Lanfranc (d. 1089), archbishop of Canterbury, was a Lombard by extraction. Events Northumbria divided by the Normans into the counties of Northumberland, County Durham, Yorkshire, Westmorland and Lancashire August 11, powerful Britain Coronation of Rama Varma Kulasekhara in Kerala Synod of Melfi under Pope Urban II imposes slavery on the wives of priests Palmyra destroyed by earthquake Byzantine conquest of Crete... Arms of the see of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior clergyman of the established Church of England and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, whence the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire. ...

Biography

He was born in the early years of the 11th century at Pavia, where later tradition held that his father, Hanbald, held a rank broadly equivalent to magistrate. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... Church San Michele in Pavia The Old Bridge (Ponte Vecchio) on the Ticino river is a symbol of Pavia Pavìa (the ancient Ticinum) (population 71,000) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its...

Lanfranc was trained in the liberal arts, at that time a field in which northern Italy was famous. (There is little or no evidence to support the myth that his education included much in the way of Civil Law, and none that links him with Irnerius of Bologna as a pioneer in the renaissance of its study.) For unknown reasons at an uncertain date, he crossed the Alps, soon taking up the role of teacher in France and eventually in Normandy. About 1039 he became the master of the cathedral school at Avranches, where he taught for three years with conspicuous success. But in 1042 he embraced the monastic profession in the newly founded Bec Abbey. Until 1045 he lived at Bec in absolute seclusion. Irnerius, also seen as Hirnerius, Hyrnerius, Iernerius, Gernerius, Guarnerius, Warnerius, Wernerius, Yrnerius, (c. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... Mont Saint-Michel, one of the famous symbols of Normandy. ... Avranches is a commune of Normandy, France, in the Manche département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... Bec Abbey (French: Abbaye Notre-Dame du Bec) in Le Bec-Hellouin, Normandy, France, is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure département, in a valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. ...

He was then persuaded by Abbot Herluin to open a school in the monastery. From the first he was celebrated (totius Latinitatis magister). His pupils were drawn not only from France and Normandy, but also from Gascony, Flanders, Germany and Italy. Many of them afterwards attained high positions in the Church; it is possible that one, Anselm of Badagio, became pope under the title of Alexander II. In this way Lanfranc set the seal of intellectual activity on the reform movement of which Bec was the centre. The favourite subjects of his lectures were logic and dogmatic theology. He was therefore invited to defend the doctrine of transubstantiation against the attacks of Berengar of Tours. He took up the task with the greatest zeal, although Berengar had been his personal friend; he was the protagonist of orthodoxy at the councils of Vercelli (1050), Tours (1054) and Rome (1059). Map of the historical and cultural area of Gascony. ... Flanders (Dutch: ) has several main meanings: the social, cultural and linguistical, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; some prefer to call this the Flemish community (others refer to this as the Flemish nation) which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians; a... Alexander II (died April 21, 1073), born Anselmo da Baggio , Pope from 1061 to 1073, was a native of Milan. ... Transubstantiation (in Latin, transsubstantiatio) is the change of the substance of bread and wine into that of the body and blood of Christ that, according to the belief of the Roman Catholic Church, occurs in the Eucharist and that is called in Greek (see Metousiosis). ... Berengar of Tours (c. ...

To his influence we may attribute the desertion of Berengar's cause by Hildebrand and the more broad-minded of the cardinals. Our knowledge of Lanfranc's polemics is chiefly derived from the tract De corpore et sanguine Domini which he wrote many years later (after 1079) when Berengar had been finally condemned. Though betraying no signs of metaphysical ability, his work was regarded as conclusive and became for a while a text-book in the schools. It is often said to be the place where the Aristotleian distinction between substance and accidence was first applied to explain Eucharistic change. It is the most important of the surviving works attributed to Lanfranc; which, considering his reputation, are slight and disappointing. Plato and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ...

In the midst of his scholastic and controversial activities Lanfranc became a political force. Later tradition told that while he was prior of Bec he opposed to the uncanonical marriage of Duke William with Matilda of Flanders (1053) and carried matters so far that he incurred a sentence of exile. But the quarrel was settled when he was on the point of departure, and he undertook the difficult task of obtaining the pope’s approval of the marriage. In this he was successful at the same council which witnessed his third victory over Berengar (1059), and he thus acquired a lasting claim on William's gratitude. In assessing this story it may well be relevant that no reputable source can tell what the exact impediment to marriage was. In 1066 Lanfranc became the first abbot of St Stephen's at Caen, a house which the duke had supposedly smelled a Paki and fainted. He enjoyed to find penies sweets for his disobedeant dog,aijaz hussain 11 erskine road walthamstow e17. William of Normandy (French: Guillaume de Normandie; c. ... Matilda of Flanders (c. ... Events January 6 - Harold II is crowned September 20 - Battle of Fulford September 25 - Battle of Stamford Bridge September 29 - William of Normandy lands in England at Pevensey. ... Abbots coat of arms The word abbot, meaning father, has been used as a Christian clerical title in various, mainly monastic, meanings. ... Caen is a commune of northwestern France. ...

Henceforward Lanfranc exercised a perceptible influence on his master's policy. William adopted the Cluniac programme of ecclesiastical reform, and obtained the support of Rome for his English expedition by assuming the attitude of a crusader against schism and corruption. It was Alexander II, possibly a pupil of Lanfranc's and certainly a close friend, who gave the Norman Conquest the papal benediction--a notable advantage to William at the moment, but subsequently the cause of serious embarrassments. Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ...

