Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ralph d'Escures
RALPH d'Escures, sometimes called Ralph de Turbine (d. 1122), archbishop of Canterbury, son of Seffrid, a man of good family, and lord of Escures, near Séez, by his first wife, Rasscendis, became in 1079 a monk of St. Martin's Abbey at Séez, where his father had previously taken the monastic vows. By his father's marriage with his second wife, Guimondis, Ralph had a half-brother named Seffrid, called Pelochin, who became abbot of Glastonbury and bishop of Chichester, and he also had a brother named Hugh, a canon of Séez (Gallia Christiana, xi. 719). Having served some of the lower offices of the convent, Ralph was made prior, and in 1089 was elected the second abbot of the house at Séez which had been founded by Roger of Montgomery, afterwards earl of Shrewsbury [q. v.] Roger showed his satisfaction at the election by gifts to the house, for the new abbot was generally liked, being a man of cheerful temper as well as of high character. He ruled the convent diligently in the midst of civil commotions which, along perhaps with the disputes of his later life, may have caused him to be called ‘de Turbine’ (Brompton, cols. 1004, 1014). It is said of Ralph, ‘inter sævos belli turbines strenue rexit’ (Ord. Vit. p. 678). He was consecrated by Girard, bishop of Séez, and that year came to England, probably to see his intimate friend Gundulf [q. v.], bishop of Rochester (Monasticon, i. 175). When in 1094 Robert of Bellême [q. v.] took the castle of St. Cenery, he and his monks carried off the arm of St. Cenery and placed it in their church (Ord. Vit. p. 706). In 1098 he and his convent received from Arnulf, fourth son of Earl Roger, the founder, a grant of the church of St. Nicholas at Pembroke, with twenty carucates of land. He assisted at the dedication of the church of St. Evroul in 1099 (Ord. Vit. pp. 776–7), and is said to have been at Gloucester about the time of the dedication of St. Peter's in July (Gallia Christiana, u.s.) It is improbable that he was at Shrewsbury in 1102, as stated by William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, v. c. 396; cf. Freeman, William Rufus, ii. 430, n. 3). Robert of Bellême had greatly oppressed the churches of Séez, demanding from the abbot an oath of allegiance and homage, and Ralph was forced in 1100 by his violence to flee to England, where he was welcomed by the king. Nor did he venture to return to Normandy, but remained in England, staying at various monasteries, where he was heartily welcomed (Ord. Vit. pp. 678, 707; Gesta Pontificum, p. 127). In 1104 he visited Durham, where he superintended the translation and exhibition of the body of St. Cuthbert [q. v.] He was much with his friends Anselm, with whom he had been intimate for many years (cf. Anselm. Epp. iii. 23), and Gundulf, and when Gundulf fell sick in 1108 hastened to him. After the two friends had bidden each other farewell, and Ralph had reached the door of the room, the dying bishop called him back, and placed his episcopal ring on his finger. Ralph remonstrated, saying that he was a monk, though not then living as one, and that a ring did not beseem one of his order. Gundulf, however, bade him keep it, saying that he would need it. After Gundulf's death on 7 March, Anselm, with the approval of all, appointed Ralph to the see, and consecrated him at Canterbury on 9 Aug., so he then understood the meaning of Gundulf's gift (Eadmer, Vita Gundulphi, Opp. ii. 833–5). Anselm, with the approval of a council of bishops, sent Ralph, with the bishop of London, to meet Thomas (d. 1114) [q. v.], archbishop-elect of York, and persuade him to go to Canterbury for consecration, and make a profession of obedience to that see. Thomas met them at Southwell, but refused to comply with their request. On the death of Anselm on 21 April 1109, Ralph, as bishop of Rochester, became administrator of the diocese of Canterbury, and filled that post with diligence and care for the dignity of the church, consecrating churches on the estates of the see, in whatever diocese they were, on his own authority. He attended the council that Henry held at London at Whitsuntide, and joined the other bishops of the southern province in determining to resist at all cost any attempt to override the decision of the late archbishop with regard to the York pretensions; and, Thomas having yielded to the king's command, Ralph assisted at his consecration in St. Paul's on 17 July.
