Ranulf Flambard
Ranulf Flambard[a] (c. 1060 – 5 September 1128) was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government official of King William Rufus of England.
Ranulf was the son of a priest of Bayeux, Normandy, and his nickname Flambard means incendiary or torch-bearer, and may have referred to his personality.
Under Rufus, Ranulf continued to hold the king's seal, and also became involved in the financial administration of the kingdom, where he quickly made a name for himself by his novel methods of raising revenue.
Ranulf became a leading advisor to Robert, and assisted in his unsuccessful invasion of England, an attempt to oust Henry from the throne.
The brothers reconciled, but although Ranulf was restored to office he spent the next few years in Normandy, returning only after Henry had defeated Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray.
[5][10] Domesday Book gives his profession as a clerk and records him holding land in a number of counties.
[15] Early in the reign of Rufus he held the offices of dean of Christchurch in Twynham, Hampshire and was a prebendary of London and Lincoln.
[20] At Christchurch, Ranulf reduced the number of canons serving the church from 25 to 13 by not replacing clerks who died.
[22] As chief financial administrator, Ranulf bore the brunt of the chronicler's condemnations for extortion and efforts to increase royal revenues.
Besides attempts to increase the efficiency of collection and the rate of taxation, Ranulf created new methods of raising money.
[13] One of his new measures in revenue collection came in 1094, when the fyrd, or English militia, was assembled to fight in Normandy against the king's brother Robert Curthose.
When all the men had assembled, instead of sending them to Normandy, Ranulf dismissed them, after collecting the 10 shillings that each man had been given by their district for maintenance.
[36] He ran the government of England while Rufus was fighting in Normandy, not only raising money, but issuing writs and judging court cases.
[37] William of Malmesbury, in describing Ranulf's financial efforts, said that he "skinned the rich, ground the down the poor, and swept other men's inheritances into his net.
[13] Ranulf often worked in concert with Haimo the dapifer, or seneschal, and Urse d'Abetot in carrying out royal judgements.
On one occasion, they, along with Robert Bloet the Bishop of Lincoln, reassessed the lands of Thorney Abbey for taxes.
On another occasion, they were ordered along with Ralph de Luffa Bishop of Chichester to see that the abbey of Fecamp received custody of a church at Steyning.
[53] He took refuge across the English Channel with Henry's brother Robert Curthose, where he became one of the duke's principal advisors.
[54][55] King Henry dispossessed Ranulf of his lands at Whitsun in 1101,[48] and the new Archbishop of York Gerard deposed him from his bishopric.
[57] As Robert's advisor, Ranulf pressed the duke to dispute Henry's claim to the crown of England.
[55] Ranulf was in charge of organising transport for the duke's invasion of England,[59] and also secured the defection of some of Henry's ships, thus allowing the fleet to land safely.
Ranulf wrote to Anselm, asking that he might act as Thomas' surrogate and consecrate Thurgot as Bishop of St Andrew's.
[68] Thurgot had been prior of the cathedral chapter at Durham, but had disagreed with Ranulf, who arranged for him to be elected to St Andrew's as a solution to the quarrel.
[71] In 1125 John of Crema, the papal legate to England, visited Durham to investigate charges against the bishop.
[73] Ranulf worked to complete the cathedral[13] which his predecessor, William de St-Calais, had begun;[74] fortified Durham with a wall around Durham Castle,[43] built Norham Castle to help defend the Tweed River;[75][76][e] and endowed the collegiate church of Christchurch, Hampshire.
[61] While the chroniclers mainly condemned Ranulf for his morals, his own cathedral chapter held him in high esteem because of his building activities and his defence of the rights of Durham.
[89] When Ranulf became bishop, he married her to a burgess of Huntingdon, but remained on good terms with both Alveva and her spouse, often staying with them when he travelled away from Durham.
While he was efficient in collecting the royal revenues, he was generous to his own men and, later in life, gave liberally to the poor.
[3][95] Orderic described Ranulf's career as "addicted to feasts and carousals and lusts; cruel and ambitious, prodigal to his own adherents, but rapacious in seizing the goods of other men".
[13] The historian David Bates felt that he, along with his successor Roger of Salisbury, "were essentially the chief managers of the king's finance and justice".
