[4] On 29 September 1102 Roger received the bishopric of Salisbury at Old Sarum Cathedral, but he was not consecrated until 11 August 1107[5] owing to the dispute between Henry and him.

He created the exchequer system, which was managed by him and his family for more than a century, and he used his position to heap up power and riches.

In the first two decades of Henry's reign, Roger played a major role in governing England when the king was abroad, and after 1120 he was chief minister and regent between 1123 and 1126.

Stephen placed great reliance on him, on his nephews, the bishops of Ely and Lincoln, and on his son Roger le Poer, who was treasurer.

At a council held in June 1139, Stephen found a pretext for demanding a surrender of their castles, and on their refusal they were arrested.

[2] The king was considered to have committed an almost unpardonable crime in offering violence to members of the church, in defiance of the scriptural command, "Touch not mine anointed".

However, his contemporaries were probably justified in regarding him as the type of the bishop immersed in worldly affairs, ambitious, avaricious, unfettered by any high standard of personal morality.