William de St-Calais was a medieval Norman monk, abbot of the abbey of St. Vincent in Le Mans in Maine, who was nominated as Bishop of Durham in 1080 by King William I of England. During his term as bishop, St-Calais replaced the canons of his cathedral chapter with monks, and began the construction of Durham Cathedral. In addition to his ecclesiastical duties, he served as a commissioner for the Domesday Book. He was also a councilor and advisor to both King William I and his son, King William II, known as William Rufus. Following William Rufus' accession to the throne in 1087, St-Calais was considered by scholars to be the new king's chief advisor. However, when the king's uncle, Odo of Bayeux, raised a rebellion against the king in 1088, St-Calais was implicated in the revolt. Imprisoned briefly, St-Calais was allowed to go into exile in Normandy, where he became a leading advisor to Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy. By 1091, St-Calais had returned to England and regained royal favour. In England, St-Calais once more became a leading advisor to the king. In 1093 he negotiated with Anselm, Abbot of Bec, concerning Anselm's becoming Archbishop of Canterbury; in 1095 it was St-Calais who prosecuted the royal case against Anselm after he had become archbishop. Before his death in 1096, he had made his peace with Anselm, who blessed and consoled St-Calais on his deathbed. (more...)

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November 17

• 1292 – John Balliol was chosen to be King of Scots over Robert de Brus.
• 1869 – The Suez Canal opened, allowing shipping to travel between Europe and Asia via the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
• 1950 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama (pictured), was enthroned as Tibet's head of state at the age of fifteen.
• 1970 – The Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 landed on the Moon to become the first roving remote-controlled robot to operate on another celestial body.
• 2009 – Administrators at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia discovered that their servers had been hacked and thousands of emails and files on climate change had been stolen.

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