Everard (bishop)

Everard's funerary monument in Fontenay Abbey Church. 19th century drawing

Everard (also Eborard ) (* before 1070; † before September 21, 1147 in Fontenay Monastery ) was an Anglo-Norman clergyman. From 1121 to 1145 he was Bishop of Norwich .

origin

The exact origin of Everard is not clear. For a long time he was considered a son of Roger, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and thus a member of the Montgommery family . According to the current state of research, however, he was most likely a son or nephew of a Nigel the Doctor , an important vassal who was the owner of the royal estate and church of Calne in Wiltshire in the Domesday Book of 1086 . He also had a benefice at St Paul's Cathedral in London , which fell to Everard after his death. Since Everard held the office of Archdeacon of Salisbury before 1089 and was thus at least 21 years old, he must have been born at the latest in the late 1060s.

Ascent to bishop

Archdeacon Everard was under the later canonized Bishop Osmund of Salisbury . He had probably received this lucrative office as a reward for services to King Wilhelm II , who had been king since 1087. Since he had received the office before Archbishop Lanfrank's death in 1089, he must have been made archdeacon between 1087 and 1089. As a royal chaplain, he subsequently took part in numerous church and royal council meetings. Allegedly, as archdeacon, he was miraculously cured of an illness attributed to the intercession of St. Aldhelm of Sherborne . Two years after the death of Bishop Herbert de Losinga , King Henry I appointed Everard as the new bishop of the Diocese of Norwich in 1121 . His subsequent election shortly after March 13, 1121 was only a matter of form and was confirmed by the king almost immediately. He was ordained bishop on June 12 in Canterbury . As bishop he resigned his previous spiritual offices. His benefice at St Paul's Cathedral fell to his nephew William of Calne .

Bishop of Norwich

As a bishop, Everard took part in numerous church councils as well as in the consecration of the new choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1130. In contrast to his previous position, however, he was only rarely at the royal court, except for larger council meetings. That is why he is only mentioned as a witness in eight documents from Henry I and in thirteen documents from King Stephen of Blois .

As a bishop he did not implement the reforms sought by Pope Gregory VII . He most likely had children of his own, and at least ten of his nephews and his brother Arthur lived in his household, where they attested numerous documents. Despite this nepotism , he apparently had a good relationship with the Norwich Cathedral Priory. During his tenure, the construction of Norwich Cathedral was completed. He confirmed the income that his predecessor had given the monks of the cathedral priory from the proceeds of the parishes of the diocese, helped the monks establish St Paul's Hospital in Norwich and approved a new settlement for the monks in Hoxne , Suffolk . However, he sold the goods Blickling and Cressingham without consulting the monks, for which they criticized him. However, it is possible that he was forced to make these sales by the Sheriff of Norwich in order to prevent the goods from being devastated during the contest for the succession to the throne after the death of Henry I, the so-called anarchy .

In the diocese of Norwich, several monasteries had received extensive land holdings as donations in the early twelfth century. Everard confirmed these changes of ownership, but made sure that the duties and powers of his four archdeacons were better described to the monasteries. Under him the naming of archdeacons began according to the regions for which they were responsible. By having numerous documents testified by his deans , Everard made sure that his instructions also reached the parishes. When, during a diocesan synod in 1144, the death of the young William of Norwich was portrayed as a Jewish ritual murder, Everard remained skeptical. However, numerous priests of his diocese and an influential group of monks of the cathedral priory supported the beginning veneration of the young William as a saint, so that Everard approved the reburial of the body in the cemetery of the cathedral priory.

The monastery church of Fontenay, which Everard was probably still involved in building

Resignation, relocation to France and death

At the beginning of 1145 Everard accompanied the papal legate Imar of Tusculum in England. He then resigned from office that same year. According to the chronicler Heinrich von Huntingdon , he is said to have been deposed for cruelty, but this accusation is incomprehensible and unproven. As an old man, Everard probably retired as a monk to the Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay in Burgundy . From there he sat down in writing to the Pope for the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury as metropolitan also for Wales . Presumably he also had a larger share in the design and construction of the monastery church of Fontenay. He died in 1147. After his death, he was buried in the St. Paul's Chapel of the monastery before September 21, before he was finally buried in front of the high altar of the monastery church. His grave monument is still there.

literature

• L. Landon: Everard bishop of Norwich . In: Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archeology and Natural History , 20 (1929), pp. 186-198

Web links

• Christopher Harper-Bill: Everard (d. 1147). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
Herbert de Losinga	Bishop of Norwich 1121–1145	William Turbe