became treasurer and canon of York before 1130, at latest before 1138 (Dugdale, Monasticon, iv. 323–4, ed. Caley, &c.). In that capacity he accompanied Archbishop Thurstan on his visitation of St. Mary's Abbey, and witnessed his charter of foundation of Fountains Abbey (Walbran, Memorials of Fountains, i. 157). He also joined his brother Herbert in conferring benefactions on the Austin Priory of Nostell (Rot. Chart. p. 215). Stephen made him one of his chaplains, and granted him certain churches in the north which he had hitherto held of his brother in fee (Monasticon, vi. 1196).
On the death of Archbishop Thurstan (February 1140) there were great disputes in the chapter as to the choice of his successor. When the election of Henry de Coilli, King Stephen's nephew, had been determined upon, it was rendered ineffective by his refusal to comply with the papal request to resign the abbey of Fécamp on accepting the archbishopric. At last, in January 1142, the majority agreed to elect as their archbishop William the treasurer. Their choice was, however, hardly unfettered; for King Stephen strongly pressed for his election, and the presence of William, earl of Albemarle, in the chapter-house to promote it doubtless stimulated their zeal (John of Hexham, c. 268; cf. Gervase, Op. Histor. i. 123, Rolls Ser.) A minority persisted in voting for the strict Cistercian, Henry Murdac of Fountains (Hoveden, i. 198, Rolls Ser.), and the whole of that famous order believed that bribes of the treasurer had supplemented the commands of the king. The archdeacon of York, Osbert, called Walter of London in John of Hexham and in the ‘Additions to Hugh the Chanter’ (Raine, Historians of York, ii. 221), and other archdeacons hurried to the king to complain of the election. They were seized by Albemarle on their way and confined in his castle of Bytham, Lincolnshire. William meanwhile was well received by Stephen at Lincoln, and there received the restitution of his temporalities. But he was unable to obtain consecration from Archbishop Theobald, and Henry, bishop of Winchester, the legate, Stephen's brother, who was his friend, could only direct him to go to Rome, where Richard, abbot of Fountains, William, abbot of Rievaulx, and his other enemies had already appealed against his election as tainted by simony and royal influence. A strong letter of St. Bernard to Innocent II (S. Bernardi, Omnia Opera, i. 316, ed. Mabillon; also printed in Walbran, pp. 80–1), to the pope that he had made, showed that the whole influence of the Cistercian order was to be directed against William. For a time Innocent hesitated, but at last, in Lent 1143, he decided that William might be consecrated if William, dean of York, would swear that the chapter received no royal commands from Albemarle, and if the archbishop elect would clear himself on oath from the charge of bribery. These points were to be ascertained in England, whither William arrived in September. The Dean of York, who had in the meanwhile been made bishop of Durham, was unable to attend in person the council at Winchester, where the case was to be settled; but his agents gave the necessary assurances, and William's innocence was so clearly established that all clamoured for his consecration. On 26 Sept. the legate Henry himself consecrated William in his own cathedral at Winchester (Additions to Hugh the Chanter, p. 222).
William now ruled at York in peace, and St. Bernard could only exhort the abbot of Rievaulx to bear with equanimity the triumph of his foe (Epistolæ, cccliii. and ccclx. in Opera, i. 556, 561, ed. Migne). Meanwhile William busied himself in drawing up constitutions that prohibited the profane use of the trees and grass in churchyards, and prevented clerks turning the money received for dilapidations from the heirs of their predecessors to their own personal uses (Wilkins, Concilia, i. 425–6). On a visit to Durham William succeeded in reconciling the turbulent William Comyn with Bishop William his old friend. On the same day he enthroned the former dean of York as bishop in Durham Cathedral, and absolved Comyn from his sins against the church (Symeon, Hist. Eccl. Dunelm. pp. 283–4, 292; also Anglia Sacra, i. 717).
Though popular from his extraordinary kindness and gentleness, William was of a sluggish temperament. When in 1146 the cardinal bishop Hincmar arrived in England on a mission from the new pope, Lucius II, he brought with him the pallium for the new archbishop. Occupied, as was his wont, on other matters of less necessity (John of Hexham, c. 274), William neglected to obtain it from Hincmar at an early opportunity. Before long Lucius died. The new pope, Eugenius III, was a violent Cistercian and the slave of St. Bernard. The enemies of William took advantage of his accession to renew their complaints against William. Hincmar took his pall back again to Rome. Bernard plied Eugenius with new letters. Henry Murdac, who was now, through Bernard's influence, abbot of Fountains, led the attack. In 1147 William was compelled to undertake a fresh journey to Rome to seek for the pallium. To pay his expenses he was
