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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 July 2014
King Henry I, for most of his reign, exercised unrivaled authority over the English church. Following the Concordat of London in 1107 which formally ended his bitter dispute with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, Henry reestablished effective control over the ecclesiastical affairs of England. During the remaining twenty-eight years of his rule, he assiduously cultivated and generally sustained friendly relations with the papacy while maintaining royal control over the internal matters of the English church.
There is, however, a dramatic exception to this picture of royal primacy. In 1125, the papal legate, Cardinal John of Crema, made a spectacular tour of England. During his six-months stay, John exercised greater authority than any other papal legate sent to England during the reign of Henry I. As Austin Lane Poole observes, of the nine legates dispatched between 1100 and 1135, “one only—John of Crema in 1125—was permitted to preside over a church synod or to exercise any legatine authority.” To underscore the unprecedented nature of this visit, neither of Henry's predecessors, William the Conqueror and William Rufus, had allowed a foreign legate to exert such power within England.
This paper will examine the events leading up to the legatine mission of 1125 and attempt to explain why Henry sanctioned this rare exhibition of papal authority within his kingdom.
1 On the literature dealing with the English church under Henry I, see the extensive bibliography found in Brett's, M.The English Church under Henry I (Oxford, 1975).Google Scholar
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8 A.S.C., p. 193; and Simeon of Durham, II: 282.
9 Orderic Vitalis, IV: 294: “…minis, precibusque, et auri, argentique alirumque specierum ponderosa enormitate.”
10 On Abbott Henry's career, see Clark, Cecily, “‘This Ecclesiastical Adventurer’: Henry of Saint-Jean d'Angély,” English Historical Review, 84 (July, 1969): 548–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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12 A.S.C., pp. 193-94; and Orderic Vitalis, IV: 428-30.
13 Robert of Torigni, Interpolations, p. 309; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, II: 482Google Scholar; and Hugh the Chantor, p.77.
14 Hugh the Chantor, pp. 111-17; and A.S.C., p. 189.
15 Chartrou, Josèphe, L'Anjou de 1109 à 1151, Foulque de Jerusalem et Geoffroi Plantegenet (Paris, 1928), p. 17Google Scholar. See also Orderic Vitalis, IV: 471.
16 Chartrou, , L'Anjou, pp. 17–18Google Scholar. In 1130, Peter and Gregory would be the candidates for the papal throne in a hotly disputed election. Both cardinals may have disliked Henry. See Orderic Vitalis, IV: 446-48; and Hugh the Chantor, p. 81.
17 Nicholl, Donald, Thurstan, Archbishop of York (1114-1140), (York, 1964), p. 92.Google Scholar
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21 Hugh the Chantor, p. 114.
22 See Calixtus', Pope letter in Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, XV: 251Google Scholar; and Tillmann, Helene, Die päpstlichen Legaten in England bis zur Beendigung der Legation Gualas (Bonn, 1926), p. 28 n. 89Google Scholar. Tillmann (p. 28) briefly suggests the possibility that the annulment of the Clito marriage led directly to John of Crema's mission to England.
23 Chartrou, , L'Anjou, pp. 17–18.Google Scholar
24 Hollister, C. Warren and Keefe, Thomas K., “The Making of the Angevin Empire,” The Journal of British Studies, 12 (May, 1973). 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25 Chartrou, , L'Anjou, p. 18.Google Scholar
26 Hugh the Chantor, p. 120. See also Simeon of Durham, II: 276.
27 The count opposed the papal pronouncement until at least mid-April, 1125. See Chartrou, , L'Anjou, p. 18.Google Scholar
28 Chartrou, , L'Anjou, p. 18.Google Scholar
29 Simeon of Durham, II: 276.
30 Hugh the Chantor, pp. 120-21; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia, p. 245: and Florence of Worcester, 11:79.
31 On John's tour of England, see A.S.C., p. 192; Hugh the Chantor. pp. 123-24; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia, pp. 245-46; Florence of Worcester, II: 81-83; Simeon of Durham, 11:278-81; and Brett, , English Church under Henry I, pp. 42–45.Google Scholar
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33 For a recent discussion of the council, see Brett, , English Church under Henry I, pp. 43–45Google Scholar. Brett deemphasizes the importance of the council and, for that matter, John's tour of England. To do so, he offers a novel though unpersuasive explanation for Henry's approval of the legatine mission. Brett argues (pp. 45-47) that John was allowed to enter England in order to resolve the bitter Canterbury-York primacy dispute in a manner favorable to the king and the archbishop of Canterbury. This argument, however, ignores the traditionally pro-York posture of the papacy and especially the strong friendship between Pope Calixtus II and Archbishop Thurstan of York. See Nicholl, , Thurstan, pp. 41–74et passim.Google Scholar
34 Hugh the Chantor, pp. 122-23; Simeon of Durham, II: 281; and Regesta Regum, 11, nos. 1426-27.