Hubert Walter - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Walter died on 13 July 1205, after a long illness that permitted a reconciliation with his monks. The medieval chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall described his death as taking four days, and related that he gave vestments, jewelry, and altar furnishings to his monks, which were confiscated by King John after Walter's death. He was buried in the Trinity Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral, next to Thomas Becket, where his tomb can still be seen. The tomb occupied a highly visible spot in the Trinity Chapel, and Walter was the first archbishop to be buried there since the 1170s, when all of the tombs but Becket's had been relocated to focus attention on Becket's shrine. His remained the only ecclesiastic to be buried there until the 14th century. The use by the archbishops of Canterbury of the title "Primate of All England" dates from Walter's archiepiscopal tenure.

The medieval chronicler Matthew Paris retold the story that when King John heard of Walter's death, the king exclaimed "Now for the first time I am king of England". This story, however entertaining, is apocryphal. More secure is the story that another chronicler, Roger of Wendover, relates about Walter's Christmas celebrations in 1200. Roger reports that Walter distributed clothing to those attending his Christmas feast, which angered King John. The chronicler says that Walter "wished to put himself on a par with the king".

Walter was not a holy man, although he was, as John Gillingham, a historian and biographer of Richard I, says, "one of the most outstanding government ministers in English History". Hugh of Lincoln, a contemporary and later canonized, is said to have asked forgiveness of God for not having rebuked Walter as often as he probably should have. Modern historians tend not to share the older view that Walter was the driving force behind the administrative changes during Richard's reign, that Richard was uninterested in government, and that he left all decisions in the hands of his ministers, especially Longchamp and Walter. The studies of James Holt and others have shown that Richard was highly involved in government decisions, and that it was more a partnership between the king and his ministers. Walter was, however, very innovative in his approach to government. Walter continued to enjoy the support of Richard's brother John, and it was during John's reign that a number of Walter's administrative reforms took place, although how much royal initiative was behind the innovations is unknown, given John's interest in government and administration.

Walter was the butt of jokes about his lack of learning, and was the target of a series of tales from the pen of the chronicler Gerald of Wales, an enemy of the archbishop. Even Walter's supporters could only state that he was "moderately literate". Walter employed several canon lawyers who had been educated at Bologna in his household, including John of Tynemouth, Simon of Southwell, and Honorius of Kent. He also employed the architect Elias of Dereham, who was one of Walter's executors. Elias is traditionally credited as being the architect of Salisbury Cathedral after Walter's death. Another scholar employed by Walter was Peter of Blois, who served both Walter and his predecessor as a Latin secretary.

We know little of his appearance, although he was described by Gerald of Wales as tall and handsome. Gerald also praises his intelligence and cleverness.

W. L. Warren advances the theory that either Walter or Geoffrey Fitz Peter, instead of Ranulf Glanvill, was the author of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae, a legal treatise on the laws and constitutions of the English. Chrimes agrees that Glanvill was probably not the author, and feels that Walter likely was, although he could not be certain. If he was the author, he composed what Chrimes called a "great literary memorial of Henry II's government". Neither of Walter's two modern biographers, however, feel that he was the author of the Tractatus, and the historian Ralph Turner agrees. The historian Michael Clanchy says of Walter "The proliferation of documents was a European and a continuing phenomenon, yet if it were to be associated in England with one man, he would be Hubert Walter."