Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Dangers of Invention: The Sack of Canterbury, 1011, and the ‘theft’ of Dunstan's Relics
- 2 Remembering Communities Past: Exeter Cathedral in the Eleventh Century
- 3 Communities, Conflict and Episcopal Policy in the Diocese of Lichfield, 1050–1150
- 4 The Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium and Urban Ecclesiastical Rivalry in Eleventh-Century Rouen
- 5 Cathedrals and the Cult of Saints in Eleventh-and twelfth-Century Wales
- 6 A Bishop and His Conflicts: Philip of Bayeux (1142–63)
- 7 Ecclesiastical Responses to War in king Stephen's Reign: The Communities of Selby Abbey, Pontefract Priory and York Cathedral
- 8 Secular Cathedrals and the Anglo-Norman Aristocracy
- 9 The Lives of Thomas Becket and the Church of Canterbury
- 10 Caught in the Cross-Fire: Patronage and Institutional Politics in Late twelfth-Century Canterbury
- 11 Crown, Cathedral and Conflict: King John and Canterbury
- 12 The English Monasteries and their French Possessions
- Index of People and Places
- Other Volumes in Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
6 - A Bishop and His Conflicts: Philip of Bayeux (1142–63)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Dangers of Invention: The Sack of Canterbury, 1011, and the ‘theft’ of Dunstan's Relics
- 2 Remembering Communities Past: Exeter Cathedral in the Eleventh Century
- 3 Communities, Conflict and Episcopal Policy in the Diocese of Lichfield, 1050–1150
- 4 The Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium and Urban Ecclesiastical Rivalry in Eleventh-Century Rouen
- 5 Cathedrals and the Cult of Saints in Eleventh-and twelfth-Century Wales
- 6 A Bishop and His Conflicts: Philip of Bayeux (1142–63)
- 7 Ecclesiastical Responses to War in king Stephen's Reign: The Communities of Selby Abbey, Pontefract Priory and York Cathedral
- 8 Secular Cathedrals and the Anglo-Norman Aristocracy
- 9 The Lives of Thomas Becket and the Church of Canterbury
- 10 Caught in the Cross-Fire: Patronage and Institutional Politics in Late twelfth-Century Canterbury
- 11 Crown, Cathedral and Conflict: King John and Canterbury
- 12 The English Monasteries and their French Possessions
- Index of People and Places
- Other Volumes in Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
Summary
In the nave of Bayeux cathedral, above the columns, can be seen two small figures depicting bishops. One of them might be Philip of Harcourt, prelate from 1142 to 1163, as he was involved in the rebuilding of the church after a fire broke out in 1160, according to Robert of Torigny. This later sculpture does not, however, throw much light on Philip. Neither do our other sources. Philip himself has not left us any text, if we exclude the charters he gave as bishop or attested as chancellor to king Stephen or as a royal servant of King Henry II, or the list of the books he left to the abbey of Bec as he felt his death approaching. The 140 volumes in this list have vanished, but the inventory has been preserved and is a fine introduction to a prelate's library; it has been studied by Mary and Richard Rouse, among others. As well as knowing that Philip was interested in literature, however, we also know that he was a prelate in conflict. He spent the first years of his administration fighting to gain control of his diocese, most notably against Earl Robert of Gloucester, whose son was the former bishop. In this dispute, as in his other litigation, Philip gained a severe reputation, as the author of the Chronicle of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge testified: ‘The view of his face only frightened.’
Of these disputes, we barely have any contemporary accounts.
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- Cathedrals, Communities and Conflict in the Anglo-Norman World , pp. 117 - 130Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011