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Baldwin of Forde

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Baldwin of Forde
Installedunknown
Term endedNovember 19 1190
PredecessorRichard of Dover
SuccessorHubert Walter
Orders
ConsecrationDecember 1184
Personal details
Born
Baldwin
DiedNovember 19 1190

Baldwin of Exeter (c. 1125 – November 19, 1190) was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. Son of a clergyman, he studied both canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Pope Eugenius III's nephew before returning to England to serve successive bishops of Exeter. After becoming a Cistercian monk, he was named abbot of his monastery before being elected to the episcopate at Worcester. Before becoming a bishop, he wrote theological works and sermons, some of which survive.

He impressed King Henry II of England while bishop, and the king insisted that Baldwin become archbishop. While archbishop, Baldwin quarrelled with his cathedral clergy over the founding of a church, which led to the imprisonment of the clergy in their cloister for over a year. He also spent some time in Wales with Gerald of Wales, preaching and raising money for the Third Crusade. After the coronation of King Richard the Lionheart of England, Baldwin was sent ahead by the king to the Holy Land, and became embroiled in the politics of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Baldwin died in the Holy Land while participating in the Crusade. His dispute with his clergy led some chroniclers to characterize him as worse for Christianity than Saladin.

Early life

Pope Urban III may have been a fellow student with Baldwin in Bologna

Baldwin was born in Exeter around 1125, the son of Hugh d'Eu, who was Archdeacon of Totnes and a woman whose name is unknown; his mother, however, later became a nun. Gervase of Canterbury's story that he was of humble background has been shown by modern scholarship to stem from bias on Gervase's part.[1] Possibly he studied at Bologna in the 1150s with the future Pope Urban III.[2][3] Robert Warelwast, who was Bishop of Exeter from 1138 to 1155, is said to have sent Baldwin to Italy to study law.[4] In 1150 or 1151 Pope Eugenius III appointed Baldwin tutor to Eugenius' nephew. By 1155, however, he seems to have returned to England where he joined the household of Robert of Chichester, Bishop of Exeter.[1]

He attracted the attention of Bartholomew Iscanus, Bishop of Exeter who made him archdeacon at Totnes about 1161,[5] after his father's death.[1] He then became a monk and then abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Forde about 1170.[6][7] He was well known as a canonist.[8] After studying law, he often acted as a judge-delegate for the papacy, hearing cases that had reached the Roman Curia and been remanded back to local experts for decision.[9] It was Baldwin, when he was archdeacon, that John of Salisbury in 1166 addressed his Expectiatione longa to, during the Becket controversy.[10] It was probably at this time that Baldwin wrote De sacramento altaris, which is his longest work that survives. Others works include twenty-two sermons, and a work on faith.[1]

Bishop of Worcester

Forde Abbey, where Baldwin was abbot before becoming Bishop of Worcester

He became Bishop of Worcester on August 10 1180.[11] While bishop, Baldwin impressed King Henry II with his pious intervention in a secular case, in order to prevent a hanging on a Sunday.[8] Although Walter Map said that Baldwin was determined to continue writing even after his election to the bishopric, none of Baldwin's writings can be dated to his time as bishop except for one sermon.[1]

Archbishop of Canterbury

Baldwin was translated from the see of Worcester to the see of Canterbury in December of 1184,[12] after Henry II let it be known that he would only accept Baldwin at Canterbury.[13] The monks had put forth three candidates from within Christ Church Priory at the time of Baldwin's transfer: Odo, who had been prior of Christ Church and was then abbot of Battle Abbey, Peter de Leia, a Cluniac prior of Wenlock Priory and later Bishop of St David's, and Theobald, abbot of Cluny, but none of them found favour with the English bishops who selected the king's choice.[5] He received his pallium from Pope Lucius III along with Lucius' approval of his translation.[14] During his time as archbishop there was a dispute with the monks of Christ Church Priory in Canterbury, who resented Baldwin's attempts to impose stricter control over them, and who disputed the legitimacy of Baldwin's election. For his part, Baldwin did not approve of the luxurious and pampered life that the monks of Christ Church lived,[15] and felt that they profited too much from the cult of Saint Thomas Becket.[16]

