William Warelwast - Royal Clerk Under King William II

Royal Clerk Under King William II

The first reliable mentions of Warelwast occur early in the reign of King William II, when Warelwast appears as authorizing writs for the king. As well as being a royal clerk, Warelwast acted as a judge in a legal case between St Florent Abbey in Saumur and Fécamp Abbey, heard before King William II some time between 1094 and 1099 at Foucarmont.

Warelwast served the king as an envoy to Pope Urban II in 1095, when the king was seeking to have the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm of Canterbury, removed from office. He visited the pope with another royal clerk, Gerard, with orders to recognize Urban as pope in return for Anselm's deposition, at least according to Eadmer, an Anselm partisan. The two clerks travelled very quickly, as they did not leave before 28 February 1095 and were back in England by 13 May 1095. Eadmer claimed that the ambassadors were supposed to acquire a pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, for the king to give to his new choice as archbishop. But although the king may have instructed his envoys to attempt to secure these objects, he was probably willing to negotiate and to settle for less. The two clerks returned with a papal legate, Walter of Albano, who accepted the king's recognition of Urban but refused to allow Anselm's deposition. The king did nevertheless manage to secure recognition of his royal rights in the church, and a concession that no papal legates or communications would be sent without his approval. It may well be that the king always regarded Anselm's deposition as unlikely.

Warelwast was probably sent as an envoy to Urban in 1096 to bribe the pope into recalling the papal legate Jarento, who had been sent to England to protest the king's conduct towards the church. In addition to his ambassadorial duties Warelwast acted as a royal justice under King William; the records of one case have survived.

Shortly before Anselm went into exile in 1097 Warelwast searched his baggage, probably looking for communications to the pope, either from Anselm or other English bishops rather than for valuables, and in particular for any letters of complaint. Warelwast was the king's envoy at Rome when during his exile Anselm petitioned to have the king excommunicated, which according to Eadmer, who was also present, Warelwast succeeded in preventing by bribing the pope and papal officials. The king had sent Warelwast to Urban at Christmas 1098, with his reply to a letter the pope had written ordering the restoration of Anselm's estates.