THE CHARACTER AND CAREER OF ROGER, BISHOP OF SALISBURY.
Source.—William of Newburgh, Historia rerum Anglicarum, ed. Howlett, vol. i., p. 35 (Rolls Series, Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I.); and William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, ed. Stubbs, vol. ii., p. 557 (Rolls Series).
A few words must be said, since occasion offers, of Roger’s early career and progress, so that his wretched end may show forth the majesty of the divine judgment. In the reign of king William the younger he was a quite obscure priest, it is said, who lived by his office in the outskirts of Caen. At that time the young Henry was at war with his brother, and going on his way with his knights chanced to pass the church in which Roger ministered, and asked for service to be celebrated in his presence; the priest acceded to the request, and was quick to begin and swift to finish, pleasing the knights twice over, so that they remarked that nowhere could knights discover a more accommodating chaplain. So when the prince said “Follow me,” he clove to him no less than Peter to his heavenly King at the same words. Peter left his boats to follow the King of kings; he left his church to follow the son of a king; and as chaplain at will to him and his knights, became a blind leader of the blind. And though he was almost destitute of learning, he profited so well by a native cunning that in a short while he won his lord’s affection and took charge of his most secret affairs.
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On December 11 (1139) Roger, bishop of Salisbury, was relieved by death from the quartan ague which had long afflicted him; they say that his illness was the result of vexation at the severe and repeated injuries suffered by him at the hands of king Stephen. For my part I consider that God made him an example to the rich of the fickleness of circumstance, that they should not put their trust in the uncertainty of riches, for, as the apostle says, some who seek thereafter have suffered shipwreck of their faith. He attached himself first to prince Henry, afterwards king, by his wise management of his household and his restraint on extravagance; for before his reign Henry had been forced by his scanty resources to study economy and spend carefully, owing to the ungenerous behaviour of his brothers, William and Robert. Recognising his habit of mind, Roger earned his gratitude in the time of his poverty to such a degree that after his ascension to the throne, Henry could deny him little or nothing that he chose to ask, bestowing on him estates, churches, prebends of clerks, entire abbeys of monks, and finally committing to his charge the realm itself; at the beginning of his reign he made him chancellor, and not long after, bishop of Salisbury. So Roger heard causes, Roger regulated expenditure, Roger had charge of the treasury, and that too both when the king was in England, and also when he was in Normandy, as happened often and for long periods, without an associate or a witness. Not the king only, but the barons, even those who were secretly jealous of his prosperity, and above all the king’s ministers and debtors, gave him whatever he pleased. If any estate adjoined his own and promised to serve his purpose, he extorted it forthwith either by prayer or purchase, or if that failed, by force. He had no rival, in the memory of our own times, in the building of palaces and the splendour of the houses which he erected throughout his possessions, to maintain which his successors but labour in vain. He spared no expense to beautify to the utmost his own cathedral with marvellous ornament and construction. Verily it was wonderful to behold how honours of all kinds were heaped about him in rich abundance, and gathered into his hand; how great was his glory, and how unbounded his power, that he should have made bishops of his two nephews, educated by himself to be men of notable learning and industry; bishops, too, of no mean sees, but of Lincoln and Ely, the wealthiest, I suppose, in the realm....
Under king Stephen his power declined, except that at the beginning of his reign he secured for his nephews the offices of chancellor and treasurer, and for himself the borough of Malmesbury, the king often repeating to his friends, “By the birth of God, I would give him the half of England, if he asked for it, until times change; he shall tire of asking before I tire of giving.” But in his latter years fortune, which before had smiled upon him overmuch and overlong, struck him at last with cruel scorpion-sting. What a blow it was to see men wounded, who had served him well, to see his most devoted knight cut to pieces, and on the next day to see himself a prisoner, and his nephews, the great bishops, one forced to fly, and the other, dearest of all, bound with chains; and afterwards, on the surrender of the castles, to behold his treasures plundered and himself in the council taunted with the vilest abuse, and last of all, when he lay at Salisbury at death’s door, to see the residue of his money and plate, which he had put upon the altar for the completion of the church, carried off against his will. Saddest of all I count it, and even I cannot withhold my pity, that while many thought his end pitiful, there were scarce any who pitied him; so much hatred and envy had his excessive power drawn upon him, and that too undeservedly, in the case of some whom he had himself advanced to honour.