Archbishop Boniface Savoy ENGLAND

   Other names for Boniface were BELLAY Bishop, BELLEY Bishop and ENGLAND Archbishop.

   General Notes:

Bishop of BELLAY, Archbishop of ENGLAND.

BOOKS
A History of The Plantagenets, Vol II, The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Costain 1951, Doubleday & Co, p144:
"Henry found himself now under constant pressure to aid not only the immediate family of the Queen but her mother's brothers and sisters as well. There were, unfortunately, a great many of them. Thomas of Savoy had brought a succession of brilliant sons and beautiful daughters into the world while lacking the means to provide for them. They came flocking and honking into England like a sord of hungry mallards. Boniface, the eleventh child, must have been a special favorite with his niece Eleanor, because she manifested a great desire to help him. Boniface, bold and handsome in a dark and masterful way, was full of ambition; but what prospects ere ther for an eleventh child in a state as lacking in propserity as the mountainous slopes of Savoy? Intended by nature to be a soldier, he had found it necessary to go into the Church where sinecures were always available for the younger sons of ruling families. When a very young man he had been made Bishop of Bellay. This however, did not content him.
"The chanceto provide for Boniface came soon enough through the death of Edmund Rich. Although he had acted as archbishop with some of the spiritual conviction of Anselm and at times with flashes of political insight and courage, Edmund had been an unhappy man. His duties had involved him in continuous conflict; with the Pope over the exactions of the Vatican, with Henry because of the latter's weakness and his wrongdoing, even with the monks of his own chapter at Canterbury because of the easyand voluptuous ways into which they had fallen. He lacked the stern fiber of that resolute man, Robert Grosseteste, and finally he reached the stage where he could fight no longer...
"With the saintly Edmund gone, it occurred to Eleanor at once that the chance had come to do something for her favorite uncle. She began to urge his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury.
"It would have been difficult to conceive of a less likely candidate for that exalted post. Boniface wasa man of the world, hard and covetous and completely lacking inspiritual qualities. He spoke no word of the language and shared with the rest of his family a sense of superiority over the English. He was already unpopular with the people of the country. The year after Eleanor's marriage to Henry he had visited England and had been entertained with such magnificence that the King had been compelled to demand a gift of twenty thousand marks from the Jews, with the threat that they would be expelled from the kingdom if they refused. It had been believed at the time that part of this money had vanished into the empty, capacious pockets of the visitor.
"By this time Henry's affection for his young wife had reached the fatuous stage and he could deny her nothing. With reluctance and inward misgivings (it is hoped) he sent the `conge d' elire', the official permission for an election, to the monks of the Canterbury chapter, accompanied by a demand that they choose Boniface of Bellay.
"The monks had often shown themselves obstructive and set in their convictions, but they were not at this time in a position to oppose the King. Before leaving Canterbury, Edmund Rich had placed the chapter under theban of the Church. Henry's peremptory instructions in favor of Boniface were accompanied by a promise to do what he could to get the ban lifted. The unhappy monks cast their votes for the foreigner...The favored uncle of the Queen thus became the second man in the kingdom.
"It was a long time before he could get his appointment confirmed at Rome. Gregory died early in 1241, worn out by his struggles with the German Emperor. The latter...continued to hold the cardinals as his prisoners, and as a result there were only ten members of the Sacred College in Rome when the need for an election arose...
"It was to Lyons, therefore, that Boniface had to go for confirmation. He had not thought it necessary in the meantimeto remain in the country over which he was to exercise spiritual sway...He preferred to remain as commander of the papal guard, to which the new Pontiff had appointed him. He was so interested in the politics of the Vatican, in fact, that he did not arrive in England for his enthronement until four years later.
"It did not take long for the people of England to realize that Boniface of Savoy was the strangest primate the country had ever seen. After a succession of old men which stretched back into the mists of the past, sometimes men of great ability and inspired qualities of leadership, always of some degree of saintliness, it was disturbing to see the leadership of the Church in the hands of a worldling in his thirties, a soldier, moreover, contemptuous and grasping. The only thing which could be counted even slightly in Boniface's favor was his prepossessing appearance. He soon became known throughout England as the Handsome Archbishop.
"Boniface was as able in his way as any primate of the past. Having one objective only, to make a fortune for himself, he proceeded to employ his very considerable abilities to that end. Realizing that he could not accumulate wealth until he had put theaffairs of the see on a better basis, he reduced his staff, made economies in all departments...As a quick means of personal aggrandizement he persuaded the Pope, with whom he remained a great favorite, to grant him the first fruits on all vacancies in the province of Canterbury. He proceeded to fill the vacancies, allowing the new incumbents one sixth of the income and keeping five sixths for himself. His pockets filled quickly.
"It then entered his head that what Robert Grosseteste had done for the spiritual improvement of the Church could be carried on with an eye to personal profit. He bagan to make visitations, and when he detected proofs of slackness (his sharp eye found them everywhere) he imposed fines on thedelinquents, keeping the money for himself. Sometimes he agreed to forgo visitation when a sufficient inducement was offered.
