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William de Corbeil or William of Corbeil (c. 1070– 1136) was a medieval archbishop of Canterbury.

He was born probably at Corbeil on the Seine possibly around 1070,^[1] and was educated at Laon, where he taught for a while.^[2] His teacher at Laon was Anselm of Laon, the noted scholastic and teacher of theology.^[3] He had two brothers, Ranulf and Helgot, but nothing else is known about his parents or upbringing.^[1]

He was soon in the service of Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham and also Richard de Beaumis bishop of London; then, having entered the Augustinian order at Holy Trinity Priory in Aldgate,^[1] he became prior of the Augustinian foundation at St Osyth in Essex.^[4][5][6] He was a clerk of Ralph d'Escures, Archbishop of Canterbury, and went with Ralph to Rome in 1117 when Ralph was disputing with Thurstan the Archbishop of York over the primacy of the see of Canterbury.^[7]

After the death of Ralph d'Escures in October of 1122, King Henry I decided to allow a free election, and the new primate was chosen by the leading men of the realm, both ecclesiastical and secular.^[8] The usual arguments broke out between the monks of the chapter and the bishops of the kingdom; with the bishops insisting on the election of a non-monk, and the monks insisting that they alone had the right to elect the archbishop and that the new archbishop must be a monk. However, only two bishops in either England or Normandy at this time were monks (Ernulf Bishop of Rochester and Serlo Bishop of Séez), and no monk other than Anselm of Canterbury, Ernulf, and Ralph d'Escures had been elected to an English or Norman see since 1091, so recent precedent favored the bishops.^[7] King Henry sided with the bishops, and told they monks they could elect their choice from a short list selected by the bishops. The list, of course, contained no monks.^[9]

Henry I from a 13th century manuscript of Matthew Paris

On February 4, 1123^[10] William was chosen from among four candidates to the see of Canterbury, but the other three candidates names are not known. ^[7] William refused to admit that Thurstan, archbishop of York, was independent of the see of Canterbury, so Thurstan refused to consecrate him. Instead, the ceremony was performed by William's own suffragan bishops on February 18, 1123.^[10][9] William was the first Augustinian consecrated Archbishop in England, a striking break with tradition that had favored monks in the see of Canterbury.^[11] As such, he caused some trepidation in the monks of the Canterbury chapter, who were "alarmed at the appointment, since he was a clerk," clerk here meaning a non-monastic clergy-member.^[12] Proceeding to Rome the new archbishop found that Thurstan had anticipated his arrival in that city and had made out a strong case against him to Pope Calixtus II. There were four objections against William's election, first that he was elected in the king's court, second that the chapter of Canterbury had been coerced and was unwilling, third that his consecration was unlawful because it was not performed by Thurstan, and fourth that a monk should be elected to the see of Canterbury, which had been founded by Saint Augustine of Canterbury, a monk.^[7] However, the exertions of the English king Henry I and of the emperor Henry IV, King Henry I's son-in-law, prevailed, and the pope gave William the pallium, but not without making William swear to obey "all things that the Pope imposed upon him."^[13][9] It was at the same time that the Pope decided against Canterbury in the primacy dispute with York, when the forged documents that the Canterbury monks presented as evidence were dismissed as forgeries.^[7] William then returned to England, and was enthroned at Canterbury on July 22, 1123.^[1]

The archbishop's next dispute was with the papal legate of the new Pope Honorius II, Cardinal John of Crema, who had arrived in England and was acting in an autocratic manner.^[13] Again travelling to Rome, William gained another victory, and was himself appointed papal legate in England and Scotland by Pope Honorius II in 1126,^[6] a precedent of considerable importance in the history of the English Church. In ecclesiatical matters, William called legatine councils in 1125, 1127 and 1129 all at Winchester. The one in 1125 met under the direction of John of Crema, and prohibited simony, purchase of the sacraments, and the inheritance of clerical benefices. In 1127 the council condemned the purchase of benefices or the entry to clerical orders or of entry to religious houses. Lastly, in 1129 the clergy were once more admonished to live a celibate life and to put aside their wives.^[14] The festival of the Conception was also allowed at one of these councils.^[15] William also seems to have been somewhat eclipsed in ecclesiastical administration and appointments by Roger of Salisbury, Bishop of Salisbury and King Henry's primary advisor.^[16] However, William reformed the nunnery of Minster-in-Sheppey, and put a college of regular canons at the church of St. Gregory's, in Canterbury.^[1]

