# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Losinga, Herbert de

​LOSINGA, HERBERT de (1054?–1119), first bishop of Norwich and founder of the cathedral church, was probably born about 1054. Confusion with his predecessor in the see of Thetford, William Beaufeu [q. v.] , has led Weever, Godwin, and other antiquaries to give Losinga the christian name of William, as well as a long series of alternative designations (Galfridus, Galfagus, and Belfagus), which were borne by Beaufeu. Herbert was son of Robert of Losing, who became at a later date abbot of Winchester. He had an only brother, whose name began with ‘G’ (he is so addressed in one of Herbert's letters); his mother's name is unknown. The surname Losinga has been explained as equivalent to ‘Lotharingian,’ and this explanation seems the best yet adduced. Robert Losinga (d. 1095) [q. v.], probably a family connection, is described on his tomb as of Lotharingia, and Freeman always refers to Herbert as a Lotharingian. Another theory, which Freeman (William Rufus, ii. 568), seemed at one time inclined to accept, derives Losinga from ‘laudare,’ and makes it a characteristic epithet synonymous with ‘a flatterer’ (see De Rémusat, Anselme, p. 199; Nicholas Harpsfield). The chief objection to this theory is that the same surname was borne by Herbert's father. A third theory assumes that Herbert was of English birth, and connects ‘Losinga’ with the root of the name preserved in the Suffolk Hundreds, Loes, and Lothingland, and in Lowestoft, formerly Loestoft, which is itself in the Hundred of Lothingland. Herbert's native place is equally a matter of dispute; Giraldus Cambrensis gives it as Exmes ‘in pago Oximensi in Normannia’ (i.e. Exmes, department of the Orne); Bartholomew Cotton (Rolls Ser.) says ‘in pago Oxymensi,’ which Wharton wrongly transcribed ‘Oxoniensi;’ Pits has ‘Oxunensi,’ a very easy misreading of ‘Oximensi;’ Bale, himself a Suffolk man, gives ‘ex pago Oxunensi in Sudvolgia’ (i.e. the Suffolk Hundred of Hoxne); but Tanner (Bibliotheca Britannica, p. 486), declares in favour of ‘Oximensi.’ Herbert's early life conflicts at nearly all points with the theory of his Suffolk origin. His father, it is true, is said at one period to have held a manor in the Hundred of Hoxne. Herbert himself appears to have inherited property in Wykes, probably one of the hamlets of Ipswich, still called ‘Wykes Episcopi,’ and to have possessed other property at Syleham; but this property is very likely to have been part of the private estate of an Anglo-Saxon holder of the bishopric of Elmham; and Herbert is said to have received some land ‘non de episcopatu’ but ‘de patrimonio Almari episcopi,’ i.e. of Agelmarus, brother of Stigand, bishop of Elmham from 1047 to 1070.
Herbert was educated in the monastery at Fécamp in Normandy, and became a professed member of the Benedictine order (circ. 1075). He was elected prior of Fécamp, and in 1087–8 Herbert was invited by William Rufus to become abbot of Ramsey. There he ruled with skill and wisdom, soon enjoying other ecclesiastical preferment, and acting as ‘sewer’ (or server) in the royal household.
Upon the death in 1091 of William, bishop of Thetford, Herbert purchased the appointment of Ralph Flambard for either 1,900l. or 1,000l. Bartholomew Cotton attempts to excuse Losinga's simony by crediting him with an apostolic admonition. The see of Canterbury being vacant, Herbert's consecration was committed to Thomas, archbishop of York. When Herbert succeeded to the bishopric the annual revenue amounted to 396l. 6s. 8d. He obtained at the same time the office of abbot of the Winchester house of Hyde for his father, Robert, presumably by purchase (cf. Dugdale, Monasticon, iv. 1, 2). Herbert refers in one of his ‘Letters’ (xix.) to the death, in 1098, of his father, who was buried at Winchester.
The king had raised Herbert to his bishopric independently of the pope, but, oppressed by a sense of contrition for having ​corruptly obtained preferment, Herbert determined in 1094 to visit Rome in order to resign his office. At Hastings he met William, who was aware of his errand and promptly degraded him (Anglo-Saxon Chron.), but Herbert went on to Rome, where he formally resigned his office to Pope Urban and received absolution. The pope at the same time reinstated Herbert, and consented to Herbert's proposal to remove the see from Thetford to Norwich, obviously a more suitable diocesan centre. Before Herbert left Rome the pope is said to have imposed upon him by way of penance the task of erecting various churches and religious houses within the diocese, a task which he zealously performed. To him was due the erection of Norwich Cathedral and the parish churches of Great Yarmouth (St. Nicholas) and King's Lynn (St. Margaret). On 9 April 1094 the see was formally transferred from Thetford to Norwich.
