page_title: Gilbert Foliot
section_title: Abbot
hierarchical_section_title: Gilbert Foliot / Abbot
caption_attribution_description: Seal of Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England * This is a scan of the historical document: Title: Die Siegel der deutschen Kaiser und Könige v. 1 (751 - 1347)
context_page_description: Gilbert Foliot was a medieval English monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Gloucester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Born to an ecclesiastical family, he became a monk at Cluny Abbey in France at about the age of twenty. After holding two posts as prior in the Cluniac order he was appointed Abbot of Gloucester Abbey in 1139, a promotion influenced by his kinsman Miles of Gloucester. During his tenure as abbot he acquired additional land for the abbey, and may have helped to fabricate some charters—legal deeds attesting property ownership—to gain advantage in a dispute with the Archbishops of York. Although Foliot recognised Stephen as the King of England, he may have also sympathised with the Empress Matilda's claim to the throne. He joined Matilda's supporters after her forces captured Stephen, and continued to write letters in support of Matilda even after Stephen's release.
  Foliot accompanied Theobald of Bec, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to a papal council at Reims in 1148. During his time there he was appointed to the Diocese of Hereford by Pope Eugene III.
context_section_description: In 1139 Foliot was elected Abbot of Gloucester, blessed by the diocesan bishop on 11 June 1139. The appointment had been pushed through by Foliot's relative, Miles of Gloucester, who was by then the Earl of Hereford. Foliot was well connected at court in other respects, for his probable father had been steward to David I, before David became King of Scotland. David was the uncle of both the Empress and Stephen's wife. Following his elevation to abbot Foliot recognised Stephen as king, although he seems until then to have supported Matilda.
  King Stephen was captured by Matilda's forces on 2 February 1141, and Matilda called a council at Westminster to gather support for her assuming the throne. Foliot attended the council and was one of her main supporters in the following months as the Angevin cause tried to place her on the throne.
  It was during his time as abbot that Foliot wrote his reply to Brien FitzCount, one of Matilda's earliest supporters, discussing the Second Council of the Lateran's deliberations on Matilda's cause. FitzCount, in a letter now lost, had presented his reasons for supporting Matilda, and Foliot's reply set forth a defence of Matilda's claim to the throne. Foliot also wrote that Stephen had "dishonoured the episcopate" with his behaviour in 1139, when the king arrested Roger of Salisbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and Roger's nephew, Alexander, who was Bishop of Lincoln, as well as attempting to arrest another of Roger's nephews, Nigel, Bishop of Ely. After the arrest Stephen forced the bishops to surrender their castles and secular government offices. Most historians see Foliot's letter as firmly supporting Matilda's cause, although one of King Stephen's recent biographers, Donald Matthew, claims that Foliot's support was lukewarm at best, motivated by the location of his abbey in one of Matilda's strongholds. Matthew points out that Gloucester Abbey owed no military service in a feudal levy, which allowed Foliot to avoid choosing sides irrevocably. Matthew also points out that after 1141 Foliot is a signatory to just one of Matilda's charters. Foliot did though address Robert of Gloucester's defence of Matilda's rights, buttressing it with arguments of his own. Robert had argued that the Bible supported female succession, and quoted from Numbers, chapter 36, which allowed women to inherit, but prohibited them marrying outside their tribe. In his reply Foliot claimed that Robert had actually used Numbers, chapter 27, which had no restrictions on the marriage of heiresses.
  During his time as abbot Foliot became friendly with Aelred of Rievaulx, a writer and later saint, who dedicated a book of sermons to him. Another friend and ally from his abbacy was Theobald of Bec, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who during Stephen's reign was attempting to unite the English Church under his leadership. Foliot helped Theobald by forming a communication link to Matilda's side.
  Foliot took an interest in the Dorset monastery of Cerne Abbey, which in 1145 received the Prior of Gloucester Abbey, Bernard, as abbot. Bernard was an active reformer, and Foliot supported Bernard's efforts, but the monks objected to the new abbot, and drove him out of the monastery. Both abbot and monks appealed to the papacy, which supported the abbot. Although Matilda wrote to Foliot, and interceded on behalf of the monks, Foliot pointed out that he was unable to disobey a papal command.
  While abbot, Foliot supervised the acquisition of a dependent priory in the city of Hereford for the monastery. Most of the abbey buildings predate Foliot's time as abbot, and there is no sure evidence of any buildings he added to the monastery. During his abbacy, a dispute that had dragged on between Gloucester and the Archdiocese of York over some manors was finally settled in Gloucester's favour. This was done with a group of forged charters that Foliot may have helped to create. Forging charters was a common practice in English monasteries of the time. Foliot also had disputes with the Welsh bishop Uhtred, Bishop of Llandaff, over Goldcliff Priory a
caption: Matilda's seal
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