The Cathedral Church of Canterbury [2nd ed.]: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Archiepiscopal SeeWithers, Hartley
History
The Cathedral Church of Canterbury [2nd ed.]: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Archiepiscopal See
Withers, Hartley
Canterbury Cathedral
#Lanfranc# (1070-1089) was the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. He
was born at Pavia, and educated at the monastery of Bec, in Normandy, then
the most remarkable seat of learning existing in Europe. His conspicuous
abilities raised him to the position of prior of the monastery. He was
subsequently abbot of the new monastery which William of Normandy founded
at Caen, and on the deposition of Stigand was called over by that king to
complete the subjection and reform of the Anglo-Saxon Church, which task
he undertook with much zeal and not a little high-handed procedure. He
assisted the king in the removal of the Saxon bishops and the substitution
of Normans in their places, as also in the reformation of the great
English monasteries which appear to have fallen into considerable
disorder. Lanfranc's character was remarkable for its firmness, and
brought him into frequent collision with the imperious temper of his
royal master. On one occasion Lanfranc insisted on the restoration of
twenty-five manors which belonged to the archiepiscopal see, and which
had been appropriated by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, William's half-brother.
William, however, continued to honour his able servant, and during the
king's absence in Normandy, Lanfranc held the office of chief justiciary
and vice-regent within the realm, and maintained his independent attitude
against all the world, refusing to go to Rome at the summons of the pope.
Lanfranc crowned William II., and as long as he lived did much to moderate
that monarch's rapacious attacks on the wealth of the Church. He rebuilt
the cathedral which had fallen into ruin, and founded the great monastery
of Christ Church. He was the author of a celebrated treatise in refutation
of the doctrine of Berengarius of Tours, on the subject of the Real
Presence, and was present at the council held in Rome by Leo IX., in which
Berengarius was condemned. He lies buried in the nave of his cathedral,
but the exact spot is not known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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