William de Corbeil - Final Years

Final Years

The archbishop swore to Henry I that he would support Henry's daughter Matilda's claim to the English throne, but after Henry's death he instead crowned Stephen, on 22 December 1135. He was persuaded to do so by Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and Stephen's brother, and Roger of Salisbury, Bishop of Salisbury. The bishops argued that Henry had no right to impose the oath, and that the dying king had released the barons and the bishops from the oath in any event. The royal steward, Hugh Bigod, swore that he had been present at the king's deathbed and had heard the king say that he released the oath.

William did not long outlive Henry, dying at Canterbury on 21 November 1136. He was buried in the north transept of Canterbury Cathedral. Contemporaries were grudging in their praise, and William's reputation suffered after the accession of Matilda's son, Henry II, to the English throne. William of Malmesbury said that William was a courteous and sober man, with little of the flamboyant lifestyle of the more "modern" bishops. The author of the Gesta Stephani claimed that William was avaricious and hoarded money. None of the chroniclers, however, doubted his piety, even when they named him a perjurer and a traitor for his coronation of Stephen.