It is always an irritation to great men when the minutiae of daily life distracts them from working on their greatness. So it was for Bishop Arnulf of Lisieux. A rebellious sort of love got in his way.
The overbearing Bishop
By all accounts a remarkable man, Arnulf parlayed a rich inheritance, fabulous family connections and natural brilliance into a central role in Norman and ecclesiastical history.
Fortunately popularity was not one of his ambitions. Completely devoid of humour and doubt, Arnulf decided as a young priest on a set of dry ideals and could not be shaken. Nevertheless, passionately supporting a few of the right people paid off and in 1141 Arnulf became Bishop of Lisieux.
Arnulf was a prolific letter writer. His shared his unbending view of canon law widely and forced unwelcome reforms on the clergy, bored Kings and generated acres of paperwork for the Vatican. His attempts to mediate between Henry II of England and Thomas Becket were so unsuccessful both sides ended up loathing him more than they loathed each other.
Lovely new cathedral for Lisieux
Lisieux rarely saw Arnulf as he knew he would be of more use advising in various courts and networking in Rome. But, keen to impress the locals with God’s importance and his ecclesiastical contemporaries with the proper way to show celestial appreciation, Arnulf commissioned a nice new cathedral for the town. A very large one in the latest style now fondly called gothic. He took a close personal interest in the project and happily put in a lot of his own money.
Annoyed by Normandy
Aside from his cathedral, Normandy made Arnulf tetchy. Comfortable with pomp and a bit of ceremony he thought Normandy old fashioned and unruly. For a man who could sway sovereigns and was so highly regarded he accompanied Louis VII of France on the 2nd Crusade, Normandy’s continual resistance to his reforms was humiliating
A man from Lisieux personified the problem.
Hello Hamo!
Hamo was an old-school catholic whose wit, warmth and intelligence raised him up the church ladder to Canon, working directly for the Bishop. He had quite a bit of local power and could assign new priests to churches in the diocese. A team of trusty priests were proud to work directly for him.
But in just one regard Arnulf considered his underling distinctly lacking. Hamo had a wife.
Arnulf’s Grandfather had been Dean of the cathedral of Sées but since then the church had decreed a number of Reforms. One of the most startling was an insistence on priestly celibacy by Pope Calistus II in 1123. Some say the problem with married priests was their tendency to leave church land to their children. For Arnulf it was simply a matter of canon law and in matters of law he was unbending.
As ever ready with a pen, Arnulf shared his concerns, and his solutions, with old friend Pope Alexander III.
Arnulf’s letter is a revelation:
(Letter taken from ‘The letters of Arnulf of Lisieux’ translated by F Barlow in 1939 for the London Historical Society)
Date: Late 1178 or 9
From: Bishop Arnulf of Lisieux
To: Pope Alexander III, Rome
Dear Alex, (okay we made that up and have added some headings, but the rest is true)
It has been reported to you that the priest, Hamo, has a public concubine and that he has had her in his house, at his table and in his bed for more than thirty years and that he has had by her many children.
And this has always been the case so manifestly and notoriously that it was never even hidden by a veil of sorts to the extent that his rejoicing in the wedding of his daughters acts as the best evidence for this.
Terror inspiring holy proclamations
When I received the letters from Your Eminence that I should warn him to make amends as well as stop him [cohabiting], I advised him of this in the presence of the chapter meeting of all the brothers many times in addition to your terror-inspiring holy proclamation. But I have not been obeyed at all, because he refuses to leave his spouse’s side by day or night.
Strip those prying priests!
I have several times sent [men] to investigate if he ever shows God or yourself any due respect, but the mother and daughters stripped the two priests I sent, by attacking them cruelly with their hands in heinous crime; with God’s mercy, however, the two were set free by passers-by, as delighted that they had escaped from their hands as from wolves’ teeth.
For the love of Mrs Hamo
The priest [Hamo], however, presumed that he could defend his crime as if by precedent [i.e. they had been together for 30 years…] and did not wish to separate from her for one moment.
Arnulf brings in the heavy mob
We, however, joined by venerable men, namely four abbots, three archdeacons, a precentor and the furniture-keeper of our church, as well as many cannons and religious monks, having read your letters in public, and having observed all lawful proceedings as ordered, we have taken care to seize his property.
“Honesty has triumphed … over concubines”
We have decided to hand over to you, without any doubt, the evidence of the judgement with the signatures of the witnesses so that no one can deny by anyone’s false suggestion on this subject that is so clearly established by your authority, and reason it is surely correct that the punishment of one will lead to the discipline of many, so that it can be said that under your guidance ecclesiastical honesty has triumphed over men with concubines.
The game’s up Hamo, wife or property?
May your zeal impose silence on the guilty man. May you assign his churches to more suitable people, which in the diocese of Sées he had handed over to the son of one of his own priests, chosen through a foreign Bishop, rather than through the bishop who removed the evil [Arnulf is talking about himself in the 3rd person here, never a good sign]. For there are many churches, and what has been accumulated by the evil greed of one can be of use to many honest persons….
Still Hamo would not give up his wife.
Romantic Hamo, faithful husband and scourge of the Bishop of Lisieux, was coldly demoted, as were any priests he had ‘influenced’ with his un-Reformed lifestyle.
The end of Arnulf
For Arnulf it was not a triumph but yet another bitter failure for Reform. Around him the world and the church was changing and he was becoming weary of it all.
So in 1181 he retired, exhausted and a little depressed, to the monastery of St Victor just outside of medieval Paris, where the Jardin des Plantes now blooms. The realisation that some people could never be reformed did not comfort his final lonely days. The cathedral in Lisieux is a lasting legacy to the strength of Arnulf’s faith. We hope his God was welcoming.
And Hamo?
Far away in sweet and stubborn Normandy the priest Hamo and his concubine ended their fecund days loving God in their own way, surrounded by an affectionate and loyal family. A different kind of legacy.
Which would you prefer?