A suitable site for the cathedral buildings at Norwich was soon found in meadow land belonging to the manor of Thorpe, known as the ‘Cowholme’ (the modern cathedral close), and the foundation-stone of the cathedral church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity was laid in 1096, and formally dedicated 24 Sept. 1101. Within these five years the choir and transepts were completed, including the lower stage of the tower and the circular lady-chapel (destroyed by fire in 1171) at the extreme east of the building (opening into the apse). In one of Herbert's ‘Letters’ he alludes, with reference to the construction of the cathedral, not only to his own workmen, but also to those of the king, and the works were probably carried on under the joint control of William II, with whom Herbert had been reconciled, and the bishop. The labour involved was very large. Vessels bringing quarried stone were presumably unloaded at the Staithe on the Wensum, which is in close proximity. The cost was partly defrayed by Herbert out of his private purse, and partly by contributions of the people collected by the monks, whom the bishop energetically stimulated to activity in the matter. Throughout, the bishop's zeal gave the chief impetus. The ground-plan of the building is said to resemble that of Fécamp. Both churches are dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and the arms of abbey and diocese (three mitres) are identical.
The monastery at Norwich (of which important remains still exist) was built at the same time to accommodate upwards of sixty monks of the Benedictine order, who were under the rule of a prior, the first called to that office being one Ingulfus. A charter of William II granted to Herbert certain ‘lands at Norwich Castle,’ and he ratified the bishop's transfer of his Syleham manor, including church, water-mill, fishery, &c., to Roger Bigod in exchange for the church of St. Michael at Tombland, Norwich, with other adjacent possessions, including the church of St. Simon and St. Jude. This property had been settled by Roger on the cathedral at Norwich. In 1101 Henry I granted to Herbert and the monks of his church and their successors the manor of Thorpe, of which the cathedral close formed a part, with all its appurtenances, free from all charges, with free and exclusive warren both there and at Eaton, near Norwich (cf. Goulburn and {{sc|Symonds]], i. 113, 230). Other grants included the churches at Great Yarmouth, Lynn, St. Edmund's chapel at Hoxne, the salt works and mill at Gaywood. The bishop erected the church of St. Leonard in Thorpe wood.
In 1104 Herbert initiated a house of Cluniac monks at Thetford, the former seat of the bishopric. Three years later the foundation was regularly made and richly endowed by Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, acting under Herbert's advice, by way of contrition for his past sins. Herbert's first inmates were twelve monks from Clugni, who were in all things subject to the abbot of that place. Within eight days of the foundation ceremonies Roger Bigod died near Norwich. Herbert firmly resisted the entreaty, not only of the monks of Thetford but also of Roger's wife, that the earl might be buried at Thetford according to his expressed wish. By Herbert's order Roger was buried in the cathedral of Norwich.
On the occasion of the removal of the body of St. Etheldreda to the newly erected church of the abbey at Ely, Herbert preached the sermon (cf. Liber Eliensis). He is also said to have attended the council of Westminster held by Anselm in 1102, and to have assisted the archbishop at the consecration of the bishops of Hereford and Worcester at St. Paul's Cathedral. In 1107 he assisted at the consecration of five bishops at Canterbury, including Roger, bishop of Salisbury, the late treasurer. Herbert afterwards wrote to Roger complaining of ill-health, and craving Roger's aid in relieving him of heavy fiscal burdens, especially connected with his manor of Thorpe, although the king presented it to him free from all taxes. In 1101 Herbert was sent to Rome by the king, with Robert of Chester and Gerard of York, to obtain from the pope a decision in his favour in his dispute with Anselm respecting lay-investitures. While travelling through the province of Lyons in advance of his companions, Herbert was de​tained by the order of Count Guido, who charged him with disloyalty to Anselm, his spiritual head. He was released on promising to do nothing derogatory to Anselm. But for the ransom of his retainers he was required to pay forty marks. He had designed this money to further an appeal to the pope for an acknowledgment of his claim to control the convent at Bury—a control from which the Bury monks were exempt by the terms of a grant of Pope Alexander II, which Lanfranc had regarded as binding.
Herbert and his fellow-ambassadors represented that they received at Rome a verbal message from the pope recognising Henry I's pretensions, but Anselm's envoys, who were at Rome at the same time, warmly disputed the truth of their report [see arts. Anselm and Gerard, d. 1108]. In 1108 Herbert vainly sought to act the part of peacemaker between Anselm and Thomas (secundus), archbishop-designate of York, who declined to receive consecration from Anselm. After Anselm's death in 1108 Thomas was consecrated, and Herbert assisted (27 June 1109). A rumour that Herbert was regarded as a possible successor of Anselm proved groundless. After five years Ralph, bishop of Rochester, received the appointment. In 1115 Herbert was twice associated with the new primate in the consecration of bishops, and in the same year set out for Rome in attendance on the archbishop, together with Hugh, abbot of Chertsey. At Placentia Herbert was seized with sudden sickness, and he was obliged to return home.
