Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln: A Short Story of One of the Makers of Mediaeval EnglandMarson, Charles L. (Charles Latimer)
History
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln: A Short Story of One of the Makers of Mediaeval England
Marson, Charles L. (Charles Latimer)
Hugh, of Lincoln, Saint, 1140-1200
And now Hugh is made, wincingly, the procurator or bursar of the Grande
Chartreuse, after he has spent eight years there, and is plunged in a
sea of worldly business. The prior makes good use of his tact, business
capacity, and honourable nature. He had thought and read to some
purpose, for he ruled the lay brothers with diligence, and instructed
the monks with great care, stirring up the sluggish and bitting the
heady into restfulness. He did his worldly work vigorously, and turned
it swiftly to spiritual gain. He had strong wine of doctrine for the
chapter-house, milk for the auditorium. The secular people, if they were
rich, he taught not to trust in riches; if they were poor, he refreshed
them with such rations as the Order allowed. If he had nothing else, he
always had a kind and cheery word to give. Among the travellers must
have been many noble postmen, who carried letters in their hands and
messages in their heads from Henry to Humbert of Maurienne, who held the
keys of all the Alpine roads to Italy and Germany and whose infant
daughter was betrothed to the boy John Lackland with dowries disputable,
whereat Henry junior rebels, and makes uncommon mischief. The
procurator was keen and accurate in his work. He never mislaid the
books, forgot, fumbled, or made a "loiter," _morantia_, as they called
it, when the office halted or was unpunctual. The lay brethren did not
have to cough at any trips in his reading, which was their quaint way of
rebuking mistakes.
Henry II. was reconciled in 1172 and his crusade was to begin in 1175;
but during these years his dominions were in constant flame. Scotland
and France harried him. His sons leagued against him. His nobles rose.
He fought hard battles, did humble penances at St. Thomas' tomb, and
came out victorious, over his political and ecclesiastical opponents
too, and began again the ordering of his unruly realms. What a rough and
tumble world the Chronicles reveal as we turn them over! There is a
crusade in Asia Minor in 1176. Manuel Commenus relates his success and
failure. There are heretics in Toulouse who are Puritans, half Quaker
and half Arian, condemned by a Council of Lombers, 1176. Next year Henry
seems to have begun his penance, which was commuted from a crusade into
three religious foundations, and rather shabbily he did it. Some people
try to put Newstead in Selwood in the list, but this was founded in
1174; and Le Liget has been mentioned, a Charterhouse in Touraine
founded in 1178. The most probable explanation is this. Henry tried to
do the penance (a) by buying out the Secular Canons of Waltham at a
price determined by Archbishop Richard. He replaced these by Canons
Regular under Walter de Cant. He then endowed them handsomely and had
papal authority for this. (b) He found this so expensive that he tried
to do the other two more cheaply. A scandal had arisen in Amesbury. He
expelled the incontinent nuns, and brought over from Font Evroult a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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