William Warelwast

Infobox bishopbiog
name =William Warelwast


religion =Catholic
See =Diocese of Exeter
Title = Bishop of Exeter
Period = 1107–1137
Predecessor = Osbern FitzOsbern
Successor =Robert Warelwast
ordination =
bishops =
post =Archdeacon of Exeter
date of birth =
place of birth =
date of death =about 26 September 1137
place of death =

William Warelwast (or William de Warelwast) (d.1137) was a medieval Norman cleric and Bishop of Exeter.

Early life

Little is known of his background or family before 1087. His name came from Ver-à-Val, which is about convert|3.1|mi|km|abbr=on to the northwest of Yvetot in the current department of Seine-Maritime. Although hostile chroniclers claimed that Warelwast was uneducated, his career shows that he must have been literate and to have been able to speak well. He possibly was educated at Laon, as later in life he sent his nephew Robert Warelwast to school there. Another nephew, William, later became the bishop's steward.Barlow "Warelwast, William de (d. 1137)" "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"]

Royal clerk under King William II

Early in the reign of King William II of England Warelwast appears as authorizing writs.Barlow "William Rufus" p. 96] He served the king as a envoy to Pope Urban II in 1095, when the king was seeking to remove the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm of Canterbury.Poole "Domesday Book to Magna Carta" p. 174] Warelwast was sent with Gerard, another royal clerk, to the pope with orders to recognize Urban in return for deposition of Anselm, at least according to Eadmer, a medieval chronicler and partisan of Anselm. [The two clerks made a very fast journey, as they did not leave before 28 February 1095 and were back in England with the legate by 13 May 1095. Vaughn "Anselm of Bec" p. 187] Eadmer also claimed that the ambassadors were supposed to acquire a pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, for the king to give to the king's choice as a new archbishop. It is likely, however, that while the king may have desired this outcome, and may have instructed his envoys to attempt to secure these things, the king probably was willing to negotiate and settle for less.Barlow "William Rufus" p. 342-343] The two clerks brought back a papal legate, Walter of Albano, who accepted the king's recognition of Urban. However, the legate refused to allow the deposition of Anselm.Mason "William II Rufus" p. 143] The king did manage to secure recognition of his royal rights in the church, and a concession that no papal legates or communications would be sent without the king's approval. Most likely, the king always regarded the deposition of Anselm as unlikely to happen.

It was probably Warelwast who was sent as an envoy to Urban in 1096 to bribe the pope to recall the papal legate Jarento, who had been sent to England to protest the king's conduct towards the church.Barlow "William Rufus" p. 364] Besides ambassadorial duties, Warelwast also acted as a royal justice under King William, with the records of one case surviving.Barlow "William Rufus" p. 395]

It was Warelwast who searched the baggage of Archbishop Anselm in 1097 as the archbishop was going into exile.Bartlett "England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings" p. 405] Warelwast was probably searching, not so much for valuables, but for communications to the pope, either from Anselm himself, or from other English bishops. Warelwast would have especially wanted to find any letters of complaint.Mason "William II Rufus" p. 175-178] It was also Warelwast who prevented the excommunication of King William, for he was the king's envoy at Rome who refuted Anselm's attempts to get the king excommunicated while Anselm was in exile.Poole "Domesday Book to Magna Carta" p. 177] The king had sent Warelwast to Pope Urban II at Christmas-time in 1098, with a reply from the king to a letter that the pope had written ordering the restoration of Anselm's estates. Eadmer, who was present at the papal court, stated that Warelwast prevented the excommunication by the means of bribes to the pope and to papal officials.

Royal service for King Henry I

Warelwast may have been present with the hunting party on 2 August 1100 when King William was accidentally killed, for he was one of the witnesses to the letter from the new King Henry I of England to Anselm recalling the archbishop that was sent on August 55, 1100.Barlow "William Rufus" p. 420] King Henry also used him as an ambassador, as it was Warelwast who was sent to Rome in 1101 who brought back Pope Paschal II's reply refusing to allow investiture of bishops by the king.Barlow "English Church 1066-1154" p. 298]

