Hilary (bishop)

Hilary (* around 1110; † July 13, 1169 ) was an English clergyman. From 1147 he was Bishop of Chichester .

origin

Hilary probably came from a non-noble family in the Diocese of Salisbury . A brother of his was a canon of Salisbury Cathedral and had excellent relations with Bishop Jocelin of Salisbury as a bishop. The name Hilary was extremely unusual in 12th century England, one explanation for which is that it was named after Hilary of Poitiers , from whom the library of Salisbury Cathedral had acquired an extraordinarily large number of works around 1100. Hilary may have been tutored by a clergyman in Salisbury .

Advancement as a clergyman

As a young clergyman, Hilary was part of the household of Henry de Blois , Bishop of Winchester and brother of King Stephen . In addition to Jocelin de Bohun, Bishop Henry promoted Hilary in particular. By 1140 Hilary was already dean of the collegiate church of Twyneham in Hampshire . As a representative of the bishop, he traveled to the papal curia . In several of the lawsuits that were negotiated there, Hilary distinguished himself as an accomplished attorney and as an expert in the developing canon law . In 1147, Hilary was King Stephen's candidate for the Archbishopric of York after Archbishop William Fitzherbert was deposed . A majority of the cathedral chapter, however, favored the Cistercian Abbot Henry Murdac , so that the decision was transferred to the Pope. Pope Eugene III, who himself belonged to the Cistercian order , chose Murdac as the new archbishop, but only a few days later he appointed Hilary bishop of the diocese of Chichester, which had been vacant since 1145 .

Bishop of Chichester

Loyal supporter of King Stephen

Even though Hilary himself had become an expert in canon law and as a clergyman with the support of the Pope, he became one of the most important bishops who supported the politics of the English kings. He firmly took the view that state authority should take precedence over church interests. As one of three English bishops, he took part in the council of Reims as envoy from King Stephen in 1148 , where he excused the king's attempt to prevent Archbishop Theobald from attending the council. The Pope then countered quite sharply that Hilary was more of a weapon of the king than a son of the Church. While still in France, Hilary was supposed to consecrate Gilbert Foliot as the new bishop of Hereford on behalf of Pope , but Hilary refused because the election of Foliot had not yet been confirmed by King Stephen. King Stephen rewarded Hilary for his services with a benefice at Pevensey in Sussex and the appointment of the Queen's chaplain , which made him part of her household.

Supporters of King Heinrich II.

Hilary managed that he was also in high favor with King Stephen's opponent and successor Henry of Anjou . After he became king in 1154, he appointed Hilary Sheriff of Sussex. Hilary was one of the few bishops who exercised this administrative office. From 1160 to 1162 he held the office of sheriff again. Hilary played a significant role in Henry II's attempts to pacify England again after the war of succession to the throne, known as the anarchy . In 1155 he was part of the king's entourage when he besieged Bridgnorth Castle in Shropshire during the Hugh de Mortimer rebellion . As a judge on behalf of the king, Hilary toured several counties in 1156. On behalf of the king he wrote to Pope Alexander III. a letter in which he supported the canonization of Eduard the Confessor . In 1161 he was one of the prelates who proclaimed the canonization of Edward in Westminster Abbey .

The conflict with Battle Abbey and with Thomas Becket

As Bishop of Chichester, Hilary claimed spiritual suzerainty over Battle Abbey . However, this claim was rejected by the abbots of the monastery. At a council meeting in Colchester, Henry II confirmed the exemption of the royal monastery in 1157 . As the responsible diocesan bishop Hilary had contradicted the king, with which he had incurred the wrath of the king. After Hilary submitted to the king again, he quickly forgave him. The enmity between Hilary and the royal chancellor Thomas Becket began at the council meeting in Colchester . Becket had publicly indicated that he thought Hilary was a hypocrite. Hilary did not forgive him for this insult. Although he supported the election of Becket to succeed the late Theobald as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, mainly because this was the king's wish. When there was a serious conflict between the king and his former chancellor in the coming year, Hilary consistently supported the king. At the council of Northampton in 1164 he countered Becket that those whom he had disliked as chancellor would now support the king against him. After the flight from Becket, Hilary was a member of the royal embassy in November 1164, which was to Pope Alexander III. traveled to Sens . There, however, the attempt to persuade the Pope to send papal legates to England to resolve the dispute between the King and Becket failed .

Serving as Bishop of Chichester

In his early years as a bishop, Hilary was often commissioned by Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury to investigate ecclesiastical disputes that Theobald should decide as metropolitan or as commissioned papal judge. Later, Hilary herself was repeatedly commissioned as a commissioned papal judge with decisions in ecclesiastical disputes. Hilary was apparently a conscientious administrator and pastor for his diocese, even if only a few documents from his tenure have been preserved. Within a year of his ordination, he implemented several organizational improvements in the administration.

At the beginning of his episcopate in 1148 he received possessions back from a certain William Burdard, from William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel and from Count John I of Eu . The diocese had lost parts of these lands during the anarchy, but there had been a dispute with the Counts of Eu over the possession of Bexhill for about 60 years. As one of the first English bishops, Hilary tried to ensure that vicars who did the pastoral work in the parishes received a fixed share of the parish income. Hilary donated a manuscript of the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus to the Chichester Cathedral Library . He brought one of the oldest surviving works of the leading theology school from Paris to England at the time. Although Hilary was primarily active as a lawyer, as a politician and as an administrator, he was also involved in the reform of secular canon foundations that were converted into monasteries or Augustinian settlements. During his tenure, his old Twyneham pen and that of St Nicholas were converted to Arundel . After the death of Bishop Robert de Bethune of Hereford in 1148, who had been a generous patron of the Llanthony Secunda canonical monastery in Gloucestershire , Hilary vigorously supported the interests of this monastery, which was a long way from his own diocese.

literature

• Henry Mayr-Harting: Hilary, bishop of Chichester (1147–1169) and Henry II . In: English historical Review , 78 (1963), pp. 209-224
• Henry Mayr-Harting: The bishops of Chichester, 1075-1207: biographical notes and problems . Chichester City Council, Chichester 1963
• David Knowles: The episcopal colleagues of Archbishop Thomas Becket. University Press, Cambridge 1970

Web links

• Henry Mayr-Harting: Hilary (c.1110–1169). 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

Individual evidence

1. ^ Henry Mayr-Harting: Hilary, bishop of Chichester (1147–1169) and Henry II . In: English historical Review , 78 (1963), p. 212
2. ^ David Knowles: The episcopal colleagues of Archbishop Thomas Becket. University Press, Cambridge 1970, p. 25
3. ^ David Knowles: The episcopal colleagues of Archbishop Thomas Becket. University Press, Cambridge 1970, p. 15
4. ^ JC Robertson, JB Sheppard: Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Vol 7. Longmans, London 1877, p. 5
5. ^ David Knowles: The episcopal colleagues of Archbishop Thomas Becket. University Press, Cambridge 1970, p. 94
6. ^ David Knowles: The episcopal colleagues of Archbishop Thomas Becket. University Press, Cambridge 1970, p. 26

predecessor	Office	successor
Seffrid I.	Bishop of Chichester 1147–1169	John of Greenford