Waldric (''aka'' Gaudry, died 1112) was the eighth

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

and

Lord Keeper The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain, was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. This position evolved into that of one of the Great Officers of S ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, from 1103 to 1107. He was also

Bishop of Laon The diocese of Laon in the present-day département of Aisne, was a Catholic diocese for around 1300 years, up to the French Revolution. Its seat was in Laon, France, with Laon Cathedral. From early in the 13th century, the bishop of Laon was ...

from 1106 to 1112.Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 81 He had been a royal chaplain as early as 3 September 1101. At the battle of Tinchebray (1106),

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...

states, ''Waldric capellanus regis'' captured

Robert Curthose Robert Curthose ( – February 1134, ), the eldest son of William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy as Robert II from 1087 to 1106. Robert was also an unsuccessful pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of England. The epithet "Curthose" ...

Henry I of England Henry I ( – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henr ...

's brother and leader of the opposing forces as Duke of Normandy. As bishop he was greedy and violent, unconventional in his habits and joking, a prodigal spender on himself; he is portrayed in very unflattering terms in the 1115 chronicle ''Monodiae'' of

Guibert of Nogent Guibert de Nogent ( 1055 – 1124) was a Benedictine historian, theologian, and author of autobiographical memoirs. Guibert was relatively unknown in his own time, going virtually unmentioned by his contemporaries. He has only recently caught the a ...

. He had Gerard of Quierzy murdered in the very cathedral of Laon. His election as bishop was contested; he had been hurried into

minor orders In Christianity, minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders—priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders— acolyt ...

after the battle and made a canon of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, but it was upheld by

Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II (; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Raniero Raineri di Bleda, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was creat ...

at the Council of Langres. He was murdered at Eastertide 1112, in the crypt of

Laon Cathedral Laon Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic church located in Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France. Built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it is one of the most important and stylistically unified examples of early Gothic architecture. The c ...

by citizens of

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...

who had set up a commune in the city. Guibert's account of this event alludes to Isengrin, making it of literary-historical value.Jill Mann, ''Nivardus, Ysengrimus: Text'' (1987), note p. 2.

Notes

References

* Davis, H. W. C., "Waldric, the Chancellor of Henry I" ''

The English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly by Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, a ...

'' Vol. 26, No. 101 (January 1911), pp. 84-89 * Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961 Lord chancellors of England Bishops of Laon 1112 deaths Year of birth unknown 12th-century French Roman Catholic bishops {{England-politician-stub