Map of Medieval Rochester, showing the tower that William built. From E. A. Freeman's The Reign of William Rufus 1882

William built the keep of Rochester Castle,^[17] and finished the building of the cathedral at Canterbury, which was dedicated with great pomp in May of 1130. The work at Rochester was built within the stone curtain walls that Gundulf of Rochester had erected in the late eleventh century. William built a stone keep within the walls for King Henry. The keep was not only designed for defense, but also had comfortable living quarters, which were probably intended for the use of the archbishops when they visited Rochester.^[18] In 1127, the custody of Rocherster Castle was granted to William and his successors as archbishop by King Henry, including the right to fortify the place as the archbishops wished, and the right to garrison the castle with their own men.^[19] He also built a new church at Dover which he planned to staff with canons from Merton Priory, but the plan was interrupted by William's death, and the church instead was staffed from St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury.^[1]

The archbishop had sworn to Henry I that he would support the claim of his daughter Matilda to the English crown, but nevertheless William crowned Stephen after Henry's death.^[5] The archbishop was persuaded to do so by Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and Stephen's brother, and it was this persuasion that lead to Stephen's crowning on December 22, 1135.^[20][21] Roger of Salisbury also was party to the consultations, and both bishops persuaded the archbishop that the oath had been imposed wrongly by Henry, and that in any event, the dying king had released the barons and the bishops from the oath. The royal steward, Hugh Bigod swore that he had been present at the deathbed, and had heard the king say that he released the oath.^[22] William did not long outlive Henry, as he died at Canterbury on November 21, 1136.^[10] William was buried in the north transept of Canterbury Cathedral.^[1]

Contemporaries were grudging in their praise, and William's reputation suffered after the ascension of Matilda's son Henry II of England to the throne. William of Malmesbury said that William was a courteous and sober man, with little of the flamboyant lifestyle of the more "modern" bishops. The Gesta Stephani author claimed that he was avaricious, and hoarded money. None of the chroniclers, however, doubted his piety, even when they named him a perjuror and a traitor for his coronation of Stephen.^[1]

List of Archbishops of Canterbury

• Alexander, Alexandri monachi Cantuariensis liber ex dictis Beati Anselmi: miracula ed. R. W. Southern and F. S. Schmitt, Memorials of St Anselm (1969), 266–8
• Anstruther, R. editor Epistolae Herberti de Losinga, Osberti de Clara, et Edmeri (1846)
• Bethell, D. "William of Corbeil and the Canterbury–York dispute" Journal of Ecclesiastical History volume 19 (1968), p. 145–59
• Foreville, R. L'église et la royauté en Angleterre sous Henri II Plantagenet, 1154–1189 (Paris, 1943)
• Gervase of Canterbury, The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury ed. W. Stubbs, 2 vols., Rolls Series, 73 (1879–80)
• Henry of Huntingdon Historia Anglorum edited by D. E. Greenway, Oxford Medieval Texts (1996)
• Hook, W. F. Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (1860?1884)
• Hugh the Chanter The history of the church of York, 1066–1127, edited and translated C. Johnson, Revised edition revised by M. Brett, C. N. L. Brooke, and M. Winterbottom, OMT (1990)
• John of Worcester Chronicles
• Migne, J.-P. ed., Patrologia Latina, 217 vols. (1844–55), 977
• Potter, K. R. and R. H. C. Davis, editors, Gesta Stephani, Oxford Medieval Texts (1976)
• Stephens, W. R. W. History of the English Church (1901)
• Symeon of Durham Opera
• Whitelock, D.; M. Brett, and C. N. L. Brooke, editors, Councils and synods with other documents relating to the English church, 871–1204 Volume 2 (1981)
• William of Malmesbury Monachi de gestis pontificum Anglorum libri quinque edited by N. E. S. A. Hamilton, Rolls Series, 52 (1870)

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.