Henry Murdac

Henry Murdac SOCist († October 14, 1153 in Beverley ) was an English religious. He was the first abbot of the French monastery of Vauclair . From 1143 or 1144 he was abbot of Fountains Abbey in England until he finally became Archbishop of York in 1147 .

Origin and entry into the Cistercian order

Henry Murdac was from northern England. According to the information provided by John of Hexham , he was of noble descent and belonged to the household of Archbishop Thurstan of York before he entered the monastery as a monk. Obviously, Murdac was an educated man who was dubbed a Magister . Two of his students, named William and Ivo, entered the Clairvaux monastery as monks , where they probably drew the attention of Bernhard von Clairvaux to Murdac. William served Bernhard as scribe and eventually became the first abbot of Rievaulx Abbey . Bernhard personally wrote a letter to Murdac in which he asked him to choose a life as a monk instead of working as a teacher. Thereupon Murdac also entered Clairvaux as a Cistercian . In 1234 Bernhard sent Murdac to Vauclair in the diocese of Laon . A new monastery was established there as a subsidiary of Clairvaux, of which Murdac became the first abbot.

The ruins of the monastery of Vauclair

Abbot of Fountains Abbey

In 1143 Richard, the abbot of Fountains Abbey, died in Clairvaux. The Cistercian Order in Yorkshire was thus in a critical situation. In England, King Stephen of Blois had to defend his claim to the throne against his cousin Matilda in a war of succession, known as anarchy . Abbot Richard had been one of the leaders of the opposition to William Fitzherbert , the elected Archbishop of York. There had been considerable resistance to his election in the cathedral chapter of York, and the Cistercians also accused him of simony and considered him unsuitable as archbishop because of his supposedly secular way of life. Bernhard von Clairvaux decided to send Murdac to Fountains and recommended that the prior and the monks of the convent elect him as the new abbot. Should Murdac be elected, Bernhard authorized him to carry out extensive reforms in Fountains. As Bernard of Clairvaux had hoped, Murdac was elected abbot of Fountains Abbey in either late 1143 or early 1144. As abbot, he continued the spiritual reform of the monastery. As early as 1145, a subsidiary monastery was founded in Woburn , followed by Lysekloster in Norway in 1146 and Barnoldswick in 1147 , which was later moved to Kirkstall , and Vaudey . In addition, Murdac defended the interests of the Cistercians in Yorkshire, for example when the monks of Barnoldswick destroyed the parish church of the village because it disrupted their services.

Archbishop of York

Election as archbishop

Murdac quickly rose to become the leader of the opposition to Archbishop William Fitzherbert, who has now been led by Pope Eugene III at the instigation of Bernhard von Clairvaux . was suspended from his position . However, Fitzherbert did not want to give up his office. In 1146 Fountains Abbey was raided by Fitzherbert's followers, and several buildings of the monastery were burned down. Murdac himself had fled to the monastery church and was unharmed. As a result, William was deposed by the Pope, who also belonged to the Cistercian Order, in early 1147. The Pope ordered a new election, and on July 24, 1147, the Cathedral Chapter met in Richmond . While Robert de Gant, Dean of York, and Treasurer Hugh de Puiset support the royal candidate, Master Hilary , the Precentor and Archdeacon of York, supported by Bishops William of Durham and Athelwold of Carlisle , endorsed Henry Murdac as the new Archbishop. The decision was ultimately transferred to the Pope, who chose Murdac. Murdac traveled to France and on to Germany, where Eugene III. was staying at the time. The Pope consecrated Murdac as bishop on December 7, 1147 in Trier and gave him the pallium . Then Murdac took part in March 1148 at the Council of Reims convened by the Pope . The deposition of William Fitzherbert was confirmed again by the council. When Murdac returned to England, he resigned his post as Abbot of Fountains, but had a great influence on his successors Maurice (until 1148), Thorald (until 1150) and Richard (until 1153). Maurice and Thorald came from Rievaulx Abbey while Richard came from Murdac's former monastery Vauclair in France.

