Gerard (died 21 May 1108) was Archbishop of York between 1100 and 1108 and Lord Chancellor of England from 1085 until 1092. A Norman, he was a member of the cathedral clergy at Rouen before becoming a royal clerk under King William I of England and subsequently his son King William II Rufus. Gerard was appointed Lord Chancellor by William I, and he continued in that office under Rufus, who rewarded him with the Bishopric of Hereford in 1096. Gerard may have been with the king's hunting party when William II was killed, as he is known to have witnessed the first charter issued by the new king, Henry I of England, within days of William's death.
Soon after Henry's coronation Gerard was appointed to the recently vacant see of York, and became embroiled in the long-running dispute between York and the see of Canterbury concerning which archbishopric had primacy over England. Gerard managed to secure papal recognition of York's claim to jurisdiction over the church in Scotland, but he was forced to agree to a compromise with his counterpart at Canterbury, Anselm, over Canterbury's claims to authority over York, although it was not binding on his successors. In the Investiture Controversy between the king and the papacy over the right to appoint bishops, Gerard worked on reconciling the claims of the two parties; the controversy was finally resolved in 1107.
Gerard was a patron of learning, to the extent that he urged at least one of his clergy to study Hebrew, a language not commonly studied at that time. He himself was a student of astrology, which led to suggestions that he was a magician and a sorcerer. Partly because of such rumours, and his unpopular attempts to reform his cathedral clergy, Gerard was denied a burial inside York Minster after his sudden death in 1108. His successor as archbishop subsequently had Gerard's remains moved into the cathedral church from their initial resting place beside the cathedral porch.
Early life and career
Gerard was the nephew of Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester, and Simon, Abbot of Ely. His parents were Osbert and Anna, and his brother Peter was also a royal clerk. The places and times of his birth and upbringing are unknown; he is documented as cantor of Rouen Cathedral, He served in the royal chancery under successive kings of England, William I and William II. 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, 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. 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.
Archbishop
Gerard became Archbishop of York in December 1100. No source mentions him being invested by the king, but as Anselm urged Pope Paschal II to give Gerard his pallium, which he would have been unlikely to do if Gerard had been invested by Henry, that possibility seems remote. At Whitsun in 1101 King Henry I, with Anselm's support, deprived Ranulf Flambard, Bishop of Durham, of the lands of the see of Durham, because Ranulf had defected to Henry's elder brother Robert Curthose, who also claimed the English throne. Gerard then deposed Ranulf from his bishopric. Soon after his translation to York, Gerard began a long dispute with Anselm, claiming equal primacy with the Archbishop of Canterbury and refusing to make a profession of canonical obedience to Anselm, part of the long Canterbury–York dispute. At the 1102 Council of Westminster, Gerard reportedly kicked over the smaller chair provided for him as Archbishop of York, and refused to be seated until he was provided with one as large as Anselm's. He travelled to Rome in 1102 to receive his pallium from the pope, The pope decided against the king, but Gerard and two other bishops reported that the pope had assured them that the various papal decrees against the lay investiture of bishops would not be enforced. Their claim was denied by Anselm's representatives and the pope, who excommunicated Gerard until he recanted.
right|thumb|upright|Thirteenth-century [[illuminated manuscript|manuscript illustration of Henry I|220px]]
Gerard secured papal recognition of York's metropolitan see for the Scots. He subsequently consecrated Roger as Bishop of Orkney, but refused to consecrate Thurgot to the see of St Andrews because Thurgot would not recognise the primacy of York. Gerard gave generously to the monasteries of his diocese; the medieval chronicler Hugh the Chantor stated that Thomas II, Gerard's successor, accused Gerard of having dissipated the diocese's endowment. He wrote to Anselm in 1103 complaining of the intransigence of his clergy and envying Anselm's better relations with Canterbury's chapter, which was composed of monks instead of the secular canons who made up York Minster's chapter. In this correspondence, Gerard complained that some of the York canons refused to be ordained as priests, thereby hoping to avoid taking the vow of celibacy. He also accused them of accepting prebends but refusing to live or work at the cathedral, and of focusing on a narrow legal definition of celibacy without actually being celibate. The canons' argument was that they were only required not to maintain women in their own houses, but they were not forbidden to visit or entertain women in houses belonging to others. It was not only Gerard who complained about the relationship between himself and his canons; the latter accused Gerard of impoverishing York by making gifts of lands to others.
Death and legacy
Gerard was an associate of the anonymous author of the Quadripartitus and the Leges Henrici Primi, two 12th-century law books. The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury charged Gerard with immorality, avarice and the practice of magic. Gerard encouraged at least one of his clergy to study Hebrew, a language not normally studied at the time. Some chroniclers considered his ownership of a Hebrew psalter to be disturbing, seeing it as a sign of heresy or secret Judaism. Among the sins that Malmesbury imputed to him was the study of Julius Firmicus Maternus, a late Roman astrologer, every morning, which to Malmesbury meant that Gerard was a sorcerer. Malmesbury further claimed that Gerard was "lewd and lustful". as part of manuscript Cotton Titus D.xxiv. A collection of his letters circulated in the mid-12th century, part of a bequest made to Bec Abbey in 1164 by Philip de Harcourt, the Bishop of Bayeux, but it is now lost.