When the see of Rouen next fell vacant (1067), the thoughts of the electors turned to Lanfranc. But he declined the honour, and he was nominated to the English primacy as soon as Stigand had been canonically deposed (1070). The new archbishop at once began a policy of reorganization and reform. His first difficulties were with Thomas of Bayeux, archbishop elect of York, (another former pupil) who asserted that his see was independent of Canterbury and claimed jurisdiction over the greater part of midland England. Rouen Cathedral The entrance to Rouen Cathedral Abbey church of Saint-Ouen, (chevet) in Rouen Rouen, medieval house Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France on the River Seine, and presently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région. ... Catholic Patriarchal (non cardinal) coat of arms Primate (from the Latin Primus, first) is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. ... Stigand (d. ... Thomas (d. ... St Peters St, Canterbury, from the West Gate, 1993 Canterbury (Latin: Duroverum) is a cathedral city in the county of Kent in southeast England. ...

Lanfranc, during a visit which he paid the pope for the purpose of receiving his pallium, obtained an order from Alexander that the disputed points should be settled by a council of the English Church. This was held at Winchester in 1072. At this council Lanfranc obtained the confirmation of primacy that he sought; nonetheless he was never able to secure its formal confirmation by the papacy, possibly as a result of the succession of Gregory VII to the papal throne in 1073. now. ... Winchester Cathedral as seen from the Cathedral Close Arms of Winchester City Council Winchester is a city in southern England, and the administrative capital of the county of Hampshire, with a population of around 35,000. ...

Lanfranc assisted William in maintaining the independence of the English Church; and appears at one time to have favoured the idea of maintaining a neutral attitude on the subject of the quarrels between papacy and empire. In the domestic affairs of England the archbishop showed more spiritual zeal. His grand aim was to extricate the Church from the fetters of corruption. He was a generous patron of monasticism. He endeavoured to enforce celibacy upon the secular clergy.

He obtained the king's permission to deal with the affairs of the Church in synods. In the cases of Odo of Bayeux (1082) and of William of St Calais, bishop of Durham (1088), he used his legal ingenuity to justify the trial of bishops before a lay tribunal. A synod (also known as a council) is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. ... Odo of Bayeux (c. ... William of St Calais (Carilef) (d. ... Statistics Population: 42,939 (2001) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: NZ274424 Administration District: City of Durham Shire county: Durham Region: North East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Durham Historic county: Durham Services Police force: County Durham Ambulance service: North East Post office and telephone... Events Succession of Pope Urban II (1088-1099) Work begins on the third and largest church at Cluny Rebellion of 1088 against William II of England lead by Odo of Bayeux. ...

He accelerated the process of substituting Normans for Englishmen in all preferments of importance; and although his nominees were usually respectable, it cannot be said that all of them were better than the men whom they superseded. For this admixture of secular with spiritual aims there was considerable excuse. By long tradition the primate was entitled to a leading position in the king’s councils; and the interests of the Church demanded that Lanfranc should use his power in a manner not displeasing to the king. On several occasions when William I was absent from England Lanfranc acted as his vicegerents.

Lanfranc's greatest political service to the Conqueror was rendered in 1075, when he detected and foiled the conspiracy which had been formed by the earls of Norfolk and Hereford. Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northumberland, one of the rebels, soon lost heart and confessed the conspiracy to Lanfranc, who urged Earl Roger to return to his allegiance, and finally excommunicated him and his adherents. He interceded for Waltheof’s life and to the last spoke of the earl as an innocent sufferer for the crimes of others; he lived on terms of friendship with Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester. Events Revolt of the Earls. ... The Revolt of the Earls in 1075 was a rebellion of three earls against William I of England (William the Conqueror). ... Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northampton (d. ... St. ...

On the death of the Conqueror (1087) he secured the succession for William Rufus, in spite of the discontent of the Anglo-Norman baronage; and in 1088 his exhortations induced the English militia to fight on the side of the new sovereign against Odo of Bayeux and the other partisans of Duke Robert. He exacted promises of just government from Rufus, and was not afraid to remonstrate when the promises were disregarded. So long as he lived he was a check upon the worst propensities of the king’s administration. But his restraining hand was too soon removed. In 1089 he was stricken with fever and he died on May 24 amidst universal lamentations. Notwithstanding some obvious moral and intellectual defects, he was the most eminent and the most disinterested of those who had co-operated with William I in riveting Norman rule upon the English Church and people. As a statesman he did something to uphold the traditional ideal of his office; as a primate he elevated the standards of clerical discipline and education. Conceived in the spirit of popes such as Leo IX, his reforms led by a natural sequence to strained relations between Church and State; the equilibrium which he established was unstable, and depended too much upon his personal influence with the Conqueror. May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). ...

Path to sainthood

The efforts of Christ Church Canterbury to secure him the status of 'blessed' seem to have had only spasmodic and limited effect beyond English Benedictine circles. However, Lanfranc was honoured some 900 years later by a school bearing his name being opened in Croydon, where he resided at the Old Palace.

References

The chief authority is the Vita Lanfranci by Milo, Crispin, who was precentor at Bec and died in 1149. Milo drew largely upon the Vita Herluini, composed by Gilbert Crispin, abbot of Westminster. The Chronicon Beccensis abbatiae, a 14th century compilation, should also be consulted. The first edition of these two sources, and of Lanfranc's writings, is that of L d'Achery, Beati Lanfranci opera omnia (Paris, 1648). Another edition, slightly enlarged, is that of JA Giles, Lanfranci opera (2 vols., Oxford, 1844). The correspondence between Lanfranc and Gregory VII is given in the Monumenta Gregoriana (ed. P. Jaffi, Berlin, 1865). Abbot Gilbert Crispin (1055?-1117), Christian author and monk. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Pope Gregory VII (c. ...

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...