Hilary of Chichester
Hilary of Chichester | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Chichester | |
 The interior of Chichester Cathedral, showing the Romanesque stonework. The interior was reworked after a fire in 1187, but the basic structure dates from before Hilary's episcopate.[1] | |
| Appointed | July 1147 |
| Predecessor | Seffrid I |
| Successor | John of Greenford |
| Other post(s) | Dean of Christchurch |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 3 August 1147 by Theobald of Bec |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1110 |
| Died | July 1169 |
Hilary (
Hilary spent many years in a struggle with
Early life
Hilary was probably born around 1110, and was likely of low birth, but nothing is known of his ancestry. His brother was a
As Dean of Christchurch, Hilary restored the organisation to its traditional round of religious ceremonies that had been abandoned by his predecessors, as well as securing grants of privileges and lands.
Stephen's reign
King Stephen sent Hilary to attend a church council at Reims in 1148 along with Robert de Bethune, who was the Bishop of Hereford, and William de Turbeville. Theobald of Bec was also present, even though the king had forbidden him to attend.[16] The medieval chronicler Gervase of Canterbury stated that Stephen wanted to weaken Theobald's standing with the papacy, but Stephen also would have wished to assert his authority over the English Church by insisting on the right to limit papal contact with the English bishops, something that his predecessors had always done.[17]
Hilary attempted to excuse the king's attempt to exclude Theobald from the council, which appears to be the main reason why Stephen allowed Hilary to attend.[4] Hilary was rewarded for his loyalty by being named a queen's chaplain.[2] Soon after the council, Robert de Bethune died and Gilbert Foliot was elected to the see of Hereford, at the direction of the pope. Theobald was in exile in Flanders because he had defied the king, so the pope ordered Robert de Sigello, the Bishop of London, Josceline de Bohon, the Bishop of Salisbury, and Hilary, to go to Flanders to help Theobald consecrate Gilbert. However, the three bishops were reluctant, and told the pope that because Gilbert had not received the royal assent, nor had he sworn fealty to Stephen, they would not consecrate him. Theobald then consecrated Gilbert with the help of some continental bishops.[18] Hilary was one of the bishops who made peace between Theobald and Stephen after the council at Reims,[19] helping in the negotiations after Theobald's return to England. Theobald settled at Hugh Bigod's castle of Framlingham; negotiations between the royal party and the archbishop's party resulted in the king yielding and in the restoration of the archbishop to his lands.[20]
Struggle with Battle Abbey
Hilary struggled with the abbot of Battle Abbey for many years over the
At the council, Walter de Lucy produced William I's foundation charter and the confirmation by Henry I of England, Henry II's grandfather. Both documents were admitted as genuine, and as freeing the abbey from ecclesiastical oversight, as Henry II had at his coronation confirmed all his grandfather's charters.[22] Modern scholarship has shown, however, that at least one of the documents had been recently forged, shortly before 1155.[24][25][a] Hilary argued that only a papal privilege could exempt a monastery from episcopal oversight and that the abbey had no such privilege.[21] Hilary argued that no king could grant such an exemption unless they had a licence from the papacy.[4] Henry was unimpressed by this argument, for it impinged on his royal prerogative.[21] Thomas Becket, then Henry's chancellor but later to be famous for his dispute with Henry over ecclesiastical privileges, was one of Hilary's chief opponents at this council.[26] Eventually, the case was decided by persuading Hilary to renounce any episcopal claims on the abbey.[22]
Henry II's biographer, the historian W. L. Warren, suggests that Hilary was pressed to bring the case against Battle Abbey by his cathedral chapter and that Hilary did not pursue the case vigorously.[22] The historian Henry Mayr-Harting sees the case against the abbey as the lone exception in Hilary's long career of support for the royal position against the papacy, and argues that the only reason Hilary opposed the king in this respect was that it was Hilary's own rights as a diocesan bishop that were being flouted. Mayr-Harting also suggests that Theobald of Bec was supporting Hilary's efforts to assert Chichester's rights.[27]