In April 1114 Ralph received a summons from the king to attend a council at Windsor, held to consult on the appointment of an archbishop of Canterbury, the see having been vacant since Anselm's death, and to bring with him the prior and some of the monks of Christ Church. On their way he and his party were told that Faricius [q. v.], abbot of Abingdon, was to be the new archbishop, and they were pleased at the prospect. At Windsor they found that Faricius had been summoned by the king, and that his election was regarded as certain. The bishops and some of the magnates, however, objected to the choice of a monk, while the monks and others declared that none but a monk ought to hold the office. Finally the bishops proposed Ralph; the proposal was evidently a compromise; though Ralph was a monk, he had been driven from his abbey, and had to some extent at least ceased to live the monastic life, and he was generally popular. The king, who had been in favour of Faricius, changed his mind, and Ralph was unanimously elected on 26 April, and was enthroned at Canterbury on 17 May 1114 (Eadmer, Historia Novella, ii. 489–90; cf. Historia de Abingdon, ii. 147–9). He deposed some officers who had been in power at Canterbury, and appointed others of his own choice, which gained him some ill-will, but he pleased the monks by persuading the king to allow Ernulf [q. v.] to succeed him at Rochester. The chapter sent Ralph's nephew, John (d. 1137), Ernulf's successor in the abbacy of Peterborough, and afterwards (1125) bishop of Rochester, to Rome, requesting Paschal II to send Ralph the pall, for he was suffering from gout, and could not fetch it in person. There was much hesitation at Rome as to their request, for the pope was displeased at the independent position adopted by the English church as evidenced specially by the translation of Ralph without his sanction, and the messengers of the chapter would probably have been met with a refusal had not their cause been taken up by Anselm, abbot of St. Sabas, nephew of the late archbishop. It was finally decided that the messengers should be sent home without the pall, and that Anselm should take it to England later as legate from the pope. On the return of the messengers Ralph, in accordance with the wish of the bishops, and with approval of the chapter of Christ Church, appointed his nephew John archdeacon of Canterbury. Anselm came with the pall, which was received with veneration at Canterbury on 15 May 1115. He stayed some time with the archbishop, but evidently received no satisfaction with reference to the complaints of the pope concerning the independent action of the national church. In September Ralph attended a council held by the king at Westminster, at which the legate presented a letter from Paschal complaining of the translation of bishops without his sanction, and referring, though not explicitly, to Ralph's translation. At this time Bernard, the queen's chaplain, then bishop-elect of St. David's, applied to Ralph for consecration, and the Count of Meulan [see Beaumont, Robert de, (d. 1118)] proposed that the ceremony should take place in the king's chapel. To which Ralph replied with spirit that he would not consecrate Bernard there or anywhere else save at Canterbury. The matter was of extreme importance both as regards the independence of the church of England in things spiritual, and the rights of Canterbury over Welsh bishops. The king bore Ralph out, telling the count that the archbishop was not to be dictated to on such a matter, and that it was for him to decide where he would consecrate the bishops of ‘Britain.’ Ralph proposed to hold the consecration at Lambeth, but to oblige the queen, who wished to be present, held it in Westminster Abbey on the 19th, receiving from Bernard a profession of obedience and subjection to the see of Canterbury (Gir. Camb. Opp. iii. 49). At the great council held at Salisbury on 19 March 1116, at which the magnates of the kingdom did homage to the king's son William, Ralph and the other prelates ppromised their homage in case William outlived his father.
