Talk:William de Corbeil

Who crowned Stephen?

Both this page and that of Henry of Blois claim to have their respective subjects crown King Stephen. Both can't be correct.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 136.250.232.88 (talk • contribs) 06:42, 14 March 2006

More information

I'm copyediting down the DNB entry on him here - any help gratefully received! Neddyseagoon - talk 09:31, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Good article

This article is well written and well referenced, and a good overview of the topic. I was particularly impressed with the breadth of historical coverage. The article meets all of the GA criteria... Johnfos (talk) 07:34, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Corbeil on the Seine?

Where was Corbeil on the Seine in this article? Corbeil, a disambiguation page, gives three choices:

• Corbeil, Marne, a commune in the Marne département in north-eastern France
• Corbeil-Cerf, a commune in the département of Oise in northern France
• Corbeil-Essonnes, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France

The third one is on the Seine, and would seem like a plausable guess. Any opinions? Can someone add a link?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 01:57, 7 October 2019 (UTC)

Piety?

The definition of his unchallenged piety, which is somehow not at odds with avarice, treachery and perjury, imvites examination. It does not seem to meet the requirements at our article on the subject. Kevin McE (talk) 08:34, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

The source for that is this section in the ODNB article on him: "His conduct throughout his career had been mostly admirable, and his achievements were by no means negligible. He was a devout man, in the circle that fostered the cult of the Virgin Mary; and it was at the Council of Westminster in 1129 that the feast of the Immaculate Conception was generally authorized. He was a zealous reformer and his three visits to Rome were exceptional. William of Malmesbury considered him a courteous man, temperate in behaviour, and contrasted his sobriety with the flamboyance of the 'modern' bishop. But most of the contemporary chroniclers were prejudiced against him, and grudging in their tributes. His enacted reforms were unpopular. The author of Gesta Stephani, although allowing him the countenance of a dove and the dress of a monk, accused him of hoarding money. Monastic writers could not accept that a clerk or canon could be a proper archbishop of Canterbury; and those who supported the excluded Matilda, and later her son, Henry II, branded him a perjurer and a traitor. That he should, nevertheless, have been regarded favourably by Hugh the Chanter of York, and generally held to be basically a decent and religious man, must be considered a remarkable tribute." I'm open to other wordings, but he was generally considered devout and religious. William suffered in comparison to two of his predecessors - Lanfranc and Anselm, and as he was not a monk as his three predecessors had been, monastic chroniclers had a tendency to bad talk him. And non-monastic clergy disliked him because he tried to reform them and get them to give up their wives. He also got caught up in the disputes between Stephen and Matilda, which made some chroniclers who supported Matilda bad mouth him. Hugh the Chanter wasn't exactly well-disposed to anyone clergy from Canterbury (Hugh was pretty much a York-partisan) but his praise of William's religiosity is telling. Ealdgyth - Talk 11:12, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

Appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury

I am confused about this. "The bishops insisted that it should not be a clerk (a non-monastic member of the clergy), but Canterbury's monastic cathedral chapter preferred a monk". Why the "but" as both sides said it should not be a clerk? Then below the monks had to choose from a shortlist selected by the bishops, and even though they objected to a clerk, the monks "were 'alarmed at the appointment, since he was a clerk'". Dudley Miles (talk) 12:06, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

Not a clerk?

"The bishops insisted that it should not be a clerk (a non-monastic member of the clergy), but Canterbury's monastic cathedral chapter preferred a monk, and insisted that they alone had the right to elect the archbishop."

Sounds like they both wanted a monk then?? 93.136.54.149 (talk) 14:58, 13 October 2019 (UTC)