Gilbert de Glanville

Gilbert de Glanville (also Gilbert Glanvill ) († June 24, 1214 ) was an English clergyman. From 1185 he was Bishop of Rochester .

Origin and promotion to bishop

The origin of Gilbert de Glanville is unclear. Perhaps he was related to the Justiciar Ranulf de Glanville , although this cannot be proven with certainty. According to the chronicler Edmund Hadenham , Glanville was from Northumbria and there is no evidence to support this claim. Glanville's education is also controversial. After Herbert of Bosham he had a degree either in Paris or in Bologna , as Master in canon and Roman law complete. Afterwards he was one of Archbishop Thomas Becket's students . In 1164 he is said to have traveled to the Roman Curia on behalf of the Archbishop , while in 1167 he is said to have campaigned for Jocelin de Bohun and Reginald of Salisbury . Shortly before Becket was murdered in 1170, he sent him again as an envoy to the Pope. After Becket's death, Glanville entered the service of Bishop Arnulf von Lisieux . Before 1179 he became archdeacon of Lisieux . In the 1180s he was in the service of Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury, who nominated him as a candidate for the Diocese of Rochester . On July 16, 1185, Glanville was elected bishop by the monks of the cathedral priory. He was ordained a priest on September 21 and a bishop on September 29 in Canterbury .

Bishop of Rochester

Conflict with the cathedral priory

As a bishop, Glanville was concerned about preserving his episcopal rights. This led to a serious conflict with the Rochester Cathedral Priory. Like Archbishop Baldwin, the later Archbishop Hubert Walter and Bishop Hugh von Coventry, he tried to replace the monks of the cathedral priory with secular canons . Under him, the monks of Rochester agreed in 1197 to swap their church and estate in Lambeth with the Archbishop of Canterbury for the church and estate of Darenth , Kent . Archbishop Hubert Walter then wanted to found a collegiate foundation in Lambeth , which led to a bitter dispute between the archbishop and his cathedral priory. Later, the monks of Rochester accused Glanville of having illegally appropriated the rights of vacant parishes that were actually owned by the cathedral priory. Furthermore, he would have illegally used the right to appoint officials and officials of the cathedral priory. His foundation for the Hospital of St Mary in Strood , for whose equipment he would have used properties of the cathedral priory , was particularly controversial . The hospital was built in Glanville in 1192 and 1193 in gratitude that Christians had access to Jerusalem again after the Third Crusade and for the release of King Richard from captivity. It was intended for the poor, the sick and pilgrims. With the monks of Rochester there was a protracted legal dispute, which was finally settled only in 1205 and 1206, whereby the bishop was largely right.

Spiritual and secular work as a bishop

Glanville, Rochester, built a stone quay on the Medway , a chapel, and houses near the bridge over the Medway next to the Strood Hospital . He used the rental income from the houses in favor of the hospital in Strood. To this end, he had the eastern part of the cloister of Rochester Cathedral rebuilt, and several properties that served as the bishops' residence were renewed by him. Despite his quarrel, he made generous gifts to the cathedral priory, especially liturgical vestments, objects and books. Between 1192 and 1210 he served several times as a commissioned papal judge, including in the dispute between Archbishop Geoffrey of York and Bishop Hugh de Puiset of Durham in 1192. In 1206 he had to mediate in a dispute between the Abbey of Evesham and Bishop Mauger of Worcester . Glanville also served the English kings for this purpose. In 1186 he traveled to Noyon as the envoy of Henry II to the French King Philip II . In 1187 and 1188 he served as royal judge in England, and in May 1189 he took part in the negotiations at La Ferté-Bernard on the side of King Henry . After the death of Henry II, he returned to England in August 1189, where he took part in the coronation of Richard I and in September 1189 in the council meeting in Pipewell , during which the king was preparing his crusade. Glanville had already supported Archbishop Baldwin in 1188 when he preached in Geddington for the Third Crusade . When the archbishop set out on the crusade in 1190, he entrusted Glanville with the spiritual and secular administration of the diocese of Canterbury. While the king was absent, a bitter power struggle broke out in 1191 between Johann Ohneland , the brother and potential heir of the king, and the royal justiciar William de Longchamp . Glanville tried in vain to mediate in the dispute. In October 1191 he took part in the council meeting in Westminster , at which Longchamp was finally ousted. Glanville then escorted him to Dover , from where Longchamp fled into exile. After Archbishop Baldwin died during the Crusade, Glanville attended the election of Hubert Walter as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in May 1193. In order to end the revolt of John Ohneland, he and other bishops excommunicated the rebellious king brother on February 10, 1194. After King Richard's return, Glanville was part of the king's entourage several times, both in England and France. Between 1194 and 1197 he again served frequently as a royal judge.

Role during interdict and death

Before 1205 Glanville apparently made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela . In 1206 he asked Pope Innocent III. to release him from his position as bishop because of his old age. The Pope kindly but firmly refused this request. When, after the death of Hubert Walter in 1205, a bitter dispute arose between King John Ohneland and the Pope over the election of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, Glanville supported the king, even when the interdict was imposed on England in March 1208 . Apparently Glanville took over part of his duties in the diocese of Canterbury as representative of the exiled Archbishop Stephen Langton . Only after Johann Ohneland was excommunicated because of the dispute with the Pope in 1209 did Glanville become one of the last bishops to leave England. Unlike most of the bishops, he did not go into exile in France, but, like Bishop Herbert Poor of Salisbury, went to Scotland. There he probably lived in Roxburgh before he returned to England in 1213 after the king was subjugated to the papal legate. He died eight days before the interdict was lifted, which is why he allegedly did not receive a Christian burial. Still, his grave is in Rochester Cathedral.

literature

• John Moule: Gilbert Glanvill, Bishop of Rochester, 1185-1214 and the relationship of the see of Rochester to Canterbury to 1238 . Dissertation, University of Manchester 1954

Web links

• MN Blount: Glanville, Gilbert de (d. 1214). 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
Waleran	Bishop of Rochester 1185–1214	Benedict of Sawston