Herbert held a high position at court, and was greatly esteemed by Henry's queen, Matilda. Among the bishop's ‘Letters’ is one addressed to the latter (‘Herbert her priest of Norwich’ to ‘the common mother of all England,’ in which he likens her to the Queen of Sheba, &c.) The last act of the bishop was to attend the queen's obsequies.
Spelman in his ‘Glossarium’ represents Herbert as chancellor in 1104; if so, he would have succeeded Roger of Salisbury. Lord Campbell in his ‘Lives of the Chancellors’ (i. 54) speaks of Herbert as one of Henry I's chancellors, and he is thus distinguished in the epitaph over his tomb at Norwich, but it seems doubtful if he held the appointment (cf. Goulburn and Symonds, i. 322–8).
On 22 July 1119 Herbert died, aged about sixty-five years. He was interred before the high altar of the cathedral church, and the original eulogistic epitaph is preserved by Weever from the burnt Cotton. MS. B. xiii. (Ancient Funeral Monuments, pp. 787, &c.). His death was commemorated by a solemn anniversary function in the cathedral church, of which the form of service is to be found in the Norwich ‘Ordinale’ (Parker Collection, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge), a manuscript of the fourteenth century. A translation is given by Goulburn and Symonds (i. 352). Weever states that some vain attempts were made to have Herbert canonised. A tomb in the choir, towards the high altar, known as ‘the founder's tomb,’ was, according to Sir Thomas Brown (Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Norwich), greatly reduced in height, ‘it being an hindrance unto the people.’ Later on, Humphrey Prideaux, one of the prebendaries, was instrumental in restoring the tomb, and wrote a long Latin epitaph. Although the tomb has been demolished, the slab which bears Prideaux's inscription is on the floor of the presbytery, possibly on the original site.
Herbert's character has ‘been recklessly disparaged and blackened,’ but simony was, to use the words of Thomas Fuller, ‘a fashionable sin,’ and William of Malmesbury dilates upon the sincerity of Herbert's repentance. He was undoubtedly covetous. He retained on one occasion a palfrey which had been merely lent to him, and on another occasion complained of the scantiness of a voluntary gift of fruit. In his relations with his cathedral, his monks, and his diocese, Herbert was dignified and strict. He is said to have been personally attractive and to have excelled as a preacher and as a scholar.
Fourteen sermons by Herbert were edited for the first time from a manuscript in the university of Cambridge, with English translation and notes by Dr. Goulburn and Mr. E. M. Symonds, in 1878. Many of them are admirable, both in exposition and style. His ‘Letters,’ extant in a unique manuscript which was discovered by Dr. J. A. Giles at Brussels, were edited by Mr. Robert Anstruther and printed in 1846, both in the ‘Scriptores Monastici’ and for the Caxton Society; they were translated by Messrs. Goulburn and Symonds in 1878, in their ‘Life.’ They abound in quaint touches of humour, and are invaluable to the bishop's biographer. According to Bale, Herbert also wrote three treatises: (1) ‘On the Length of the Ages,’ (2) ‘On the End of the World,’ and (3) ‘A Book of Monastic Constitutions,’ of which all trace is lost. Henry of Huntingdon (circ. 1150) refers to Herbert's work ‘De Fine Mundi,’ while Thomas Eliensis (circ. 1170) mentions the sermon, &c., preached at Ely Cathedral, which is now missing. Mr. Anstruther mentions in the preface to his edition of the ‘Letters’ two other lost books of one Herbert mentioned in a catalogue of ​manuscripts in the abbey of Cambron, but the authorship is clearly uncertain.
[Bartholomæi de Cotton, Monachi Norwicensis, Historia Anglicana (A.D. 449–1298), ed. Luard, 1859 (Rolls Ser.); William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontificum, i. 151 sq. (Rolls Ser.); Bale's Illustrium Maioris Britanniæ Scriptorum Summarium, 1548; Alexander Neville, De Furoribus Norfolciensium Ketto duce, 1575; Nicholas Harpsfield's Historia Anglicana Ecclesiastica, Douay, 1622; Godwin, De Præsulibus, 1743; Fuller's Worthies, 1662; Epistolæ Herberti de Losinga, primi Episcopi Norwicensis, nunc primum editæ à Roberto Anstruther (Brussels and London, 1846, 8vo); William Herbert de Losinga, first Bishop of Norwich, by the Rev. W. T. Spurdens (Norfolk Archæology, iii. 140–56, Norwich, 1852); Herbert de Losinga, an Inquiry as to his Cognomen and Birthplace, by Mr. E. M. Beloe (Norfolk Archæology, viii. 282–302, Norwich, 1879); The Life, Letters, and Sermons of Bishop Herbert de Losinga (A.D. 1050–1119), ed. by Goulburn and Symonds, 2 vols. 8vo, 1878; Mabillon's Annales O. S. B.; Freeman's Norman Conquest, iv., and his William Rufus, ii. 268, &c.; Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannica; the Rev. Dr. Jessopp's Diocese of Norwich, pp. 50–63.]
C. H. E. W.