It was Warelwast who told Anselm in 1103 that the king would not permit Anselm's return to England. This came after a failed joint mission by Warelwast and Anselm to Paschal attempting to resolve the dispute between the king and the archbishop over the investiture of bishops by the king. This dispute is generally known as the Investiture crisis. It is quite likely that the king had given instructions to Warelwast that if the mission failed, Warelwast was to inform Anselm that the archbishop was only welcome to return to England if Anselm agreed with the king's position in the Investiture crisis.Vaughn "Anselm of Bec" p. 244-245] Warelwast in 1106 was the king's negotiator in the discussions that led to the settlement of the Investiture crisis in England. In the spring of 1106, Warelwast was sent to Bec where Anselm was residing in exile to inform Anselm of the settlement and give the archbishop the king's invitation to return to England.Hollister "Henry I" p. 198] In May 1107, Warelwast acted as the king's envoy at Paschal's council at Troyes where Paschal was attempting to secure support for Bohemond's projected crusade. Warelwast probably relayed to the pope the fact that King Henry would make no contribution to Bohemond's efforts.Cantor "Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture" p. 264]

Henry had reserved the see of Exeter for Warelwast since the death of Osbern FitzOsbern in 1103, but the controversy over investiture meant that his election and consecration were not possible before a settlement was reached. Instead, the king gave the office of Archdeacon of Exeter to Warelwast. He was elected Bishop of Exeter, and was consecrated on 11 August 1107,Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 246] by Anselm at the royal palace of Westminster.Hollister "Henry I" p. 209-210] Other bishops consecrated on this day included William Giffard for the see of Winchester, Roger of Salisbury to the see of Salisbury, Reynelm to the see of Hereford, and Urban to the see of Llandaff. Warelwast's elevation was a reward for his diplomatic efforts in the Investiture crisis.Barlow "English Church 1066-1154" p. 302] The mass consecration signaled the end of the Investiture crisis in England.Barlow "English Church 1066-1154" p. 78-79]

In 1115, Henry sent Warelwast back to Rome to negotiate with Paschal, who was angry that the king was prohibiting papal legates in England, not allowing clerics to appeal to the papal court, and was failing to secure papal sanction for church councils or the translation of bishops. Unfortunately, Warelwast was unable to change the pope's mind, but he did manage keep the king from being sanctioned.Hollister "Henry I" p. 240-241] Henry also employed Warelwast as a papal envoy during the disputes between Canterbury and York over the primacy in the English Church, with visits in 1119 and 1120, and possibly in 1116 also. On top of his diocesan and diplomatic duties, the bishop continued to act as a royal judge.Barlow "English Church 1066-1154" p. 80] Warelwast spent much time in attendance on the king, spending time with the king in Normandy from 1111 to 1115, in 1118, and from 1123 to 1126.

Work as bishop

As a bishop, Warelwast attended the Council of Rheims in 1119, along with three other bishops,Barlow "English Church 1066-1154" p. 111] as well as the Council of Rouen in 1118, a provincial synod for Normandy.Spear "Norman Empire" "Journal of British Studies" p. 3] In his diocese he started a new cathedral, which began construction around 1114 and was consecrated in 1133. The two towers in the transepts date from the bishop's construction. Other actions as bishop included replacing the secular clergy staffing collegiate churches with regular canons. He did this at Plympton in 1121 with canons from Aldgate, and again in 1127 at the church in Launceston in Cornwall.Burton "Monastic and Religious Orders" p. 47] He also founded a house of regular canons at Bodmin. It wasn't until late in his bishopric that the diocese was split into multiple archdeaconries, which appears to have happened in 1133.Barlow "English Church 1066-1154" p. 49] Warelwast also instituted the two offices of treasurer and precentor for the cathedral chapter.

Warelwast went blind in his last years, starting about 1120, and this was regarded by the medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury as a fitting punishment for Warelwast's alleged attempts to remove his predecessor from office early. He died about 26 September 1137, and was buried in the priory at Plympton. His nephew Robert Warelwast succeeded him in 1138. Robert had been appointed archdeacon of Exeter by his uncle.Barlow "English Church 1066-1154" p. 249] Several medieval chroniclers state that Wiliam Warelwast was illiterate, although this probably was due to Eadmer's bias against the bishop than to truth. The medieval historian C. Warren Hollister described Warelwast as a "canny and devoted royal servant".

Notes

References

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Further reading

Blake, D. W. "Bishop William Warelwast", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Society", 104 (1972), 15–33

External links

* [http://www.britannia.com/bios/wwarelwast.html Britannia Biographies entry for William Warelwast]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_494_157/ai_107277545 Priory started by William Warelwast]
* [http://www.dsnell.zynet.co.uk/Oliver/03.html Oliver's Lives of the Bishops of Exeter entry for William Warelwast]

Persondata
NAME= Warelwast, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Warelwast, William de
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Bishop of Exeter
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=about 27 September 1137
PLACE OF DEATH=