William Turbe

William Turbe (also Turba ) OSB (* around 1095 - † January 1174 ) was an Anglo-Norman Benedictine monk . From 1146 or 1147 he was Bishop of Norwich .

Rise to Bishop of Norwich

According to tradition, William Turbe came from Normandy . However , it did not get its nickname Turbe after a place of origin, but was a nickname as Turbo . He was probably given to the cathedral priory of Norwich as an oblate and attended the cathedral school. Bishop Herbert de Losinga took a keen interest in the boy's education. After that, William served as a subprior under Bishop Everard , before he was probably prior of the cathedral priory in 1136. When Everard stepped down in 1145, the cathedral priory monks were able to elect a new bishop in a truly free choice, despite opposition from the Norfolk Sheriff . The candidate was William, who was ordained bishop in 1146 or early 1147.

Bishop of Norwich

Political activity

William drew the attention of King Stephen of Blois through two passionate sermons . In his sermons, William had defended a vassal who was accused of murdering a Norwich Jew. The king appointed him one of the three bishops who represented the English bishops at the Council of Reims in 1148 . Otherwise William rarely stayed at the court of King Stephen. In 1153, however, he took part in the council meeting that led to the Winchester Treaty and thus to the succession to the throne of Heinrich Plantagenet . At the beginning of Henry II's reign, William, like other bishops, sought to regain ecclesiastical possessions that they had lost during the anarchy . Not only did his diocese benefit from this, but also Battle and St Benet's Abbey . Although William then mostly attended the major royal and ecclesiastical council meetings, he is remarkably little mentioned as a witness in royal documents. Apparently there was tension between him and King Heinrich. In 1156 he voted against the collection of shield money and when the king demanded in 1166 that the diocese of Norwich should provide additional knights as a royal fiefdom, he refused to approve.

Role in the king's quarrel with Thomas Becket

Together with other English bishops, William took part in the Council of Tours in 1163 , which was led by Pope Alexander III. had been convened. He had no special position in the conflict between Archbishop Thomas Becket and the king, but as a bishop he was inevitably and often drawn into the worsening dispute. It is said that at the council meetings in Clarendon and Northampton he urged the archbishop to agree to the king's demands, because he himself feared the king's enmity. In the next few years he supported Bishop Gilbert Foliot , who became Becket's primary opponent in England. In 1168, John of Salisbury urged William to reconsider his position. Indeed, in 1169, William was the first bishop to publicly proclaim Becket's excommunication of Bishop Foliot. Foliot had been commissioned by the Pope to defend the rights of the Church in the conflict between the collegiate monastery of Pentney and Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk , which he had, however, insufficiently fulfilled. Then William himself announced the excommunication of the Earl in Norwich. To avoid the wrath of the king, he then retired as a monk in the cathedral priory. Given these ecclesiastical sanctions, the Earl had to give in and apparently reconciled with William before the end of 1170.

Activity as canon lawyer

As a bishop, William supported the introduction of canon law and thus the expansion of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the ecclesiastical sovereignty of the Pope in England. In 1157 he was one of the appointed papal judges in the dispute between Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury and the Abbot of St Augustine's in Canterbury. In 1162 he was to rule on the spiritual sovereignty of the Bishop of Lincoln over St Albans Abbey , and in the mid-1160s he was to review the Gilbertine settlements in southern England after the lay Brothers revolt against Gilbert of Sempringham . As early as 1156, John of Salisbury reported in a letter to Pope Hadrian IV that William was exposed to hostility because he enforced his instructions on behalf of the Pope. With Pope Alexander III. William was in contact several times because of the conversion of crusade vows, the inheritance of benefices or the forgery of letters from the Pope. Although he arguably had no legal education or training, he, along with other contemporary bishops, played an important role in the introduction of canon law in England.

Cult of William of Norwich

As prior, William had been instrumental in promoting the emerging cult of William of Norwich , a boy who was allegedly murdered by Jews in 1144. Although there were already doubts about this portrayal at the time, William had the murdered boy venerated as a martyr . As a bishop, William continued to promote his worship. In 1150 he had the body transferred to the chapter house of the cathedral, in 1151 to the cathedral and in 1154 to the local martyr chapel. He commissioned Thomas of Monmouth to write a biography of the life and wonders of little William, and in 1168 consecrated a chapel in Thorpe Wood , where the body was discovered. Apparently, William was firmly convinced of the boy's martyrdom and holiness.

Other work as a bishop

About 100 records and documents have survived from William's tenure as bishop. According to this evidence, William had conflicts with his archdeacons, especially at the beginning of his tenure . While Archdeacon Roger only seemed to be an opponent of church reforms, there was an open dispute with Archdeacon Walkelin and Baldwin of Boulogne over their misconduct. William encouraged teaching in the cathedral school and hired a master's degree there for the first time . From these students he appointed new church officials, so that well-trained clergy asserted themselves in Norwich during his tenure. When Norwich Cathedral was badly damaged by fire in 1171, he is said to have pushed for the church to be repaired and collected donations himself at the portal. He confirmed the privileges of the cathedral priory and increased its income slightly. Tensions arose in the cathedral priory in his final years as bishop as a new prior tried to implement reforms. Two monks are said to have assaulted the prior, who then fled and were excommunicated by William. Nevertheless, after William's death, the monks kept fond memories of him, perhaps also due to the tensions they had with his successor, John of Oxford .

Although William himself belonged to the Benedictine order, he also promoted the establishment of branches of other religious communities. He encouraged William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel to found an Augustinian monastery at Old Buckenham and witnessed Ranulf Glanville's charter for Butley Priory . To this end, he particularly promoted the nunneries in his diocese. In the second year of his tenure, a new nunnery was established in Norwich and the Blackborough Priory nuns were allowed to work more closely with the Blackborough monks. He was able to persuade Abbot Hugh of Bury St Edmunds to give the nuns of Ling a place for a new convent at Thetford . Although William had increasing influence on the filling of pastoral posts through the reforms he initiated, he initially had to tolerate that some pastors bequeathed their offices to their sons. In order to put an end to this custom, he placed numerous parishes under the monasteries of his diocese, which already had the patronage rights of the parishes. For example, St Benet's Abbey received the rights to six churches and Castle Acre Priory the rights to seven churches.

After his death, William was buried in Norwich Cathedral.

Web links

• Christopher Harper-Bill: William [William Turbe] (c.1095–1174). 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
Everard	Bishop of Norwich 1146 / 7–1174	John of Oxford