[A.D. 1096, trans. to York 1101.] GERARD, nephew of Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester, and Chancellor under the Conqueror and William II. On his translation to York, Roger Lardarius was nominated to the see of Hereford by the King, Henry I. He died before he could be consecrated. Reinhelm was then chosen, and received the temporalities as bishop-elect from the King, by the delivery of the ring and pastoral staff. Anselm (see CANTERBURY, Pt. II.) refused to consecrate the bishops who had been thus invested; and Reinhelm accordingly restored the temporalities to the King, who, enraged by his submission to the Archbishop, banished him from the court.
[A.D. 1107-1115.] REINHELM, the Queen’s Chancellor, was, however, consecrated by Anselm in 1107, after the King had conceded the main points in dispute, and the Archbishop had returned from his exile. (See CANTERBURY, Pt. II.) Reinhelm is commemorated in an obituary of the Canons of Hereford, as “fundator ecclesiæ S. Ethelberti;” and it has accordingly been considered that he completed the church begun by Robert de Losing. But of this there is no direct proof.
[A.D. 1115-1120.] GEOFFRY DE CLIVE succeeded. “Bonus quidem et ille,” says William of Malmesbury, “continentissimusque; indifferenter cibis et vestibus quæ minori pretio taxarentur utens; agriculturæ studens.” He greatly improved the lands belonging to the see; but was more careful to increase than to distribute; “leaving great stores behind him to no heir.”
[A.D. 1121-1127.] RICHARD, called “de Capella,” a clerk of the King’s chapel. A bridge across the Wye, at Hereford, was partly built by this bishop. His successor,
[A.D. 1131-1148.] ROBERT DE BETHUNE, had been nominated by the King (Henry I.) in 1129, but was not consecrated until 1131. Bishop Robert was a member of the noble house of Bethune; and received his early education from his own brother Gunfrid, a teacher of some celebrity. He became a canon in the Augustinian priory of Llanthony; and on the death of Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Hereford, was appointed to superintend the building of a religious house at Weobly, where the great Earl was buried. Here he worked as a common labourer, and is said to have injured his health so greatly, that he was recalled to his priory, of which he soon afterwards became the superior. When the see of Hereford became vacant, Robert de Bethune was recommended to the King by the Earl of Gloucester, and at last accepted the bishopric, “quamvis invitus.” During the troubles of Stephen’s reign Hereford suffered greatly. The cathedral was deserted and desecrated, and the Bishop himself was compelled to take flight in disguise. On his return, he “cleansed and repaired” the building. In 1148, Bishop Robert was present at the Council of Rheims, convened by Pope Eugenius III., then an exile in France; and died there, (April 16). His remains were brought to England, and interred in his own cathedral.