Robert Bloet - Under Henry I

Under Henry I

Bloet continued to be an advisor to the king even after Rufus was succeeded by King Henry I, and was a supporter of Henry during the rebellion of 1102. During the rebellion, Bloet was sent by King Henry to besiege Tickhill Castle, which surrendered when the king joined Bloet with a larger army. When the king and Anselm clashed over investiture, the king persuaded Bloet to consecrate a number of the king's abbatial appointments in 1102 and 1103. Throughout Henry's reign, Bloet continued to be a trusted councillor, and was often trusted with advising the queen when the king was absent from England. Bloet is only recorded as accompanying the king outside of England once, in 1114. He served as a royal justice often, being named by Henry of Huntingdon as one of the justices who were not restricted to one or a few counties but who served throughout England. During Henry's reign, Bloet witnessed 155 royal documents.

When the new see at Ely was established in 1109 in a former abbey, it was carved out of Bloet's diocese who was compensated for the loss by a grant of land. This grant included the town of Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire. He was one of the councilors who urged Henry to appoint William of Corbeil to the archbishopric of Canterbury in 1123, although Bloet died before Corbeil was selected. Bloet was opposed to the other candidates, as they were monks, and he wanted a non-monk appointed at Canterbury. In 1114, when Canterbuy was vacant, he had also opposed the appointment of a monk to Canterbury. During the reign of Henry, Bloet accepted the supervision of St Albans abbey, ruled by his relative Richard, when Richard objected to the harshness of the archbishop of Canterbury and switched the abbey's obedience to Lincoln instead. Bloet continued to be a benefactor to Albans throughout his episcopate. He doubled the number of canons in the cathedral chapter at Lincoln Cathedral during his episcopate. He also embellished the newly built Lincoln Cathedral and gave the cathedral many gifts of objects and lands. Most of his surviving episcopal documents concern the consecration of churches in his diocese or the confirmation of donations to religious houses. He also founded a hospital in Lincoln dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre.

Henry of Huntingdon, the medieval chronicler, wrote a letter entitled De contemptu mundi where he related a story from right before Bloet's death that Bloet felt he had fallen from King Henry's favour. Bloet allegedly told Huntingdon that the bishop had lost two lawsuits. However, the whole letter is concerned with setting out examples of prominent men who suffered a fall from grace, so possible bias on Huntingdon's part must be kept in mind. There are also records of two legal proceedings involving Bloet at the end of Bloet's life, and although Bloet lost both cases, neither was a loss of much income or prestige. In one, he was allowed to continue to hold the property, although instead of it being judged as his land alone, the settlement was that Bloet held it of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury. The other lawsuit involved Bloet's attempt to hold a manor free of dues owed to Westminster Abbey, which was settled in the Abbey's favour, although Bloet continued to hold the land. Nor is there any lessening of the rate of Bloet's witnessing to royal documents. It appears that Bloet's lost lawsuits were decided by other royal justices, and while he may have lost some favour with the king, he did not fall completely out of favour either.