The historian Nicholas Vincent argues that the entire basis of this account, which ultimately rests on the Chronicle of Battle Abbey, is part of the forgeries produced by the Battle monks. He argues that the only documentary evidence detailing the course of the legal battle besides the Chronicle is a forged charter of Henry II to the abbey and a letter of Theobald's that itself may be forged, as it repeats the story of the Chronicle almost word for word. Vincent's point is that although there was no doubt a dispute between Hilary and the abbey over a claimed exemption, as evidenced by an 1170 letter of Becket's referring to some sort of settlement between the monks and the bishop, the actual account in the Chronicle is untrustworthy. Unfortunately, the 1170 letter does not give any details of the dispute, merely stating that the bishop was "forced to make public peace with the abbot".[28]
Henry II's reign
Hilary held the office of
Hilary created the offices of treasurer and chancellor of the diocese of Chichester, to regulate and improve the finances of the cathedral chapter and the diocese.[37] He also was involved in the canonisation of Edward the Confessor, writing a letter to Pope Alexander III in favour of Edward's sainthood,[2] and was one of the three bishops who announced the canonisation at Westminster Abbey and celebrated a mass in honour of the new saint.[34][b]
In May 1162, Hilary was part of the deputation sent to the monks of Christ Church Priory by Henry II to secure the election of Thomas Becket as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.[38] When Gilbert Foliot, the Bishop of Hereford, objected to Becket's candidacy, Hilary took the position that the king desired the election, so the bishops and electors should elect the king's choice.[19] When it was suggested that a monk should hold Canterbury, as had been the custom previously, Hilary asked if the questioners thought that only one way of life was satisfactory to God.[5]
The next year, a council held at Westminster became one of the early stages in the king's growing
After the Council of Westminster, Hilary supported the king throughout the Becket dispute, and one factor in his royalist position may have been that Hilary remembered who had opposed his case against Battle Abbey, and thus refused to support the archbishop.[2][26] Towards the end of 1163, Henry sent Hilary on an embassy to Becket, to persuade the archbishop to modify his position, but Becket was unmoved.[33] Hilary also took part in the king's embassy in 1164 to Pope Alexander III and King Louis VII of France, which attempted to persuade the pope and the king of France to favour King Henry instead of Becket, and to keep Becket from finding a haven in France during his exile.[42]
Death and legacy
Hilary died in July 1169, probably on 13 July.
Hilary's clerks were trained in administration, and one of them, his nephew Jocelin, was named chancellor of
Notes
- ^ The historian Eleanor Searle argues that the charters were forged in three periods, one from shortly after the death of Stephen in 1154 to 1157, another group in the period 1157 to 1174, and lastly a group forged in the first part of the 13th century. One charter at least probably was forged after Hilary's death, for it bears his name as a witness.[25]
- ^ The other bishops were Robert de Chesney and Nigel, Bishop of Ely.[34]
Citations
- ^ Kerr and Kerr Guide to Norman Sites pp. 37–38
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mayr-Harting "Hilary" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ a b c d Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 5: Chichester: Bishops
- ^ a b c Mayr-Harting "Hilary of Chichester and Henry II" English Historical Review p. 209
- ^ a b c d Knowles Episcopal Colleagues pp. 24–27
- ^ Cosman Medieval Wordbook p. 2
- ^ Duggan "From the Conquest to the Death of John" English Church and the Papacy p. 86
- ^ Coredon Dictionary p. 66
- ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 195
- ^ Doubleday and Page History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 2: Houses of Austin Canons: Priory of Christchurch, Twyneham
- ^ Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 128
- ^ Barlow English Church pp. 98–99
- ^ a b Saltman Theobald pp. 100–102
- ^ a b Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 238
