The Dealings of William Rufus with vacant Bishoprics and Abbeys.
The chief point to be insisted on is that the appropriation of the revenues of vacant bishoprics and abbeys by the King was an innovation of William Rufus on the suggestion of Flambard. Such a thing may possibly have happened before, though I am not prepared at this moment with an instance; but, if so, it was merely a case of the irregular way in which Church property, and all property, was often dealt with by those who had the power. It was not a logical deduction from any legal principle, such as it at once became when Flambard had established the doctrine that the greater Church benefices were fiefs held of the King by military service. The passage in the Chronicle which I have quoted at p. 348 does not say in so many words that the practice was an invention of Rufus or his minister, though the tone of the passage certainly implies that their doings were something new. Other writers speak more distinctly.
Next in authority to the Chronicler comes Eadmer, who is naturally full on the subject. He tells us in detail (Hist. Nov. 14) how Rufus dealt with the Church of Canterbury after the death of Lanfranc, speaking more lightly of other cases as being of the same kind;
“Cuncta quæ juris illius erant, intus et extra per clientes suos describi præcepit, taxatoque victu monachorum inibi Deo servientium, reliqua sub censu atque in suum dominum redigi jussit. Fecit ergo ecclesiam Christi venalem: jus in ea dominandi præ cæteris illi tribuens, qui ad detrimentum ejus in dando pretium alium superabat. Unde misera successione singulis annis pretium renovabatur. Nullam siquidem conventionem Rex stabilem esse sinebat, sed qui plura promittebat excludebat minus dantem; nisi forte ad id quod posterior offerebat, prima conventione vacuata, prior assurgeret. Videres insuper quotidie, spreta servorum Dei religione, quosque nefandissimos hominum regias pecunias exigentes per claustra monasterii torvo et minaci vultu procedere, hinc inde præcipere, minas intentare, dominationem potentiamque suam in immensum ostentare.”
He goes on to tell of the sufferings of the monks and of their lay tenants;
“Quidam ipsi ecclesiæ monachi malis ingruentibus dispersi ac missi sunt ad alia monasteria, et qui relicti multas passi tribulationes et improperia. Quid de hominibus ecclesiæ dicam qui tam vasta miseria miseraque vastatione sunt attriti, ut dubitarem, si sequentia mala non essent, an salva vita illorum possent miserius atteri.”
He then mentions the like dealings with other churches, and adds the emphatic words;
“Et quidem ipse primus hanc luctuosam oppressionem ecclesiis Dei indixit, nullatenus eam ex paterna traditione excipiens. Destitutas ergo ecclesias solus in dominio suo tenebat. Nam alium neminem præter se substituere volebat quamdiu per suos ministros aliquid quod cujusvis pretii duceret ab eis extrahere poterat.”
William of Malmesbury (iv. 314) is no less distinct as to the difference between the practice of the two Williams, and as to the agency of Flambard. Having given his character of him (see above, p. 558) he goes on;
“Hoc auctore sacri ecclesiarum honores, mortuis pastoribus, venum locati; namque audita morte cujuslibet episcopi vel abbatis, confestim clericus regis eo mittebatur, quo omnia inventa scripto exciperet, omnesque in posterum redditus fisco regio inferret. Interea quærebatur quis in loco defuncti idoneus substitueretur, non pro morum sed pro nummorum experimento; dabaturque tandem honor, ut ita dicam, nudus, magno tamen emptus.”
He then goes on to contrast in a marked way the conduct of Rufus in these matters with that of his father; “Hæc eo indigniora videbantur, quod, tempore patris, post decessum episcopi vel abbatis omnes redditus integre custodiebantur, substituendo pastori resignandi, eligebanturque personæ religionis merito laudabiles; at vero pauculis annis intercedentibus omnia immutata.”
Orderic has two passages on the subject. One of them (763 C) is a mere complaint; “Defunctis præsulibus et archimandritis satellites regis ecclesiasticas possessiones et omnes gazas invadebant, triennioque seu plus dominio regis omnino mancipabant. Sic nimirum pro cupiditate reddituum, qui regis in ærario recondebantur, ecclesiæ vacabant, necessariisque carentes pastoribus Dominicæ oves lupinis morsibus patebant.” In the other (678, 679) he distinctly speaks of Flambard’s innovation, and goes more at length into the matter than any of the other writers. He has given one of the descriptions of Flambard which has been already quoted (see p. 559); and then goes on;
“Hujus consilio juvenis rex, morientibus prælatis, ecclesias cum possessionibus olim sibi datis invasit, et tam in abbatiis cœnobitas quam in episcopiis episcopales decanos et canonicos cuilibet satellitum suorum subegit. Parcam autem ad victum suum distributionem rerum eis delegabat, et reliquos redditus suæ ditioni mancipabat. Sic avaritia regis in ecclesia Dei nimis exarsit, et nefarius mos, tunc incœptus usque in hodiernum diem perseverans, multis animabus exitio fit. Hac enim de causa cupidus rex pastores ecclesiis imponere differebat, et populus rectore et grex pastore carens lupinis dentibus patebat, et multimodarum toxicatis missilibus culparum sauciatus interibat.”
He then goes on to contrast the greediness and sacrilege of William Rufus with the bounty of the ancient kings and nobles from Æthelberht onwards. He again records and moralizes on the special innovation of Rufus with regard to the treatment of ecclesiastical properties during vacancies;
“Antequam Normanni Angliam obtinuissent, mos erat, ut dum rectores ecclesiarum obirent, episcopus cœnobiorum quæ in sua diocesi erant, res sollicite describeret et sub ditione sua, donec abbates legitime ordinarentur, custodiret. Similiter archiepiscopus episcopii res, antistite defuncto, servabat, et pauperibus vel structuris basilicarum, vel aliis bonis operibus, cum consilio domesticorum ejusdem ecclesiæ distrahebat. Hunc profecto morem Guillelmus Rufus ab initio regni sui persuasione Flambardi abolevit et metropolitanam Cantuariæ sedem sine pontifice tribus annis esse fecit ejusque redditus suis thesauris intulit. Injustum quippe videtur, omnique rationi contrarium, ut quod Deo datum est fidelium liberalitate principum, vel solertia dispensatorum ecclesiasticæ rei laudabiliter est auctum, denuo sub laicali manu retrahatur, et in nefarios sæculi usus distrahatur.”
One effect of this practice must have been to make the monks and canons of the cathedral churches specially anxious to establish their distinct property in some part of the estates of the local church, separate from the property of the bishop. Under Flambard’s system, all the estates of the church were during a vacancy seized by the King, who allowed the monks or canons only such a pittance as he thought good. When episcopal and capitular estates were divided, when the body of canons held certain estates, and each canon by himself held certain others, all in frank-almoign, the seizure into the King’s hands of the estates which the bishop held by military tenure made no difference to the incomes of the canons.