Biography of Archbishop Lanfranc 1005-1089

Chronicon ex Chronicis. 24th June 1070. The feast of St. John the Baptist being near, earl Asbiorn sailed to Denmark with the fleet which had wintered in the Humber; but his brother Sweyn (age 51) outlawed him, because he had accepted money from king William (age 42), to the great regret of the Danes. Edric, surnamed the Forester, a man of the most resolute courage, of whom we have spoken before, was reconciled with king William. After this, the king summoned from Normandy Lanfranc (age 65), abbot of Caen, a Lombard by birth, a man of unbounded learning, master of the liberal arts, and of both sacred and secular literature, and of the greatest prudence in counsel and the administration of worldly affairs; and on the day of the Assumption of St. Mary, appointed him archbishop of Canterbury, causing him to be consecrated at Canterbury on the feast of St. John the Baptist, being Sunday. He was consecrated by Giso, bishop of Wells, and Walter, bishop of Hereford, who were both ordained at Rome by pope Nicholas, when Aldred, archbishop of York, received the pallium,—for he evaded being ordained by Stigand, who then held the archbishopric of Canterbury, knowing him not to have received the pallium canonically. Bishop Heriman, who had already transferred the seat of his bishopric from Sherbourne to Salisbury, also assisted at his consecration, with some others. Afterwards, Lanfranc consecrated Thomas, archbishop of York. The suit of the reverend Wulfstan (age 62), bishop of Worcester, was again prosecuted, there being now a bishop who could advocate the cause of the church of York; and the affair was, by the aid of God's grace, decided at a council held at a place called Pedred, before the king, archbishop Lanfranc, and the bishops, abbots, earls, and lords of all England. All the groundless assertions by which Thomas and his abettors strove to humble the church of Worcester, and reduce her to subjection and servitude to the church of York, were, by God's just judgement, entirely refuted and negatived by written documents, so that Wulfstan not only recovered the possessions he claimed, but, by God's goodness, and the king's assent, regained for his see all the immunities and privileges freely granted to it by its first founders, the holy king Ethered, Oshere, sub-king of the Hwiccas, and the other kings of Mercia, Cenred, Ethelbald, Offa, Kenulf, Edward the Elder, Athelstan, Edmund, Edred, and Edgar.

Chronicle of William of Malmesbury Book 8 Chapter 3. Some years afterwards, Arnold the monk, son of Umfrid, crossed over to England, and, with the licence of Robert de Limesi, bishop of Lichfield,[1] took up his brother's remains and transferred them to the abbey of St. Evroult in Normandy. They were received with due honours by Abbot Roger and the convent of monks, and interred in the monks' cloister on the south side of the church. This Arnold, with four noble companions, Guy, Roger, Dreux, and Odo, quitted the military service in his youth, and becoming a monk, laboured more abundantly than his associates in the duties of his order, which he performed zealously for almost fifty years. He devoted himself to promote the interests of his abbey, for which he several times crossed the British sea, as well as penetrated into Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, that he might procure supplies for the monastery from the gifts of his relations. In these journeys he visited his brother William, who was abbot of St. Euphemia, and William de Grantmesnil his cousin,[2] as well as other wealthy relations in Italy, and by a gentle violence carried off all he could to enrich his own abbey. In this way he procured from his kinsmens' stores ornaments and other things required for his own church, making his kindred subservient to the demands of the abbey. He had to bear many slights and rebuffs on several occasions, but he was not to be deterred from his undertaking by the obstacles which he sometimes, indeed frequently, met with. Nothing induced him to relax his zeal in the cause he espoused; and it was at his charge that the arch of stone, which is still standing, was built over his brother's tomb. Reynold the painter, who had the surname of Bartolomeo, decorated the arch and tomb with painting in a variety of colours, and Vitalis the Englishman, at the earnest entreaty of Arnold, composed an epitaph in elegiac verses, to the following purport:-

I.

