Source.—Simeon of Durham, De injusta vexatione Willelmi episcopi primi, ed. Arnold, vol. i., p. 171. (Rolls Series.)

King William the younger disseised23 the bishop of Durham of his own lands and the lands of his church on 4 March, and caused his men and all his goods to be taken, wherever he could; he also ordered the bishop to be taken, and laid many snares for him; but by God’s will the bishop escaped them, and coming to Durham, sent his messenger to the king with the following letter on the very day on which he entered Durham:

“To his lord, William, king of the English, William bishop of Durham, greeting and loyal service. Know, my lord, that your men of York and Lincoln detain my men under arrest, and have seized my lands, and would have taken me also, if they could; and they say that they have done all these things at your command. I request you, therefore, as my lord, to cause my men and my lands to be restored with my chattels to me, as your liege man, whom you have never appealed24 of any crime, and who has never stood on his defence before you. If you will appeal me hereafter of any crime, I am ready to justify myself before you in your court at a convenient term, on receipt of a safe conduct. But I earnestly beg you not to treat me so basely and dishonourably, nor to disseise me unjustly, upon the advice of my enemies. For it is not every man who may judge bishops, and for my part, saving always my order, I undertake to offer you complete satisfaction; and if at the present you desire to have my service or the service of my men, I offer you the same at your pleasure.”

The king, however, on receiving and hearing the bishop’s letter, gave the bishop’s lands to his barons before the eyes of the messenger whom the bishop had sent, and again commanded the bishop to come to him, on the condition that if he should refuse to abide by the king’s will, he might return safely to Durham. But when the bishop, on hearing this answer, was ready to go to the king, he sent first to the sheriff of York, asking for a safe journey to the king’s presence. But Ralph Paynel, who was then sheriff, refused a conduct not only to the bishop but to all his messengers and men desiring to go to the king; he even seized the bishop’s monk who was returning from the king, and killed his horse, permitting him, however, to go on his way thereafter. Furthermore, on the king’s behalf, he commanded all the king’s men to do harm to the bishop wheresoever and howsoever they could. So, when the bishop was thus prevented from seeking the king either in person or by messenger, and had endured the destruction and devastation of his lands without any retaliation for seven weeks and more, the king at length sent to him the abbot of St. Augustine’s, commanding him, as he had before commanded, to come to his court with the abbot. The bishop, however, fearing the snares of his enemies and the king’s anger, answered that he could not come without a safe conduct, and sent his messengers in the abbot’s company with a letter to the king to that effect....

The king, on seeing this letter, sent the bishop a safe conduct, and assured him by letter that no hurt should be done him by the king himself or his men, until he should have left the king and reached Durham once more. The bishop, therefore, went to the king, and prayed to be put on his trial as a bishop. The king replied that he would consent to a trial only if the bishop would plead in a lay court and forego the safe conduct granted to him; if he should refuse so to plead, he must go back to Durham. The bishop then asked the archbishop of York and the bishops there present to advise him thereon. But the bishops replied that the king had forbidden them to advise him. Then the bishop pressed his archbishop to advise him, as a matter of right, due to his church and to himself. The archbishop therefore made request to the king thereon, but reported to the bishop that it was impossible. So the bishop himself prayed the king to allow him the advice of his archbishop and primate and the bishops, his peers, but the king summarily refused. The bishop then offered to purge himself of the charge of treason and disloyalty; the king, however, rejected the offer, and the bishop returned to Durham. Meanwhile the king had seized there more than 700 men and considerable booty.

Again therefore the bishop sent a letter to the king by one of his monks.... The king replied by seizing and imprisoning the monk who brought it, and sent his army against the bishop; and after the troops had laid waste the bishop’s lands with fire and plunder, the barons opened negotiations with the bishop, and both parties agreed to a solemn covenant....

