Jocelin, 1142—1184. 185 
Jocelin succeeded to the see of Sarum in troublous times. The 
misery and distress that prevailed throughout England, in consequence 
of the civil wars, is well known. The chronicles abound in harrowing 
details of the sufferings endured on all sides. We have only to read 
the interesting and anonymous chronicle entitled “ Acta Stephani” 
to be at once fully conscious of the wretched state of things. Bishop 
Jocelin, who from the few glimpses that we can glean of his character 
would seem to have been a man who cared little for worldly pomp, 
and who sought the rather to give himself up to the sacred duties 
of his calling, was certainly hardly fitted to grapple with the diffi- 
culties which encumbered him. Moreover he seems always to have 
been of a weakly constitution, which unfitted him for great activity. 
One indication of his care for his Cathedral appears in his grant of 
a virgate of land for the “correction of the books ” belonging to 
his Church, an office which especially belonged to the chancellor of 
the Cathedral, at that time “ Philippus de Sancto Edwardo,” whom 
he addresses as “ clericus noster et con-canonicus.” * 
At a very early period in his episcopate a council was held in 
London for the purpose of taking measures for the protection of the 
clergy from oppressions of various kinds. “ At this period” says 
Robert de Hoveden, writing of the year 1143, “ no respect was paid 
by those who plundered to either the clergy or the Church of God, 
and, whether clerks or laymen, they were equally taken prisoners 
and held to ransom. Upon this the Bishop of Winchester, the 
Roman legate, held a council at London, which at the time was 
absolutely necessary for the safety of the clergy. At this council it 
‘was decreed, that no one who should violently lay hands upon a 
elerk could possibly receive absolution from any one, not even from 
the Pope himself, and appearing in his presence. In consequence 
of this, a slight gleam of serenity, with great difficulty, shone forth 
at last on the clergy.” ? 
The death of Stephen and the accession of Henry, the son of 
the Empress Matilda, in 1154, might fairly have been looked to by 
1 Hatcher and Benson, p. 726. 
2 Roger de Hoveden, sub anno 1143, p. 246 (Bohn’s edition). 