Escalation of the dispute

The dispute escalated when Baldwin deprived the monks of some of the revenues of the estates. After that, Baldwin then proposed to establish a church dedicated to Becket in Canterbury itself, staffed by secular, not monastic, clergy. The monks of the cathedral chapter saw this proposed foundation as the first step in an attempt to change the see of Canterbury from a monastic cathedral chapter, a peculiarity of the English Church, to the more normal pattern of secular clergy. It is not clear if Baldwin himself intended such a plan, but it was definitely a plot by some of the other backers of the proposed church, among whom were the king and many other English bishops. Baldwin sought the advice of Hugh Bishop of Lincoln who advised Baldwin to abandon the plan, as it would only cause distress to all parties. The controversy was long and involved and, at one point, the monks were imprisoned within their own buildings for a year and a half, from January 1188 to August of 1189. This lead to the suspension of the liturgy in the cathedral. Eventually all the prominent ecclesiastics and monastic houses of Europe were forced into choosing sides in the dispute. In October of 1189, as an attempt to gain control, Baldwin appointed Roger Norreys as the chapter's prior, an appointment that was widely acknowledged as putting a useless individual into the office.[5] His plan for financing the church involved soliciting contributions from donors by promising a one-third reduction in penances for annual donations.[17]

Service to King Henry

In 1188 King Henry II of England called for a tithe to support a new crusade, the Third, following the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187. The tithe was proclaimed in Henry's French holdings in 1184 (in French records it was called the "Dime" meaning 1/10th). The tithe was later ascribed to Richard I, who became notorious for his pre-Crusade fundraising (including his remark about selling London to the highest bidder) although the amount collected (about 1 denarius per adult person) was far outstripped by forced contributions from the Jewish "servi camerae" in England. It was popularly known as the "Saladin tithe" and was the most extensive tax ever collected in England up to that point.[18] Due to the fact that it was a tithe rather than a secular tax, it was collected by dioceses rather than by shires, and Baldwin was especially blamed for its harshness. He spent most of 1188 in Wales, preaching the crusade, accompanied by the chronicler Gerald of Wales.[19]

A 1905 map of the extent of Henry II's domain

Baldwin was with Henry before his death, unsuccessfully taking part in efforts to negotiate with Prince Richard.[20] After Henry's death, Richard sought and obtained absolution for the sin of disobedience to his father from both Baldwin and Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen.[21] Baldwin crowned Richard at Westminster Abbey on September 13 1189, which is the first English coronation for which a detailed description survives.[22]

Under Richard

With the death of Henry II, and the accession of Richard I of England, the monks of Christ Church Priory petitioned Richard to intercede in the long running dispute between them and the archbishop. In November of 1189, Richard and the whole court, including the Queen-Mother Eleanor of Aquitaine traveled to Canterbury to attempt to end the controversy before the papacy become involved.[23] Richard finally settled the dispute by persuading Baldwin to abandon the church project and to dismiss Norreys. Soon after this, Richard left England and Baldwin declared that he was going to found the proposed church at Lambeth, and then to join Richard on Crusade.[5] Both Richard and Baldwin agreed to appoint Norreys to Evesham Abbey, as the previous abbot of Evesham, Adam of Evesham had just recently died. This appointment eventually led, after the death of Baldwin, to the infamous Case of Evesham.[24] It was in August of 1189 that Baldwin objected to the marriage of Prince John, later King John, to Isabel of Gloucester, on the grounds of consanguinity. John promised to obtain a papal dispensation, but never did so.[25] Baldwin laid John's lands under interdict, but it was lifted by a papal legate who declared the marriage legal.[26]

On the Third Crusade

Richard I and Saladin fighting on the Third Crusade. Baldwin went with Richard on the Crusade and died while on it.

In April of 1190 Baldwin accompanied King Richard I of England on crusade. In June of 1190 he arrived at Acre,at the head of the English forces, Richard did not arrive until 1191.[27] At this time, the city was under siege by the Frankish forces led by King Guy and Queen Sibylla, who in turn were being besieged by Saladin. Soon after Baldwin's arrival, there was a succession crisis in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Sibylla, a first cousin of Henry II, and her two young daughters died in July, leaving Guy without a legal claim as he had held the kingship through his wife. The heiress of the kingdom was Sibylla's half-sister Isabella; she was already married to Humphrey IV of Toron, but he was loyal to Guy and seems to have had no ambition to be king. A more promising candidate for the throne was Conrad of Montferrat, uncle of the last undisputed king, Baldwin V. Conrad had saved the kingdom from destruction by leading the successful defence of Tyre, and had the support of Isabella's mother Maria Comnena and stepfather Balian of Ibelin. Maria and Balian abducted Isabella from Humphrey, and compelled her to seek an annulment, so that she could be married to Conrad and enable him to claim the kingship. Since her marriage to Humphrey had been arranged by her half-brother Baldwin IV of Jerusalem when she was eleven, having been betrothed to him when she was eight, they argued that she had not been able to give real consent.[28]

Baldwin supported Guy's claim, but Ubaldo Archbishop of Pisa, Philip of Dreux, Bishop of Beauvais, and Eraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem supported Conrad. Isabella and Humphrey's marriage was forcefully annulled. Baldwin, already ailing, attempted to excommunicate everyone involved in the annulment, but he died on 19 November.[12]

