Henry was brought to England by King Henry I, to be Abbot of Glastonbury. On 4 October 1129, he was given the bishopric of Winchester and allowed to keep his beloved Glastonbury Abbey. He was consecrated bishop on 17 November 1129. He had ambitions to become Archbishop of Canterbury, but refused to abandon his work and obligations to Glastonbury. Soon after his appointment to the see of Winchester, Henry came to resent his subservience to Canterbury. He therefore set about building a power-base to persuade the king to create a third, West Country archdiocese with himself at the head. This scheme was unsuccessful. However, on 1 March 1139, during the reign of his brother Stephen, Henry obtained a commission as papal legate, which gave him higher rank than Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, making him the most powerful figure in the English Church during the troubled times of the so-called "Anarchy". Thus, when his brother was unavailable, Henry of Blois was the most powerful, and possibly the wealthiest, man in England.