Roger de Pont L'Évêque

Roger de Pont L'Évêque (or Roger of Bishop's Bridge; c. 1115–1181) was Archbishop of York from 1154 to 1181. Born in Normandy, he preceded Thomas Becket as Archdeacon of Canterbury, and together with Becket served Theobald of Bec while Theobald was Archbishop of Canterbury. While in Theobald's service, Roger was alleged to have committed a crime which Becket helped to cover up. Roger succeeded William FitzHerbert as archbishop in 1154, and while at York rebuilt York Minster, which had been damaged by fire.

Roger did not become deeply involved in the dispute between King Henry II of England and Becket until 1170, when the King had Roger preside at the coronation of the king's son Henry the Young King, a function that would normally have been performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In retaliation Becket excommunicated Roger in late 1170, and some have seen this excommunication as one reason for King Henry's anger at Becket which led to Becket's murder. After being suspended from office by the pope for his supposed role in Becket's death, Roger was eventually restored to office in late 1171, and died in 1181. The see of York remained vacant after his death until 1189.

Early life

Roger was most likely born around 1115 and was a native of Pont-l'Évêque in Normandy. His only known relative was a nephew, Geoffrey, to whom Roger gave the offices of provost of Beverley Minster and archdeacon of York. Roger was a clerk of Archbishop Theobald's before being named Archdeacon of Canterbury, some time after March 1148. When Becket joined Theobald's household, their contemporary William fitzStephen recorded that Roger disliked the new clerk, and twice drove Thomas away before the archbishop's brother Walter arranged Thomas' return.

It was while Roger was Theobald's clerk that he made lasting friendships with Gilbert Foliot and Hugh de Puiset. While it was later recalled that Roger and Becket did not get along, there is no evidence of hatred between the two before the Becket crisis happened. When he went north to York, the legal scholar Vacarius, who had been part of Theobald's household, followed Roger and spent the next 50 years in the north. Vacarius was responsible for introducing Roman civil law into England, and did so under the patronage of Roger. He wrote a standard textbook on the civil law, the Liber pauperum, and was an important advisor for Roger.

Roger attended the Council of Tours in 1163, along with several other English bishops. Pope Alexander III named Roger a papal legate in February 1164, but his powers did not include the city of Canterbury or anything to do with Archbishop Becket. They did, however, include Scotland.

In late 1164 Roger led a deputation from Henry II that visited the papal court, or curia, to try to persuade Alexander III that any decision on the deposition of Becket should take place in England under a papal legate, rather than in Rome. While Becket was in exile, Roger also managed to secure papal permission for archbishops of York to carry their cross in front of them anywhere in England, a right that had long been a bone of contention between Canterbury and York. Later, the pope rescinded the permission, but consistently refused to give primacy to either Canterbury or York in their struggles.

Roger did not like monks, and William of Newburgh said that he often referred to the foundation of Fountains Abbey as the worst mistake of Archbishop Thurstan's episcopate. Roger also was accused of avarice, and of making unworthy clerical appointments. However, he also started the rebuilding of York Minster, which had been damaged by fire in 1137, built the Archbishop's Palace, York, and helped with the building of a church at Ripon. He also endowed the school at York with an annual income of 100 shillings. Henry II insisted that his son, Henry, be crowned at Westminster Abbey on 14 June 1170 by Archbishop Roger of York. This overstepped a long tradition which reserved coronations to the Archbishop of Canterbury, a reservation confirmed as recently as 1166 by Pope Alexander III. In 1170, however, Henry II received papal permission to have Roger crown the younger Henry, a permission which Alexander later revoked.

Before Becket returned to England, on 1 December 1170, he excommunicated Roger, as well as Gilbert Foliot the Bishop of London and Josceline de Bohon the Bishop of Salisbury. After Becket landed in England, the three excommunicates went to Becket and asked for absolution, but while Becket was willing to absolve Gilbert and Josceline, he insisted that only the pope could absolve an archbishop. Roger persuaded the others that they should stick together, and all three went to King Henry in Normandy, to secure the king's permission for their appeals to Rome.

Roger's and his fellow bishops' stories to Henry are often cited as the spark that touched off the king's anger at Becket and led to his martyrdom. However, it was more probably the stories of Becket's behaviour upon arrival in England that caused Henry's anger, and which indirectly led to the death of Becket.

Roger had one son, named William, at some point in his career. York remained vacant from Roger's death in 1181 until 1189.