"Finally he came to London, expecting figuratively to find gold coins hanging in the clerestory of St Pauls likehops on a string, and silver in enticing piles in the churches whose modest spires rose everywhere above the tenements of the old town. He took possession, without permission, of the town house of the Bishop of Chichester and then turned his guards loose on London to exercise a concession the King had given him ( and which he had no shadow of right to give), that of purveyance. The armed Poitevins visited markets and shops and took whatever they wanted without making payment. London,incredulous that such things could be happening, did nothing at first. Soon, however, rumblings were heard in the Shambles and in Barking. Wherever men gathered there was talk of what must be done. The anger of London, sometimes slow to rouse,was always hard to appease.
"Ecclesiastical London had decided to resist visitation. When Boniface came to St. Paul's, his guards in chain mail at his heels (and all of them from Savoy), he was greeted by a strange silence. No organ sounded, no processional of cathedral officers in ceremonial robes, no censers swinging, no chanting of plainsong. St Paul's, in fact, was as empty as a cavern under the sea. Finally the dean, old Henry of Cornhill, came doddering up to explain thatthere had been some mistake. Boniface excommunicated old Henry in a towering rage. Then, not being content with such an insignificant reprisal, he sent his men scurrying in all directions for candles and proceeded to dash them out on the paving stones while he cast into outer darkness everyone connected with the see of London.
"The Handsome Archbishop now decided to visit St Bartholomew's and sent a command for everything to be in readiness at the appointed hour. He must have been aware as he made his way through the crowded streets that he walked in an atmosphere charged with menace. If he had understood the mettle of London he would have known that the scowls on the faces he passed were not mere idle resentment, and his ear would have told him that the trained bands were marching before him, behind him, in parallel streets. The great city was getting ready to act.
"As soon as he appeared at the entrance of St Bartholomew's the bells began to ring, the boom of the organ rose from the interior of the church; it was plain that a service had just begun. Boniface saw at once that it had been timed to prevent him from making his inspection. He was white with rage when the aged sub-prior, who did not seem aware of what was going on, came up to receive him.
"`Where are the canons?'
"The old man gestured in the direction of the stalls, and the wrathy archbishop saw that the canons, to a man, were already on their knees in prayer and could not be interrupted. He was sure, inspite of the soberness of their faces, that they were laughing at him.
"Boniface fell into such an uncontrollable fury that he knocked the venerable sub-prior down and then, as he lay on thestone floor, struck him on the head and face, the blows having all his vigor behind them.
"`Thus, thus,' cried the furious primate, `will I deal with English traitors!'
"He called loudly for a sword so he could finish the helpless oldman at his feet. As none was offered him, he reached down and crushed his victim against a spondyl between two of the stalls with such force that several bones were broken. The service was brought to an abrupt end, and the canons crowded between the irate archbishop and his victim. In the struggle which ensued the rochet was torn from the back of Boniface and it was discovered that he was wearing under it, not a penitential hair shirt as might have been expected, but a coat of chainmail!
"Even the violent archbishop sensed the impropriety of what had been revealed. He seems to have desisted at once and to have left the church, taking his followers with him.
"Word of what had happened had already reached the streets, which were filled with the rising tumult of the angry mobs. Boniface, an experienced soldier, knew that he and his men would be torn to pieces if they did not get away quickly. He succeeded in breaking his way through the people and led his men to the river. Here they secured boats and crossed to Lambeth. The mobs followed to the other side of the water and milled about the palace.
"`Where is the bloody aggressor?' they cried. `Come out, infamous assailant of helpless priests! Come out, extorter of money, married priest that you are!'
"Boniface mananged to slip away from his palace at Lambeth and took a boat down the river to Westminister. He had no difficulty in gaining admission. The King seems to have taken a serious view of the incident at first, fearing that Boniface had been hasty and ill-advised. Queen Eleanor did not agree with him. She supported her uncle, declaring indignantly that he could not have done otherwise when confronted with such impudent opposition. She even persuaded the weak-kneed King to issue a proclamation warning the people of London not to take part in a controversy which was purely ecclesiastical.
"However, the Handsom Archbishop left the country soonafterward and remained away for seven years..."
"The two parties clashed with particular bitterness on one occasion. Aymer, taking advantage of the absence of Boniface, placed an appointee of his own as prior of the hospital of St. Thomasthe Martyr at Southwark, which was within the province of Canterbury. Eustace of Lyons, a high official at Canterbury, ordered the man to vacate and, when this had no effect, seized him and put him in one of the episcopal prisons. Aymer got together an armed force and set the archbishop's manor at Maidstone on fire. He then attacked the palace at Lambeth, tearing the doors of their hinges and getting possession of the person of Eustace of Lyons, who had just been ready to sit down tohis dinner, and put him in prison. The clash was so sudden and violent that thenation gasped with surprise. Bans of excommunication (which were hurled about these days as freely as maledictions) flew back and forth, and it looked as though something in the nature of civil war in the world of copes and miters would be the result. Boniface came back and did some excommunicating of his own, including everyone who might have been concerned in the episode with the sole exception of the royal family. Henry, taking on himself the role of peacemaker, summoned both Boniface and Aymer to attend him when he went to Winchester for the Christmas festivities. After a bountiful breakfast, supplied most generously by the townspeople (Henry did not forgo his intention, however, of demanding two hundred marks from them as a gift), he called the two prelates together and forced them to exchange the kiss of peace, after Aymer had declared that he had not directed the violent measures of his people. This brought the incident to a close..."

