Cardinal-legate Hicmar and the pall for York
In 1144 the cardinal-legate Hicmar arrived in England carrying a pall for William of York; he assured Bernard that he would not deliver it until he had personally received the oat…
William of York’s journey to Rome and suspension
When neither prelate acknowledged Hicmar’s presence and he was recalled by the death of Pope Lucius and the accession of Eugene, William of York belatedly realized his error and h…
William’s exile in Sicily under King Roger
The suspended archbishop withdrew to Sicily and took up residence there with his fellow-countryman Robert of Selby under the protection of King Roger; since Roger was then at bitt…
Henry Murdac’s background and his commission from Clairvaux
Henry Murdac, a Yorkshireman who in Archbishop Thurstan’s time had renounced home, lands, and kindred to answer S.…
The armed raid on Fountains Abbey
When William’s suspension became known, his partisans attributed it to Murdac and retaliated with an armed raid on Fountains; finding little plunder in the freshly-reformed Cister…
The deposition of William at the Council of Paris
The Fountains outrage brought William’s last chance to an end: at a council held in Paris in spring 1147, Abbot Murdac and a York chapter deputation renewed their charges against…
Election and consecration of Henry Murdac
On the eve of S. James, the York chapter, joined by the suffragans of Durham and Carlisle, obeyed a papal mandate and elected Henry Murdac as their new archbishop; summoned from C…
Reaction of Stephen and Henry of Winchester
The subsequent conduct of Stephen and Henry of Winchester showed that they had rightly been understood: they had staked everything on the northern primacy scheme, and its failure…
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