Legacy

Baldwin's long running dispute with his cathedral chapter caused the chronicler Gervase of Canterbury to regard the archbishop as "a greater enemy to Christianity than Saladin."[23] Herbert of Bosham dedicated his History of Thomas, a story of Thomas Becket, to the archbishop in the late 1180s.[29] When news of his death reached England in 1191, he was succeeded briefly by Reginald fitz Jocelin, Bishop of Bath and Wells; Reginald soon died and the seat remained vacant until 1193 when Hubert Walter, Bishop of Salisbury and a fellow crusader with Baldwin, was elected archbishop. The historian A. L. Poole called Baldwin a "distinguished scholar and deeply religious man, [but] was injudicious and too austere to be a good leader."[15] Baldwin was also known as a theologian, as well as being a canon lawyer.[30] His clerk, Joseph of Exeter, accompanied him on the Crusade, and wrote two works after Joseph's return, one the Antiocheis which was an epic poem about King Richard on crusade, and the other was De Bello Trojano, a rewriting of the Trojan War.[31]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Holdsworth "Baldwin (c.1125–1190)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition accessed November 8, 2007
  2. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 509
  3. ^ Barlow, Frank, Thomas Becket p. 37
  4. ^ Barlow "Warelwast, Robert de (d. 1155)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  5. ^ a b c d Knowles The Monastic Order in England p. 316-24
  6. ^ Knowles Heads of Religious Houses p. 132
  7. ^ British History Online Bishops of Worcester accessed on November 3, 2007
  8. ^ a b Warren Henry II p. 552 Cite error: The named reference "Warren" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 90
  10. ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 155-157
  11. ^ Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 278
  12. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 232
  13. ^ Warren Henry II p. 555
  14. ^ Duggan "From the Conquest to the Death of King John" in Lawrence (ed.) The English Church & the Papacy in the Middle Ages p. 73
  15. ^ a b Poole Domesday to Magna Carta p. 221
  16. ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 271
  17. ^ Little Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy p. 32
  18. ^ Powell The House of Lords in the Middle Ages p. 89
  19. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 296
  20. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 97
  21. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 104
  22. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 107
  23. ^ a b Gillingham Richard I p. 110-111
  24. ^ Knowles The Monastic Order in England p. 331-333
  25. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 557
  26. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 119-120
  27. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 115
  28. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 148-149
  29. ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 263
  30. ^ Knowles The Monastic Order in England p. 645
  31. ^ Mortimer Angevin England 1154-1258 p. 210

Sources

  • Barlow, Frank (2004). "Warelwast, Robert de (d. 1155)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (revised May 2007 ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  • Barlow, Frank Thomas Becket Berkeley, CA:University of California Press 1986 ISBN 0-520-07175-1
  • Bartlett, Robert England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075-1225 Oxford:Clarendon Press 2000 ISBN 0-19-822741-8
  • British History Online Bishops of Worcester accessed on November 3, 2007
  • Duggan, Charles "From the Conquest to the Death of John" in Lawrence, C. H. ed. The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages Stroud:Sutton Publishing reprint 1999 ISBN 0-7509-1947-7
  • Gillingham, John Richard I New Haven:Yale University Press 1999 ISBN 0-300-07912-5
  • Holdsworth, Christopher "Baldwin (c.1125–1190)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 Online Edition accessed November 8, 2007
  • Knowles, Dom David The Monastic Order in England: From the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976 reprint ISBN 0-521-05479-6
  • Knowles, David (2001). The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940-1216 (Second Edition ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80452-3. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Lawrence, C. H. ed. The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages Stroud:Sutton Publishing reprint 1999 ISBN 0-7509-1947-7
  • Little, Lester K. Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe Ithaca, NY:Cornell University Press 1978 ISBN 0-8014-9247-5
  • Mortimer, Richard Angevin England 1154-1258 Oxford: Blackwell 1994 ISBN0-631-16388-3
  • Poole, A. L. Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087-1216 Second Edition Oxford:Clarendon Press reprint 1986 ISBN 0-19-821707-2
  • Powell, J. Enoch and Keith Wallis The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540 London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1968
  • Fryde, E. B. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third Edition, revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Runicman, Steven, A History of the Crusades. Cambridge University Press, 1951-54.
  • Tyerman, Christopher England and the Crusades, 1095-1588. University of Chicago Press, 1988
  • Warren, W. L. Henry II Berkeley: University of California Press 1973 ISBN 0-520-03494-5
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Worcester
1180–1185 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Archbishop of Canterbury
1185–1190 		Succeeded by

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