57 Facts About Ranulf Flambard

Ranulf Flambard started his career under King William I of England, probably in the compilation of the Domesday Book of 1086, as well as being the keeper of the king's seal.

Under Rufus, Ranulf Flambard continued to hold the king's seal, and became involved in the financial administration of the kingdom, where he quickly made a name for himself by his novel methods of raising revenue.

Ranulf Flambard was given custody of a number of vacant ecclesiastical offices, administering at one point sixteen vacant bishoprics or abbeys.

Ranulf Flambard was a convenient scapegoat for the financial extortions of Rufus's reign.

Ranulf Flambard became the first prisoner to escape from the Tower and went into exile in Normandy with Rufus's and Henry's older brother Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy.

Ranulf Flambard became a leading advisor to Robert, and assisted in his unsuccessful invasion of England, an attempt to oust Henry from the throne.

The brothers reconciled, but although Ranulf Flambard was restored to office he spent the next few years in Normandy, returning only after Henry had defeated Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray.

Ranulf Flambard subsequently retired from political life, with only occasional appearances in public.

Ranulf Flambard remained active in ecclesiastical affairs, attending councils and working to defend the rights of his see.

Ranulf Flambard was a Norman and the son of Thurstin, a parish priest in the diocese of Bayeux.

Ranulf Flambard was probably born about 1060, as he was close to 70 when he died in 1128.

Ranulf Flambard stood out amongst the other clerks for his intelligence and his good looks.

Orderic went on to claim that Ranulf Flambard was "educated from boyhood with base parasites among the hangers-on of the court".

Ranulf Flambard acquired the reputation of an able financier and administrator and helped to increase the royal revenues.

Ranulf Flambard appears to have played an important part in the compilation of the Domesday survey, perhaps even the main orchestrator of the project.

Ranulf Flambard served as the keeper of the king's seal from about 1085.

Ranulf Flambard prevented the capture of the seal by throwing it into the sea.

When King William died and his lands were split between his elder son Robert Curthose, who received Normandy, and the third son, William Rufus, who received England, Ranulf Flambard chose to serve Rufus in England.

Ranulf Flambard is usually described as the chaplain of Rufus, but he is called treasurer and sometimes capitalis justicaiarius.

At Christchurch, Ranulf Flambard reduced the number of canons serving the church from 25 to 13 by not replacing clerks who died.

Ranulf Flambard kept the revenues that would have gone to the missing canons and used them to rebuild the church.

Besides attempts to increase the efficiency of collection and the rate of taxation, Ranulf Flambard created new methods of raising money.

Ranulf Flambard actively pressed lawsuits, including bringing suit against Anselm on the day of Anselm's consecration as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Ranulf Flambard administered for the king a large proportion of the vacant ecclesiastical offices.

Ranulf Flambard had been the custodian of the see since the death of the previous bishop in early 1096.

William of Malmesbury, a medieval chronicler, accused Ranulf Flambard of paying 1,000 pounds for the bishopric.

Ranulf Flambard was given ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Carlisle and Cumbria because his predecessors had done so as bishops of Lindisfarne, but he only exercised this for a short time, as after the accession of Henry I jurisdiction over these areas was transferred to the diocese of York.

Ranulf Flambard ran the government of England while Rufus was fighting in Normandy, not only raising money, but issuing writs and judging court cases.

Ranulf Flambard often worked in concert with Haimo the dapifer, or seneschal, and Urse d'Abetot in carrying out royal judgements.

Ranulf Flambard built a wall around the White Tower in London, enclosing the inner ward.

Ranulf Flambard started building the church at Christchurch at Twynham, which he had been granted by Rufus.

Ranulf Flambard was not only the first inmate at the castle, but the first person to escape from it.

Ranulf Flambard's friends had arranged a ship to transport Ranulf, some of the bishop's treasure, and the bishop's elderly mother to Normandy.

Ranulf Flambard took refuge across the English Channel with Henry's brother Robert Curthose, where he became one of the duke's principal advisors.

The historian David Crouch says that Ranulf Flambard "had to provide the strategic vision and energy that Duke Robert lacked", and other historians have agreed that Ranulf Flambard's arrival was the catalyst to Curthose's ability to mount an invasion.

Ranulf Flambard was in charge of organising transport for the duke's invasion of England, and secured the defection of some of Henry's ships, thus allowing the fleet to land safely.

Ranulf Flambard was pardoned in the treaty and restored to his bishopric, but he chose to stay with Robert for five more years.

In 1108, Ranulf Flambard was dragged into the middle of the ongoing dispute between Archbishop Anselm and the newly appointed Archbishop of York, Thomas over whether or not Thomas should profess obedience to Anselm.

Ranulf Flambard wrote to Anselm, asking that he might act as Thomas' surrogate and consecrate Thurgot as Bishop of St Andrew's.

Later, Ranulf Flambard tried to bribe King Henry to take Thomas' side.

Thurgot had been prior of the cathedral chapter at Durham, but had disagreed with Ranulf Flambard, who arranged for him to be elected to St Andrew's as a solution to the quarrel.

Ranulf Flambard attended the Council of Reims in 1119 held by Pope Callixtus II.

Ranulf Flambard worked to complete the cathedral which his predecessor, William de St-Calais, had begun; fortified Durham with a wall around Durham Castle, built Norham Castle to help defend the Tweed River; and endowed the collegiate church of Christchurch, Hampshire.

Ranulf Flambard built or expanded other churches, including the one at Christchurch in Hampshire which he had endowed, and St Martin's in Dover.

Ranulf Flambard attracted scholars to his household and reformed the administration of the diocese by dividing it into archdeaconries.

Ranulf Flambard oversaw the translation of Saint Cuthbert's relics to a new tomb in a lavish ceremony.

Ranulf Flambard was a patron to the hermit Saint Godric, whom he befriended.

One of Ranulf Flambard's brothers was Fulcher, who was Bishop of Lisieux in 1101.

Ranulf Flambard had a son, Thomas of Lisieux, who held the see of Lisieux, right after his uncle.

Alveva's sons were Ranulf Flambard, who was an archdeacon, and Elias.

When Ranulf Flambard became bishop, he married her to a burgess of Huntingdon, but remained on good terms with both Alveva and her spouse, often staying with them when he travelled away from Durham.

Ranulf Flambard was a member of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury's household after 1138.

Some of Ranulf Flambard's sons were educated at Laon under William de Corbeil, who was one of Ranulf Flambard's clerks.

Ranulf Flambard was buried in his chapter house in Durham, where his tomb was opened in 1874.

Ranulf Flambard was fond of clothes and was always richly dressed.

Ranulf Flambard's reputation has suffered because of the hostility of the monastic chroniclers to both himself and to Rufus.

Victorian historians, including E A Freeman, vilified Ranulf, and Freeman especially held that Ranulf was a "malignant genius".