Wilhelm of Corbeil

William of Corbeil CanReg (English William de Corbeil , * around 1070, † November 21, 1136 in Canterbury ) was Archbishop of Canterbury .

Life

Wilhelm probably came from Corbeil on the Seine and was trained in Laon . He entered the service of Ranulf Flambard , Bishop of Durham , and after joining the Order of Augustinian Canons, he became prior of St. Osyth Monastery in Essex .

At the beginning of 1123 he was elected Archbishop of Canterbury from among several candidates . When he refused to allow Thurstan , the Archbishop of York , independence from the Archdiocese of Canterbury, the latter refused to consecrate him, after which the ceremony was performed by Wilhelm's own suffragan bishops .

Wilhelm traveled to Rome, where he found out that Thurstan had anticipated him and had already appealed to Pope Kalixt II against him. However, the opposing position, also represented by the English King Henry I and Emperor Henry V (who was the son-in-law of Henry of England) prevailed, whereupon Pope Wilhelm awarded the pallium .

Wilhelm's next argument concerned the papal legate , Cardinal Johann von Crema, who acted in an arrogant manner in England. William traveled again to Rome, where he succeeded in getting himself appointed papal legate ( legatus natus ) for England and Scotland - a precedent of considerable importance for the further history of the English Church.

Although Wilhelm von Corbeil had sworn to King Henry I to support the claim of his daughter Matilda , the widow of Emperor Henry V, to the English throne, in December 1135 he crowned Stephan von Blois , Heinrich's nephew. I. to the king.

In William's tenure, the completion of the fall Romanesque choir of Canterbury Cathedral , which was consecrated in May 1130 with great effort.

literature

• John S. Critchley: William of Corbeil . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 9, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-89659-909-7 , Sp. 153.
• Walter Farqhhar Hook: Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury . Bentley Books, London 1850/84.
• William Richard Stephens: History of the English Church, Vol. 2: The English Church from the Norman conquest to the accession of Edward I. 1066-1272 . AMS Press, New York 1967 (reprint of the London 1901 edition).

predecessor	Office	successor
Ralph d'Escures	Archbishop of Canterbury 1123–1136	Theobald von Bec