At this council an attempt was made to end the dispute then in progress between Ralph and Thurstan, archbishop-elect of York [q. v.] Thurstan had been elected in 1114, and Ralph refused to consecrate him unless he professed obedience and the subjection of his see to Canterbury. This Thurstan refused to do. Henry upheld Ralph, and would not allow Thurstan to go to Rome for consecration. Thurstan appealed to the pope against Ralph, it is said with no effect (Eadmer), though the York historian (Hugh the Chantor, u.s. pp. 134, 138) declares that Paschal ordered Ralph to consecrate him at once without the profession, but says that Ralph did not get the letter. At Salisbury Henry ordered Thurstan to comply with Ralph's demand; he refused, and divested himself of his bishopric. All, the York writer says, were moved with pity, save Ralph only. Meanwhile Alexander I [q. v.] of Scotland wrote to Ralph asking his advice on the choice of a bishop for St. Andrews, and informing him that he wished that for the future the bishops of that see should, according to alleged ancient custom, be consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury instead of by the archbishop of York. In August Anselm, who had returned to Rome, was again ordered to go to England as legate. On the news of his mission a council was held at London in the absence of the king, then in Normandy, and Ralph, with the approval of all, went to Henry to consult with him on the preservation of the ancient customs and liberties of the kingdom, and to suggest that he should go to Rome to represent them to the pope. Henry received him at Rouen with much honour, stopped Anselm from going to England, and sent the archbishop on to Rome. On his way Ralph fell sick with gout and a carbuncle in the face, was forced to keep his bed for a month at La Ferté, and was scarcely expected to recover. When convalescent he resumed his journey, accompanied by a splendid retinue, and was everywhere received with honour. He spent Christmas at Lyons with Anselm. On his arrival at Rome he found that the pope had been forced by the emperor Henry V to retire to Benevento, and partly because of the quarrel between the pope and the emperor, and partly on account of his own health, which was still weak, he remained in Rome, and there wrote to the pope, who in answer sent him a letter addressed to the king and the English bishops, dated 24 March 1117, promising not to diminish the dignity of the church of Canterbury. Conscious that this meant nothing, Ralph remained some time at Rome and at Sutri, where he received an invitation from the emperor to come to him, and remained with him a week; he returned first to Rome and then to Sutri, hoping that the pope would return. He was disappointed, and at last returned to Normandy, where he remained with the king, and was evidently one of his chief counsellors, taking a prominent part in the council that the king held at Rouen in October 1118 [see under Henry I] (Ord. Vit.. p. 846).
The next pope, Gelasius II, upheld the cause of Thurstan, bade Henry send both Ralph and Thurstan to him, and wrote Ralph a sharp reproof for his disobedience to the apostolic see in refusing to consecrate Thurstan without the profession. Ralph set out to meet the pope at Rheims, where it was believed that he was about to hold a council, but he heard that Gelasius was still in the south, and thought of going to Spain. He afterwards intended to meet the pope at Clugny, but there Gelasius died on 29 Jan. 1119. Calixtus II, the next pope, also wrote angrily to Ralph, who was still in Normandy, blaming him for his disobedience to the letters of Paschal and Gelasius. Ralph replied that their letters had never reached him; it is known that the letter sent by Paschal had not been delivered to him, and even the York historian allows that he must be believed with reference to that sent by Gelasius. He would, he said, attend the pope, but was prevented by ill-health, and by the refusal of the French king to grant him a safe-conduct (Hugh the Chantor, u.s. pp. 154–8). Calixtus sent him copies of the letters with an order to obey, and gave him reason to believe that he would take action on Thurstan's side at the council that he was about to hold at Rheims. Meanwhile at Rouen on 11 July, Ralph, after saying mass, was struck with paralysis while disrobing, and for some days remained speechless (Orderic, p. 873). He was therefore unable to attend the council, and wrote to the pope; the king allowed Thurstan to go to Rheims on his promising that he would not receive consecration from the pope, and sent Seffrid Pelochin, Ralph's brother, to the pope, warning him not to consecrate. Nevertheless on Sunday, 19 Oct., the pope did consecrate Thurstan, though before the ceremony John, the archdeacon of Canterbury, Ralph's nephew, publicly protested against the injury done to Ralph and to his church, to which the pope merely answered that he wished to do no injustice to the church of Canterbury.