- ^ Hamilton Religion in the Medieval West p. 39
- ^ Barlow English Church p. 112
- ^ Saltman Theobald p. 25
- ^ Saltman Theobald pp. 25–30
- ^ a b c Mayr-Harting "Hilary of Chichester and Henry II" English Historical Review p. 213
- ^ Saltman Theobald pp. 29–30
- ^ a b c d Knowles Monastic Order p. 589
- ^ a b c d Warren Henry II pp. 429–432
- ^ Searle "Battle Abbey" English Historical Review pp. 453–454
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 49–51
- ^ a b Searle "Battle Abbey" English Historical Review pp. 449–480
- ^ a b Powell and Wallis House of Lords p. 79 and footnote 45
- ^ Mayr-Harting "Hilary of Chichester" English Historical Review pp. 222–224
- ^ Vincent "King Henry II and the Monks of Battle" Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages pp. 282–283
- ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 222 footnote 3
- ^ Cheney Becket to Langton pp. 21–22
- ^ Chrimes Introduction p. 55
- ^ Coredon Dictionary p. 120
- ^ a b Warren Henry II p. 472
- ^ a b c Mayr-Harting "Hilary of Chichester and Henry II" English Historical Review pp. 215–216
- ^ Robinson Papacy p. 194
- ^ Mayr-Harting "Hilary of Chichester and Henry II" English Historical Review pp. 216–218
- ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 390
- ^ Powell and Wallis House of Lords p. 78
- ^ Huscroft Ruling England pp. 192–193
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 94–95
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 95–96
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 119
- ^ Quoted in Mayr-Harting "Hilary" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Hudson Land, Law, and Lordship p. 240
- ^ Mayr-Harting "Introduction" Acta p. 9
- ^ Mayr-Harting "Introduction" Acta p. 27
- ^ Mayr-Harting "Hilary of Chichester" English Historical Review p. 219
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 78
References
- ISBN 0-582-50236-5.
- ISBN 0-520-07175-1.
- ISBN 0-19-822741-8.
- OCLC 153989468.
- Chrimes, S. B. (1966). An Introduction to the Administrative History of Mediaeval England (Third ed.). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. OCLC 270094959.
- Coredon, Christopher (2007). A Dictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrases (Reprint ed.). Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-138-8.
- Cosman, Madeleine Pelner (2007). Medieval Wordbook: More the 4,000 Terms and Expressions from Medieval Culture. New York: Barnes & Noble. ISBN 978-0-7607-8725-0.
- Doubleday, H. Arthur; Page, William, eds. (1973). A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 2: Houses of Austin Canons: Priory of Christchurch, Twyneham. Victoria County History. Archived from the originalon 5 November 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
- Duggan, Charles (1965). "From the Conquest to the Death of John". In Lawrence, C. H. (ed.). The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages (1999 Reprint ed.). Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. pp. 63–116. ISBN 0-7509-1947-7.
- 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.
- Greenway, Diana E. (1996). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 5: Chichester: Bishops. Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
- Hamilton, Bernard (2003). Religion in the Medieval West (Second ed.). London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80839-X.
- ISBN 0-19-820688-7.
- Kerr, Mary; Kerr, Nigel (1984). A Guide to Norman Sites in Britain. London: Granada. ISBN 0-246-11976-4.
- OCLC 254461533.
- ISBN 0-521-05479-6.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13254. Retrieved 25 November 2007. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- JSTOR 560029.
- OCLC 3812576.
- ISBN 0-19-821707-2.
- OCLC 463626.
- Robinson, I. S. (1990). The Papacy 1073–1198: Continuity and Innovation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31922-6.
- Saltman, Avrom (1956). Theobald: Archbishop of Canterbury. London: Athlone Press. OCLC 247887763.
- Searle, Eleanor (July 1968). "Battle Abbey and Exemption: The Forged Charters". JSTOR 564160.
- Vincent, Nicholas (2001). "King Henry II and the Monks of Battle: The Battle Chronicle Unmasked". In Gameson, Richard; Leyser, Henrietta (eds.). Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages: Studies Presented to Henry Mayr-Harting. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 264–286. ISBN 0-19-820801-4.
- ISBN 0-520-03494-5.
- ISBN 0-85115-708-4.