Gerard (archbishop of York) - Bishop of Hereford

Bishop of Hereford

Gerard was appointed Lord Chancellor of England in 1085, and was present at William I's deathbed in 1087. He continued as Chancellor to William Rufus until 1092; what precipitated his loss of office is unclear. He retained the king's trust, for Rufus employed him in 1095 along with William Warelwast on a diplomatic mission to Pope Urban II regarding Archbishop Anselm receiving the pallium, the sign of an archbishop's authority. Rufus offered to recognise Urban as pope rather than the Antipope Clement III in return for Anselm's deposition and the delivery of Anselm's pallium into Rufus' custody, to dispose of as he saw fit. The mission departed for Rome in February 1095 and returned by Whitsun with a papal legate, Walter the Cardinal Bishop of Albano, who had Anselm's pallium. The legate secured Rufus' recognition of Urban, but subsequently refused to consider Anselm's deposition. Rufus resigned himself to Anselm's position as archbishop, and at the king's court at Windsor he consented to Anselm being given the pallium.

Although not yet ordained, Gerard was rewarded with the Bishopric of Hereford, and he was consecrated by Archbishop Anselm on 8 June 1096; his ordination as a deacon and priest had taken place the previous day. He assisted at the consecration of St Paul's Cathedral in London on 9 June 1096. He may have been a member of the hunting party in the New Forest on 2 August 1100 when Rufus was killed, as he witnessed King Henry I's coronation charter – now known as the Charter of Liberties – three days later at Winchester, close by the New Forest. Gerard was present at Henry's coronation that same day, along with Maurice, Bishop of London. Henry was probably crowned by Maurice, but the medieval chronicler Walter Map states that Gerard crowned Henry in return for a promise of the first vacant archbishopric. Gerard may have assisted Maurice in the coronation ceremony.