The Political History of England 1216-1377, Vol III, T F Tout, 1905, AMS Press, p54: "The new queen's kinsfolk quickly acquired an almost unbounded ascendency over her weak husband. With the exception of the reigning Count Amadeus of Savoy, her eight maternal uncles were somewhat scantily provided for. The prudence of the French government prevented them from obtaining any advantage for themselves at the court of their niece the Queen of France, and they gladly welcomed the opportunity of establishing themselves at the expense of their English nephew. Self-seeking and not over-scrupulous, able, energetic and with the vigour and resource of high-born soldiers of fortune, several of them play honourable parts in the history of their own land..."
60: "...The monks of Christ Church won court favour by electing as arch- bishop Boniface of Savoy, Bishop-elect of Belley, one of the queen's uncles. Therewas no real resistance to the appointment, though a prolonged vacancy in the papacy made it impossible for him to receive formal confirmation until 1243, and it was not until 1244 that he condescended to visit his new province..."
p73: "InMay, 1254, Queen Eleanor joined Henry at Bordeaux. With her went her two sons, Edward and Edmund, her uncle, Archbishop Boniface, and a great crowd of magnates..."
p99. "...On June 11 [1258] the magnates once more assembled, this time at Oxford...According to the compact Henry [III] himself selected half this body... The only bishops were the queen's uncle, Boniface of Canterbury, and Fulk Bassett of London..."