It was Henry who secured Boniface's election as Archbishop, and throughout his tenure of that office, he spent much time on the continent.

He clashed with his bishops, with his nephew-by-marriage, and with the papacy but managed to eliminate the archiepiscopal debt that he had inherited on taking office.

[1] Papal approval was delayed, however, by the opposition of Simon Langton, archdeacon of Canterbury,[7] and by the deaths of two popes.

[2] There, he was consecrated by Innocent IV on 15 January[1] at Lyons, but it was only in 1249 that he returned to England and was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 1 November 1249.

[9] Before he returned in 1249, he helped arrange the marriage another of his nieces, Beatrice of Provence, the sister of Queen Eleanor, to Charles of Anjou, the brother of King Louis IX of France.

He was heavily involved in advancing the fortunes of his family on the continent and spent fourteen of the twenty-nine years he was archbishop outside England.

[15] During his archiepiscopate, a provincial court was established in the archdiocese of Canterbury, with a presiding Officialis appointed by Boniface.

Robert Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln, had examined Passelewe, and found him unfit for episcopal office, and Boniface then quashed the election in 1244.

They appealed to the pope, who reaffirmed the right of Boniface to conduct his visitation but set a limit on the amount that could be taken from any monastery or church.

[2] Boniface clashed with Henry's half-brothers, the Lusignans, who arrived in England in 1247 and competed for lands and promotions with the queens' Savoy relatives.

[2] In 1258 and 1259, Boniface was a member of the Council of Fifteen, which conducted business for Henry III under the Provisions of Oxford.

This Council consisted of the earls of Leicester, Gloucester, Norfolk, Warwick, Hereford, the Count of Aumale, Peter of Savoy, John fitzGeoffrey, Peter de Montfort, Richard Grey, Roger Mortimer, James Audley, John Maunsell, Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester as well as Boniface.

[2] In April 1260, Boniface worked with Richard of Cornwall to broker a peace between King Henry and Prince Edward.

[2] The Early English Gothic chapel of Lambeth Palace dates from work carried out while Boniface was archbishop.

[24] Oddly enough, his official seal included a head of the pagan god Jupiter Serapis along with the usual depiction of the archbishop in full vestments.