Ralph d'Escures

Ralph d'Escures
Archbishop of Canterbury
Appointed26 April 1114
Term ended20 October 1122
PredecessorAnselm of Canterbury
SuccessorWilliam de Corbeil
Other post(s)Bishop of Rochester
Orders
Consecration9 August 1108
Personal details
Died20 October 1122
Canterbury
BuriedCanterbury Cathedral
ParentsSeffrid d'Escures
Rascendis

Ralph d'Escures (also known as Radulf[1]) (died 20 October 1122) was a medieval abbot of Séez, bishop of Rochester, and then archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the school at the Abbey of Bec. In 1079 he entered the abbey of St Martin at Séez and became abbot there in 1091. He was a friend of both Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury and Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, whose see, or bishopric, he took over on Gundulf's death.

Ralph was not chosen archbishop of Canterbury by the chapter of Canterbury alone. His election involved an assembly of the lords and bishops meeting with King Henry I of England. Ralph then received his pallium from Pope Paschal II, rather than travelling to Rome to retrieve it. As archbishop, Ralph was very assertive of the rights of the see of Canterbury and of the liberties of the English church. He claimed authority in Wales and Scotland. Ralph also quarrelled for a time with Pope Paschal II.

Ralph suffered a stroke on 11 July 1119 and was left partially paralysed and unable to speak clearly from that time until his death on 20 October 1122. A surviving English translation of a sermon delivered by Ralph is preserved in a manuscript in the British Library. The sermon survives in some fifty Latin manuscripts.

  1. ^ Eadmer. Eadmer’s History of Recent Events in England = Historia Novorum in Anglia. Translated by Geoffrey Bosanquet. London: Cresset Press, 1964.