Robert Bloet
Robert Bloet | |
|---|---|
Gerard | |
| Succeeded by | William Giffard |
Robert Bloet (sometimes Robert Bloett;
Early life
Bloet was a member of the
Chancellor and bishop
Bloet was a royal clerk in the household of King William I of England.
Prior to Bloet's consecration, the Archbishop of York, Thomas of Bayeux, who had previously had a claim to supervise the see of Lincoln, tried to prevent the Archbishop Anselm's consecrating Bloet.[10] Thomas argued that the area of Lindsey, which was within the diocese of Lincoln, really belonged to the archdiocese of York.[11] The medieval chronicler Hugh the Chanter alleged that Bloet gave Rufus £3,000 to intervene on Bloet's side when Thomas attempted to assert York's claim to Lindsey, but another medieval chronicler, Henry of Huntingdon, who knew Bloet well, said that the sum was £5,000.[12] This payment secured Rufus' support in the dispute between York and Lincoln, which was settled in Lincoln's favour.[13] The sum of £5,000 was extremely large, eight times what Domesday Book records as the bishop of Lincoln's annual income.[14] The king gave York the abbeys of Selby and St Oswald, Gloucester in return for the settlement in favour of Lincoln.[11] Bloet also refused to profess obedience to Anselm, but when King William intervened on Anselm's side, Bloet made the profession to Anselm.[10]
Bloet was one of the chief administrative officers of the kingdom under William II, often associated with
Even after becoming a bishop, Bloet continued to witness royal writs, witnessing six of Rufus' writs while bishop, to add to his 11 witnessed writs during his chancellorship.[19] Bloet was one of the bishops in 1097 that attempted to persuade Anselm when the archbishop was in a dispute with Rufus over travelling to Rome to consult with the papacy. When Anselm refused to be persuaded not to go, the king ordered him to leave the kingdom, with the support of most of the bishops and nobility.[20]
Under Henry I
Bloet continued to be an advisor to the king even after Rufus was succeeded by King Henry I,
When the new see at Ely was established in 1109 in a former abbey, it was carved out of Bloet's diocese who was compensated for the loss by a grant of land.
Henry of Huntingdon, the medieval chronicler, wrote a letter entitled De contemptu mundi where he related a story from right before Bloet's death that Bloet felt he had fallen from King Henry's favour. Bloet allegedly told Huntingdon that the bishop had lost two lawsuits. However, the whole letter is concerned with setting out examples of prominent men who suffered a fall from grace, so possible bias on Huntingdon's part must be kept in mind. There are also records of two legal proceedings involving Bloet at the end of Bloet's life, and although Bloet lost both cases, neither was a loss of much income or prestige. In one, he was allowed to continue to hold the property, although instead of it being judged as his land alone, the settlement was that Bloet held it of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury. The other lawsuit involved Bloet's attempt to hold a manor free of dues owed to Westminster Abbey, which was settled in the Abbey's favour, although Bloet continued to hold the land.[32] Nor is there any lessening of the rate of Bloet's witnessing to royal documents. It appears that Bloet's lost lawsuits were decided by other royal justices, and while he may have lost some favour with the king, he did not fall completely out of favour either.[33]
Death and legacy
Bloet was a married bishop,
Henry of Huntingdon records that noblemen sent their children to be educated at Bloet's household, whether or not they were destined for a career in the church. King Henry's illegitimate son
Citations
- ^ a b Knowles Monastic Order p. 132
- ^ a b c d e f g Barlow English Church 1066–1154 pp. 70–71
- ^ Spear "School of Caen Revisited" Haskins Society Journal p. 65
- ^ Knowles Monastic Order p. 187
- ^ Barlow William Rufus p. 83
- ^ a b Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 83
- ^ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 255
- ^ Barlow William Rufus pp. 299–300
- ^ a b Greenway "Bishops" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 3: Lincoln
- ^ a b Barlow English Church 1066–1154 pp. 38–39
- ^ a b c d e f g h Owen "Bloet, Robert" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Mason William II p. 78
- ^ Mason William II pp. 103–104
- ^ Hollister Henry I pp. 386–387
- ^ West Justiciarship in England p. 11
- ^ Knowles Monastic Order p. 631
- ^ Burton Monastic and Religious Orders p. 230
- ^ Mason William II p. 191
- ^ Barlow William Rufus pp. 192–193
- ^ Barlow William Rufus pp. 373–374
- ^ West Justiciarship in England p. 15
- ^ a b Hollister Henry I pp. 161–162
- ^ Hollister Henry I p. 166
- ^ Hollister Henry I pp. 365–366
- ^ Richardson and Sayles Governance p. 174
- ^ Brett English Church p. 51
- ^ Hollister Henry I p. 223
- ^ West Justiciarship in England p. 17
- ^ Hollister Henry I p. 288
- ^ Brett English Church p. 132
- ^ Brett English Church p. 137
- ^ Hollister Henry I pp. 332–333
- ^ Newman Anglo-Norman Nobility pp. 93–94
- ^ a b Partner "Henry of Huntingdon" Church History p. 471
- ^ Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 177
- ^ Quoted in Owen "Bloet, Robert" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Brett English Church pp. 174–175
- ^ Barlow English Church 1066–1154 p. 221
- ^ Brett English Church p. 184
- ^ Green Government of England p. 159
- ^ Barlow English Church 1066–1154 pp. 202–203
References
- ISBN 0-582-50236-5.
- ISBN 0-520-04936-5.
- Brett, M. (1975). The English Church Under Henry I. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821861-3.
- Burton, Janet (1994). Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain: 1000–1300. Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37797-8.
- 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.
- ISBN 0-521-37586-X.
- Greenway, Diana E. (1977). "Bishops". Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300. Vol. 3: Lincoln. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
- ISBN 0-300-08858-2.
- ISBN 0-521-05479-6.
- Mason, Emma (2005). William II: Rufus, the Red King. Stroud, UK: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-3528-0.
- Newman, Charlotte A. (1988). The Anglo-Norman Nobility in the Reign of Henry I: The Second Generation. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-8138-1.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2660. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- Partner, Nancy (December 1973). "Henry of Huntingdon: Clerical Celibacy and the Writing of History". Church History. 42 (4): 467–475. S2CID 162469275.
- Richardson, H. G.; ISBN 0-85224-102-X.
- Spear, David S. (1993). "The School of Caen Revisited". In Patterson, Robert B. (ed.). Haskins Society Journal: Studies in Medieval History. Vol. 4. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell. pp. 97–108. ISBN 0-85115-333-X.
- West, Francis (1966). The Justiciarship in England 1066–1232. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-61964-5.
- ISBN 0-85115-708-4.