Home > William de Corbeil

He was soon in the service of Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham; then, having entered the order of St Augustine, he became prior of the Augustinian foundation at St Osyth in Essex.

At the beginning of 1123 he was chosen from among several candidates to be archbishop of Canterbury, and as he refused to admit that Thurstan, archbishop of York, was independent of the see of Canterbury, this prelate refused to consecrate him, and the ceremony was performed by his own suffragan bishops.

Proceeding to Rome the new archbishop found that Thurstan had anticipated his arrival in that city and had made out a strong case against him to Pope Calixtus II; however, the exertions of the English king Henry I and of the emperor Henry IV prevailed, and the pope gave William the palliumThe Pallium or Pall (derived, so far as the name is concerned, from the Roman pallium or palla a woollen cloak) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries past bestowed by him on met.

The archbishop?s next dispute was with the papal legate, Cardinal John of Crema, who had arrived in England and was acting in an autocratic manner. Again travelling to Rome, William gained another victory, and was himself appointed papal legate (legatus natus) in England and Scotland, a precedent of considerable importance in the history of the English Church. The archbishop had sworn to Henry I that he would support the claim of his daughter MatildaEmpress Maud ( February 7, 1102 September 10, 1169) is the title by which Matilda daughter and dispossessed heir of King Henry I of England and his wife Maud of Scotland (herself daughter of Malcolm III Canmore and St. Margaret of Scotland), is known, in to the English crown, but nevertheless he crowned Stephen in December 1135. He died at Canterbury on November 21November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 40 days remaining. Events 235 Anterus is elected Pope. 1783 In Paris, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent, the marquis d'Arlandes, make th 1136. William built the keep of Rochester Castle, and finished the building of the cathedral at Canterbury, which was dedicated with great pomp in May 1130Events February 13 Innocent II is elected pope An antipope schism occurs when Roger II of Sicily supports Anacletus II as pope instead of Innocent II. Innocent flees to France and Anacletus crowns Roger King. Births Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher Deaths Febr.

See WF Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (1860?1884); and WRW Stephens, History of the English Church (1901).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.