On the strength of this, the plea was respited on both sides until 10 November, and on that day the bishop came to Salisbury.... The bishop rose in court and prayed the king to restore to him his bishopric, which he had long ago taken from him without a judgment. The king said nothing, but Lanfranc replied, “The king has taken away no part of your bishopric, nor has any other man at his command, nor have you seen his writ disseising you or commanding you to be disseised of your bishopric.” The bishop rejoined, “No, but I have seen Ralph Paynel, and I see him here; and he, by the king’s command, has disseised me of the whole of my bishopric in Yorkshire....” Lanfranc replied, “The king summons you to make your defence to him, and his barons have brought you here to that end; yet you ask that he first make his defence to you! First defend yourself, and then ask what you are now asking.” The bishop said in answer, “My lord archbishop, do you say that by way of advice or by way of judgment?” “By way of advice, of course,” said he, “but if the king will listen to me, he will make a judgment of it soon enough.” At these words of Lanfranc, the primate of all England, the lay barons were aroused and cried out against the bishop, asserting that it was contrary to right that the king should answer the bishop before the latter had justified himself to the king.

The lay barons gave utterance to this and many other statements, with much repetition, but when silence was restored, the bishop said, “My lords, barons and laymen, allow me, I beg you, to say what I have to say to the king, and to make my answer to the archbishops and bishops. I have nothing to say to you, and since I have not come here to receive your judgment, I reject it altogether; even if it had pleased our lord the king and the archbishops and bishops that you should meddle with this matter, it would not have befitted me to submit to such an indignity.” The king then said, “I trusted that the bishop would first answer me touching the charges I make against him; I am astonished that he asks for anything else.” Thereupon earl Alan and earl Roger said, “We have brought the bishop to justify himself to the king.” To which the bishop replied, “Robbed as I am, I am ready to answer, if I be tried canonically, for I will not go one step beyond the law of my order in this suit.” Roger Bigot then said to the king, “You should tell the bishop whereof you appeal him, and afterward, if he refuse to answer to us, cause him to be judged touching his answer; if not, do thereon what your barons advise you.” The bishop rejoined, “I have just said, and I say again, that I reject altogether the judgment of laymen, and anything that contravenes the canons. I accept no accusation, unless I be first invested with my bishopric, or unless it be awarded by a canonical judgment that I must be charged and make answer and be judged before such investiture.” Then Hugh de Beaumont rose by the king’s command and said to the bishop, “The king appeals you of this, that when he learned that his enemies were rising against him, and his men, to wit, the bishop of Bayeux and earl Roger and many others, were attempting to deprive him of his realm and crown, and he, by your advice, rode against them, he summoned you, in my presence, to ride with him, and you answered that you would willingly go with the seven knights whom you had there, and would send to your castle for more with all speed; and afterwards you fled from his court without his licence, taking with you some men of his household, and so failed him in his necessity. And now it is his will that you do thereon to him what his court shall award, and if need be, he will appeal you afterwards of more offences.” The bishop, however, replied to him, “Hugh, say what you like, but you I will not answer today....” Hugh de Beaumont rejoined, “If I today fail to judge you and your order, you or your order shall never judge me again....” The bishop went out with his men, and on his return, Thomas, archbishop of York, said to him, “My lord bishop, our lord archbishop and the king’s court awards that you do right to the king before he reinvest you with your fee....” The bishop said, “The judgment here given I reject, because it contravenes the canons and our law ... and since I am conscious that through the king’s hatred you are all against me, I appeal to the apostolic see, the holy church of Rome, to St. Peter and his vicar....” Thereupon archbishop Lanfranc replied, “We are not judging you touching your bishopric, but touching your fee, and in the same way we judged the bishop of Bayeux before this king’s father, touching his fee; in that suit the king did not summon him as a bishop, but as his brother and as an earl.” The bishop answered, “My lord archbishop, I have not said a word today about a fee, nor have I said that I had a fee; I complained, and I complain still, of the disseisin of my bishopric.” The archbishop rejoined, “I may not have heard you speak of a fee, but I know you had a great fee, and we have judged you thereon.” The bishop replied, “My lord archbishop, I gather now that you have ignored all that I have said, and judge me out of your own knowledge; but though by God’s grace you are exceeding wise and of great reputation, I perceive that in this your wisdom is so high that my humble intelligence cannot grasp it; but I wish to go to the apostolic see, to which of necessity I have appealed, by licence of the king and you.” “Leave us,” said the archbishop, “and the king, after taking counsel, will announce to you his will.” When the bishop had left the room and had been summoned back, Hugh de Beaumont rose and said to him, “My lord bishop, the king’s court and these barons adjudge as just, that since you refuse to answer touching the charge whereon the king through me has appealed you, but cite him on his plea to Rome, you thereby forfeit your fee.”