page_title: Hubert Walter
section_title: Ecclesiastical affairs and resignation
hierarchical_section_title: Hubert Walter / Ecclesiastical affairs and resignation
caption_attribution_description: English: Hubert Walter Crozier Head in Canterbury Cathedral, 1160 AD
context_page_description: Hubert Walter was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter began the keeping of the Charter Roll, a record of all charters issued by the chancery. Walter was not noted for his holiness in life or learning, but historians have judged him one of the most outstanding government ministers in English history.
  Walter owed his early advancement to his uncle Ranulf de Glanvill, who helped him become a clerk of the Exchequer. Walter served King Henry II of England in many ways, not just in financial administration, but also including diplomatic and judicial efforts. After an unsuccessful candidacy to the see of York, Walter was elected Bishop of Salisbury shortly after the accession of Henry's son Richard I to the throne of England.
  Walter accompanied Richard on the Third Crusade, and was one of the principals involved in raising Richard's ransom after the king was captured in Germany on his return from the Holy Land. As a reward for his faithful service, Walter was selected to become Archbishop of Canterbury in 1193.
context_section_description: Walter held a legateship from Pope Celestine III from 1195 to 1198, which enabled him to act with the pope's delegated authority within the English Church. Walter actively investigated ecclesiastical misconduct, and deposed several abbots, including Robert of Thorney Abbey in 1195 and an abbot of St Mary's in the province of the Archbishop of York. At the monastic cathedral of Worcester, he disciplined the monks between the death of Henry de Sully and the election of John of Coutances, as was his right as the archbishop of the province. In his own diocese, he granted markets and fairs to towns, was granted the privilege of minting coins at Shrewsbury, and worked to recover lands and manors that had been lost to the archdiocese.
  Walter revived the scheme of his predecessor, Baldwin of Forde, to found a church in Canterbury that would be secular and not monastic. He promised that the new foundation's canons would not be allowed to vote in archiepiscopal elections nor would the body of Saint Thomas Becket ever be moved to the new church, but the monks of his cathedral chapter were suspicious and appealed to the papacy. The dispute from the time of Baldwin of Forde flared up again, with the papacy supporting the monks and the king supporting the archbishop. Finally, Pope Innocent III ruled for the monks and ordered Walter to destroy what had been built.
  The archbishop held ecclesiastical councils, including one at York in 1195 that legislated that the clergy should collect their tithes in full, "...without any reduction." Another council was held at London in 1200 to legislate the size and composition of clerical retinues, and also ruled that the clergy, when saying Mass, should speak clearly and not speed up or slow down their speech. At the request of the papacy, Walter also led inquiries into the canonisations of Gilbert of Sempringham and Wulfstan of Worcester. Walter refused to acquiesce in the election of Gerald of Wales to the see of St David's in Wales and opposed the efforts of Gerald and others to elevate St David's to an archbishopric.
  In the later part of Richard's reign, the pressures mounted on Walter. Conflicts between his ecclesiastical duties and his government duties made him the target of criticism from both sides. A dispute in December 1197, over Richard's demand that the magnates of England provide 300 knights to serve in France, led to renewed grumbling among the clergy and barons. Richard was also dissatisfied with the results of the carucage in 1198, so Walter resigned his position of chief justiciar on 11 July of that year. Walter may have resigned willingly, as he had talked of resigning his secular duties since 1194. Some medieval sources, however, stated that he was forced out of office by the king.
caption: Head of Walter's crozier that was discovered in his tomb in 1890
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