Here in the soil that gave him birth,

As mortals all return to earth,

ROBERT OF RUUDDLAN'S tomb you see;

The flower of Norman chivalry,

Old Umfrid's son, of Danish race,

While beaming yet with youthful grace,

And foremost 'mong the bold and brave,

Fated to find an early grave.

What though a stormy life he led,

The fierce lord-marcher bowed his head

To holy church, the spouse of Christ;

And gave her wealth, for well he wist

'Twas shame to turn from open door,

The priest, the pilgrim, or the poor.

II.

Where Gwned [3] meets the western wave,

He Rhuddlan's Castle built, a name

Which gives him never-dying fame;

And fenced it well, 'mid wars' alarms,

To curb a savage race in arms.

O'er Snowdon's heights and Cefyn's stream [4]

Full oft they saw his armour gleam;

For in the fierce and wild foray

Nor stream nor mountain stopped his way.

And chief, when princely Blethyn fled [5]

Before the scanty band he led,

Successful by a bold surprise,

A glorious booty was the prize.

Prince Howell [6] groaned in Chester's towers,

And royal Gryffyth [7] counted hours

Of dark and sad captivity;

And prostrate Trahaern bowed the knee

To Robert, flushed with victory.

III.

Alas! how short his bold career!

See reckless, without pause or fear,

Alone he rushes on the foe,

Where on the sandy beach below

Orm's beetling cliffs frown fearfully;

'Twas on the third of bright July.

Too rashly left Diganwy's walls,

Pierced by a hundred darts he falls,

And Gryffyth takes his gory head,

Sad trophy of the ruthless deed.

Fierce Owen raised triumphant song, [8]

Prince Howell's bards the notes prolong

The brave lord-marcher's country weeps,

While here his mangled body sleeps,

Resting in Evroult's cloistered shade;

The good saints' merits be his aid!

IV.

Now, reader kind, some moments spare;

To breathe for Robert's soul a prayer;

ALMIGHTY FATHER, grant him rest,

In the bright mansions of the blest!

CHRIST, who life's breath and second birth

Dost give to sinful sons of earth,

Author of immortality,

Propitious to thy servant he;

Snatch him from dreary shades below,

From fires of purgatorial woe,

And, by thy cross, his ransom's price,

Waft him to light and paradise!

And, MARY mild, the sinner's friend,

Thy powerful intercession lend;

For when his foes around him pressed,

And Gwyned's spearmen pierced his breast,

Robert to thee his prayers addressed,

Invoked thee in the hour of death,

And sighed to thee his latest breath.e lord-marcher's country we

Note 1. Robert de Limesi was consecrated as bishop of Lichfield by Archbishop Lanfranc in 1085 (December 25). He transferred the seat of his bishopric to Coventry the 18th of April, 1102, and died the 30th of August, 1117.

Note 2. William, second son of Hugh de Grantmesnil, and son-in-law of Robert Guiscard.

Note 3. Cefyn, the Welsh name of the Conway.

Note 4. BLETHYN-AP-CONWYN, prince of North Wales and Powis; at first, jointly with Rywallon (1060-1066), and afterwards solely until 1073. The expedition of which our author speaks must have taken place in 1072.

Note 5. HOWEL-AP-OWEN and his brother, Rhys-Ap-Owen, princes of South Wales, were defeated at the battle of Pwll-Getty in 1076, and having been made prisoners, were both put to death.

Note 6. GRYFFYTH-AP-CONAN, having endeavoured to dethrone Trahaern-Ap-Caradoc, seized the isle of Anglesey, and then landed on the coast of Carnarvonshire, where he fought a battle at Bron-yr-Erw in 1073, in which he was defeated, and probably sent at once prisoner to Chester. Having recovered his liberty, he attacked Trahaern again, and gained a victory on the moutains of Carno in 1079.

Note 7. Owen, son of Edwyn-Ap-Grono, afterwards made king of North Wales by the Normans.

Note 8. Howel-Ap-Grono, though originally only lord of Tegengle, from his right of suzerainty may have well been called prince or king by the Welsh.