HENRY OF

See also:

• BLOIS

BLOIS  , bishop of Winchester (1101-1171), was the son of Stephen, count of Blois, by Adela, daughter of William I., and brother of King Stephen . He was educated at Cluny, and consistently exerted himself for the principles of Cluniac reform . If these involved high claims of independence and power for the Church, they also asserted a high standard of devotion and discipline . Henry was brought to England by Henry I. and made abbot of Glastonbury . In 1129 he was given the bishopric of Winchester and allowed to hold his abbey in conjunction with it . His hopes of the see of Canterbury were disappointed, l?ut he obtained in 1139 a legatine commission which gave him a higher rank than the primate . In fact as well as in theory he became the master of the Church in England . He even contemplated the erection of a new province, with Winchester as its centre, which was to be independent of Canterbury . Owing both to local and to general causes the power of the Church in England has never been higher than in the reign of Stephen (1135-1154) . Henry as its leader and a legate of the pope was the real " lord of England," as the chronicles call him . Indeed, one of the ecclesiastical councils over which he presided formally declared that the election of the king in England was the special privilege of the clergy . Stephen owed his crown to Henry (1135), but they quarrelled when Stephen • ref used to give Henry the primacy; and the bishop took up the cause of Roger of Salisbury (1139) .

After the

battle of Lincoln (1141) Henry declared for Matilda; but finding his advice treated with contempt, rejoined his brother's side, and his successful defence of Winchester against the empress (Aug.–Sept . 1141) was the turning-point of the civil war . The expiration of his legatine commission of 1144 deprived him of much of his power . He spent the rest of Stephen's reign in trying to procure its renewal . But his efforts were unsuccessful, though he made a personal visit to Rome . At the accession of Henry II . (1154) he retired from the world and spent the rest of his life in works of charity and penitence . He died in 1171 . Henry seems to have been a man of high character, great courage, resolution and ability . Like most great bishops of his age he had a passion for architecture . He built, among other castles, that of Farnham; and be began the hospital of St Cross at Winchester . AunloiuTIEs.—Original: William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum; the Gesta Stephan .

Modern: Sir James Ramsay, Foundations of England, vol. ii.; Kate Norgate's Angevin Kings; Kitchin's Winchester .