Nigel (Bishop of Ely) - Background and Early Life

Background and Early Life

Nigel's date of birth is uncertain, but it is likely to have been some time around 1100. Historians occasionally refer to him as Nigel Poor or Nigel of Ely, but before his elevation to the episcopate he was commonly known as Nigel, the bishop's nephew, or Nigel, the treasurer. He was probably a Norman by ancestry although he was brought up in England, which in 1066 had been conquered by the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror. Following William's death in 1087 his realm was divided between two of his sons. His middle son, William Rufus, inherited the Kingdom of England, and the Duchy of Normandy passed to his eldest son, Robert Curthose. The youngest son, Henry, received a grant of money, which he used to purchase a lordship in Normandy. The brothers fought amongst themselves for the next twenty years; the initial conflict was between Rufus and Robert, but after Rufus' death in 1100 Henry, who succeeded Rufus as King of England, also became involved. Eventually, in 1106, Henry captured Robert, imprisoned him for life, and took control of Normandy.

Nigel's uncle Roger of Salisbury, Bishop of Salisbury, saw to Nigel's education at the school of Laon in France, where he probably studied mathematics under Anselm of Laon. It is likely that his father was Roger's brother Humphrey. Other students at Laon included William de Corbeil, later Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert de Bethune, who became Bishop of Hereford, Geoffrey le Breton, future Archbishop of Rouen, and other men subsequently to hold bishoprics in the Anglo-Norman dominions.

When he took vows as a cleric is unrecorded, but Nigel held a prebend, an ecclesiastical office in the cathedral, in the see of London before holding one of the offices of archdeacon in the diocese of Salisbury, although which archdeaconry he held is unclear. Most modern historians believe that Nigel was brother to Alexander of Lincoln, later Bishop of Lincoln, but this relationship is not specifically attested in the sources, which merely state that both were Roger's nephews. William of Malmesbury, a medieval chronicler, considered both Alexander and Nigel to be well educated and diligent. Nigel attended the consecration of Bernard as Bishop of St David's at Westminster in 1115, and may have returned to England from Laon by 1112. From the time of his return until around 1120 he served as a royal chaplain and attested a number of royal charters.