Ralph, who was still so ill that he could only travel in a carriage and had to be supported to a seat, returned to England, and was received at Canterbury on 3 Jan. 1120. On 4 April he was sufficiently recovered to consecrate a bishop of Bangor. About that time Alexander of Scotland wrote asking him to send Eadmer [q. v.] to him to be elected bishop of St. Andrews. Ralph, having obtained Henry's leave to do so, wrote to Alexander urging him to be mindful of the rights of Canterbury, and to send Eadmer back to him without delay for consecration. Alexander, however, would not allow Eadmer to be consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury, and Eadmer refused to receive consecration from any one else. In spite of Ralph's remonstrances, Alexander remained firm, and Eadmer did not become a bishop. Having received a letter from Calixtus threatening that he and his church should be put under an interdict unless Thurstan were restored to his rights, Ralph caused investigation to be made into the privileges that his church had received from former popes and the history of its claims over the see of York, and set these matters forth in a long letter which he sent to the pope, complaining of Thurstan and of the injury done to Canterbury (Historians of York, ii. 228–51). On 6 Jan. 1121 he attended the council at London at which Henry announced that, by the advice of the archbishop and magnates, he was about to marry again. The king also showed the bishops letters from the pope, and, acting on them, recalled Thurstan, who took charge of his diocese. Ralph's malady steadily increased, though he was not yet forced to give up performing divine service; his mental powers remained, but his voice was much affected; his temper became hasty, and he was specially quick to resent anything that he thought derogatory to the dignity of his see (Gesta Pontificum, p. 131). The king's marriage was to take place at Windsor, and, on account of Ralph's difficulty in speaking, it was proposed to admit the claim of the bishop of the diocese (Salisbury) to perform the ceremony. Ralph resisted the proposal, the bishops of his province upheld him, and the king was married by the bishop of Winchester as the archbishop's representative. The next day the queen, Adeliza [q. v.], was to be crowned, and Ralph was standing at the altar when he observed that the king was wearing his crown, though he had not placed it on his head. Thinking that some one had usurped his right, he advanced to the king, robed and wearing his pall, and declared that a wrong had been done, and that he would not proceed with the ceremony so long as the king wore the crown. Henry, who seems himself to have put on his crown, replied that it was a mere matter of thoughtlessness, and that the archbishop might do whatever was right. Ralph began to take the crown off, and the king helped him to undo the clasp of the chain that held it. Fearing that he would refuse to replace it, the spectators called on him to do so. He replaced it on the king's head, and the service proceeded (ib. pp. 132–3 n.; Eadmer, Historia Novella, vi. cols. 518–19). In March he accompanied the king to Abingdon, and while there, on the 13th, consecrated Robert Peche, one of the officers of the royal household, bishop of Lichfield. He did not give up his hope of victory over the see of York; he laid before the king the privileges that had lately been found at Canterbury, and worked on Henry's mind by urging that it was matter that concerned the unity of the kingdom, propounding the maxim ‘One primate, one king.’ Henry was convinced, and at a great council held at Michaelmas renewed his command that Thurstan should make the profession. Ralph was not present, for a day or two before he had been seized with illness, probably with another stroke of paralysis; his consecration of Gregory to the see of Dublin at Lambeth on 2 Oct. seems to have immediately preceded this attack. About a year later he was again struck with paralysis, died on 20 Oct. 1122, and was buried in his cathedral.
Ralph was pious, learned, and eloquent, of high moral character, affable in manners, liberal, and generally popular. Until sickness rendered him tetchy, he was cheerful and good-tempered; he was indeed so much given to laughter, joking, and trifling that some people considered his facetiousness unworthy of his dignity and age, and called him ‘a trifler’ (Gesta Pontificum, p. 133n.) But he certainly combined wisdom with his wit; he was a strenuous assertor of the rights of the national church and of what he conceived to be the rights of his see, was respected by the king, and played his part in the controversies in which he was engaged with dignity and judgment. A collection of his homilies is in the Bodleian Library (Laud MS. D. 49), and many letters of his are preserved by Eadmer and others.
[Eadmer's Hist. Nov. vols. v. vi. and Vita Gundulphi (ed. Migne); Gallia Christ. xi. 719 sq.; Orderic, pp. 678, 706, 776–7, 811, 846, ed. Duchesne; A.-S. Chron. ann. 1114, 1115, 1119, 1120, 1122, William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontiff. pp. 126–8, 131–3, 262–5, and Gesta Regg. lib. v. c. 396, Gervase of Cant. i. 10, 44, 72–3, ii. 377–80, Historians of York, ii. 131–98, 228–51, Hist. de Abingdon, ii. 147–9 (these six Rolls Ser.); Flor. Wig. ii. 59, 67, 70, 74, 77 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Anselm's Epp. iii. 23, ed. Migne; Dugdale's Monasticon, i. 175; Anglia Sacra, i. 7, 56; Hook's Archbishops of Cant. ii. 277–301; Freeman's William Rufus, i. 184, 242, ii. 430 n.; Bale's Scriptt. Brit. Cat. cent. xii. 82; Wright's Biogr. Lit. ii. 105.]