Resistance to Murdac as archbishop

Murdac was the first English archbishop to be elected and ordained without the king's consent since the Norman conquest . As a result, despite his confirmation by the Pope, he was not generally recognized as an archbishop. His supporters included the Bishops of Durham and Carlisle, while King Stephen of Blois continued to hold on to his candidate Hilary. Murdac was also supported by part of his cathedral chapter, while the citizens of York continued to support Fitzherbert. They even denied Murdac access to the city in 1148 when he tried to move into it. Thereupon Murdac excommunicated his bitterest opponents, the treasurer Hugh de Puiset and William le Gros, Earl of York, in retaliation . He imposed the interdict on the rebellious city of York . He first took up residence in Beverley , before choosing the archiepiscopal estate of Ripon , which was only a few miles from Fountains Abbey, as his residence.

Political role

Murdac managed good contacts with the Scottish King David I build. That is why he accompanied the English heir to the throne Heinrich Plantagenet when he met David in Carlisle . At that meeting they also discussed a Scottish attack on York planned for 1149. With Scottish help, the city should be conquered and Murdac could move into York. The attack did not take place, but in the face of this threat and due to his weak position in northern England, King Stephen reconciled himself with Murdac in early 1151 and confirmed him as archbishop. With the support of the king, Murdac was able to move into York, where he was enthroned on January 25, 1151 . He donated York Minster relics and granted the cathedral chapter rights in Patrington . Murdac was also able to reach an agreement with his previous opponent William le Gros, Earl of York. The Earl founded a Cistercian monastery in Meaux as a subsidiary of Fountains . This foundation was endorsed by Murdac and provided with additional property in Wawne . Then Murdac traveled to Rome as the king's ambassador to obtain approval from the Pope for the coronation of Stephen's son Eustach . Despite this collaboration with King Stephen, Murdac maintained his good relationship with the Scottish king, who let him continue to exercise his office in northern Yorkshire. However, during a meeting with David in Carlisle, Murdac complained that Scottish miners were causing damage to episcopal forests.

Spiritual work

Even as archbishop, Murdac remained a staunch Cistercian who tried to implement church reforms. At Hexham he set new rules for the parish church. The Church of St Oswald in Gloucester , which belonged to the Archbishops of York, he converted into a pen of Canon Regulars , of which Humphrey of Lanthony Priory was first prior . He confirmed the privileges of the monasteries in his diocese, but deposed abbots in the Benedictine abbeys of Whitby and Selby . The establishment of the Gilbertine branch Watton was confirmed by him around 1150. In Watton he placed a girl as an oblate , later known as the Nun of Watton . After the death of Provost Thurstan of Beverley Minster , he also wanted to convert this church into a monastery, but he himself died before the implementation of his plan.

Conflict with Hugh de Puiset and death

When Murdac's opponent Hugh de Puiset was elected Bishop of Durham in 1153 , Murdac declared the election void. He complained that Puiset was too young for the office and that the election as metropolitan was made without his consent . Therefore he excommunicated the prior and archdeacons of Durham. When they appeared in person on Ash Wednesday 1153 to ask for recognition of the election and for the church sentence to be lifted, Murdac refused. Then there was a riot in York. Murdac had to retreat to Beverley again, where he stayed until his death. Until the very end, he refused to recognize Hugh de Puiset's election. After his death he was buried in York Minster. Since a few weeks earlier Pope Eugene III. and Bernhard von Clairvaux had died, Murdac's deposed predecessor William Fitzherbert again claimed the office of archbishop.

Web links

• Janet Burton: Murdac, Henry (d.1153). 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
• Pius Maurer : Henry Murdac . In: Biographia Cisterciensis .

predecessor	Office	successor
William Fitzherbert	Archbishop of York 1147–1153	William Fitzherbert