William Warelwast - Royal Service For King Henry I

Royal Service For King Henry I

Warelwast may have been with the hunting party on 2 August 1100 in which King William was accidentally killed, as he was one of the witnesses to the letter sent on 5 August 1100 from William IIs brother, the new King Henry I to Anselm recalling the archbishop. King Henry continued to use Warelwast as an ambassador, sending him to Rome in 1101 to bring back Pope Paschal II's reply to a letter written by Henry immediately after his accession. Henry was seeking a reconciliation with the papacy, and confirmed to the pope the rights and obedience which his father had rendered, but he also requested the same rights within the Church as his father had enjoyed, chiefly the lay investiture of bishops and the granting of the symbols of episcopal authority by laymen. Paschal declined to grant Henry those rights.

It was Warelwast who told Anselm in 1103 that the king would not permit his return to England. This came after a failed joint mission by Warelwast and Anselm to Paschal attempting to resolve the dispute between Henry and the archbishop over the king's investiture of bishops, a dispute generally known as the Investiture Controversy. It is quite likely that the king had given instructions that if the mission failed, Warelwast was to inform Anselm that he should only to return to England if he agreed with the king's position in the dispute. In 1106 Warelwast was the king's negotiator in the discussions that led to the settlement of the Investiture Controversy in England. The king ultimately lost little, relinquishing the right to actually give the symbols of episcopal authority to a newly elected bishop in return for continuing to receive homage from the bishops. Early in 1106 Warelwast was sent to Bec Abbey, where Anselm was residing in exile, to inform him of the settlement and deliver to the archbishop the king's invitation to return to England. In May 1107 Warelwast acted as the king's envoy at Paschal's council at Troyes, where Paschal was attempting to secure support for Bohemond of Antioch's proposed campaign against Byzantium. Warelwast probably relayed to the pope the news that King Henry would make no contribution to Bohemond's efforts.

Henry had reserved the episcopal see of Exeter for Warelwast since the death of Osbern FitzOsbern in 1103, but the controversy over investiture meant that his election and consecration were not possible before a settlement was reached. Instead the king gave Warelwast the office of Archdeacon of Exeter after Osbern's death. The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury records that Warelwast had earlier tried to remove Osbern from office, but this story probably originates with Eadmer and is of dubious veracity. While archdeacon, Warelwast is recorded as being present at the transfer of a Devon church to Bath Cathedral. He was elected Bishop of Exeter, and was consecrated on 11 August 1107, by Anselm at the royal palace of Westminster. Other bishops consecrated at the same time included William Giffard to Winchester, Roger of Salisbury to Salisbury, Reynelm to Hereford, and Urban to Llandaff. Warelwast's elevation was a reward for his diplomatic efforts in the investiture crisis. The mass consecration signalled the end of the investiture crisis in England.

After his consecration Warelwast continued to serve the king, often appearing on documents or in accounts of the royal court. The bishop served the king as a messenger, once more carrying messages to Anselm in 1108. He also served as a royal judge, hearing a case at Tamworth in 1114 and another at Westbourne the same year. He was with the king in Normandy in 1111, 1113, and 1118, and may have been in Normandy more frequently. During Henry's reign Warelwast was a witness to 20 of the king's charters.

In 1115 Henry sent Warelwast back to Rome to negotiate with Paschal, who was angry that the king was prohibiting papal legates in England, not allowing clerics to appeal to the papal court, and was failing to secure papal sanction for church councils or the translation of bishops. Warelwast was unable to change the pope's mind, but he did manage to prevent sanctions against the king. Henry also employed Warelwast as a papal envoy during the Canterbury–York disputes over the primacy in the English Church, with visits in 1119, 1120, and possibly also in 1116.