Journal of the British Archaeological Association pp. 18–19
- ^ Knowles Monastic Order p. 222
- ^ Brett English Church p. 175 and footnote 1
- ^ Dalton "Churchmen and the Promotion of Peace" Viator pp. 95–96
- ^ Dalton "Churchmen and the Promotion of Peace" Viator p. 98
- ^ Dalton "Churchmen and the Promotion of Peace" Viator p. 94
References
- ISBN 0-582-50236-5.
- Brett, M. (1975). The English Church under Henry I. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821861-3.
- ISBN 0-521-37797-8.
- Cannon, Jon (2007). Cathedral: The Great English Cathedrals and the World that Made Them 600–1540. London: Constable. ISBN 978-1-84119-841-5.
- ISBN 0-631-15439-6.
- ISBN 0-631-19028-7.
- ISBN 0-582-22657-0.
- Dalton, Paul (2000). "Churchmen and the Promotion of Peace in King Stephen's Reign". Viator. 31: 79–119. S2CID 153362964.
- 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.
- ISBN 0-521-37586-X.
- Greenway, Diana E. (1991). "Archdeacons of Salisbury". Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300. Vol. 4: Salisbury. Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
- Greenway, Diana E. (1977). "Bishops". Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300. Vol. 3: Lincoln. Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
- ISBN 0-300-08858-2.
- Huscroft, Richard (2005). Ruling England 1042–1217. London: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-84882-2.
- Kealey, Edward J. (1972). Roger of Salisbury, Viceroy of England. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01985-7.
- ISBN 0-85115-863-3.
- King, James F. (2002). "The Tournai Marble Baptismal Font of Lincoln Cathedral". Journal of the British Archaeological Association. 155: 1–21. S2CID 191987119.
- ISBN 0-521-05479-6.
- Lawrence, C. H. (2001). Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (Third ed.). New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-40427-4.
- Matthew, Donald (2002). King Stephen. London: Hambledon & London. ISBN 1-85285-514-2.
- Short, Ian (2002). "Language and Literature". In Harper-Bill, Christopher; van Houts, Elizabeth (eds.). A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell. pp. 191–213. ISBN 978-1-84383-341-3.
- Smith, David M. (2004). "Alexander (d. 1148)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. required)
- ISBN 0-85115-708-4.
Further reading
- Dyson, A. G. (January 1975). "The Monastic Patronage of Bishop Alexander of Lincoln". . – detailed discussion of the foundation of four monasteries by Alexander
- Fernie, E. C. (1977). "Alexander's Frieze on Lincoln Minster". Lincolnshire History and Archaeology. 12: 19–28. – discussion of the frieze that was begun under Alexander