ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



to the archdeaconry and also to the custody of the See. 1 For this reason, 

 there is little doubt, the sheriff ceased to account for the revenues. It 

 is probable that the archdeacon was appointed shortly before or soon 

 after the death of Henry II. on 6 July 1189, when the project of an 

 immediate filling of the vacancy was abandoned. 



The fateful journey of King Richard from the Holy Land in 1 192 

 seems to have been the indirect cause of bringing the long vacancy in 

 the diocese to a close. Touching at Ragusa 2 on the shores of the 

 Adriatic, the King made the acquaintance of Bernard, the archbishop 

 of that district, who perhaps befriended him in his sorry plight. Bernard 

 came to England with King Richard, 3 or if he did not actually attend him 

 on his homeward journey, it is known that he was in England a few 

 years after the King's return. Bernard, archbishop of Ragusa, was 

 present at the coronation of King John in 1199, and witnessed the 

 homage of the King of Scots at Lincoln in the same year. 4 For some 

 time after this date he was in constant attendance at the English court, 

 with the probable intention of obtaining preferment in England. Mean- 

 while, Pope Innocent was unable to account for the truancy of the arch- 

 bishop, who, with characteristic temerity, had forsaken the church of 

 Ragusa. In 1202 he directed a bull to the chapter of that place, in- 

 forming them, as their pastor had been absent for more than four years 

 and had not returned to his cure notwithstanding frequent expostulation, 

 that they should proceed to elect a successor within one month from 

 the date of receiving his licence. 8 The position of Archbishop Bernard 

 was critical, as his tenure of the church of Ragusa had determined and 

 no charge had been found him in his adopted country. The bishopric 

 of Carlisle was still vacant, and though it possessed few attractions, even 

 for a needy archbishop, Bernard was induced at last to accept it. 



The archbishop of York did not relish the prospect of importing 

 another archbishop into his province, as if two suns could not be ex- 

 pected to shine in the same firmament. The pope, however, disarmed 

 the prejudice of Archbishop Geoffrey by the undertaking that Bernard 

 should lay aside his archiepiscopal dignity, exercise the episcopal office 

 in the diocese of Carlisle without the use of the pall, and pay due 



1 Errors about Robert's tenure of the archdeaconry have arisen from a misunderstanding of 

 the ways of the Exchequer. The archdeacon was a debtor to the estate of Aaron the Jew of 

 Lincoln, who died before 1189 (Mag. Rot. Pip. I Ric. /. [Rec. Com.], 219, 226). These debts 

 appear in the sheriff's accounts of Cumberland from 1191 to 1195, the Jew's estate being in the 

 King's hand. From the continued mention of Robert's indebtedness, it has been concluded 

 that he remained archdeacon of Carlisle. Peter de Ros was archdeacon in January, 1190 (Reg. 

 of Holmcultram MS. f. 51), and held that office till his death in 1196 (Hoveden, Chron. [Rolls 

 Series], iv. 14). 



> Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Series), iii. 185-6. 



" Annales Monastics (Rolls Series), iii. 450. 



4 Hoveden, Chron. iv. 89, 141. 



Migne, Patrologiae, ccxiv. 970-1. By all accounts Bernard was very unpopular in his diocese of 

 Ragusa, and Innocent III. was glad to get rid of him. He told the archbishop of York, when he was 

 begging the see of Carlisle for him, that Bernard had been unable to live safely at Ragusa, and if he re- 

 turned again, ' mortis sibi periculum imminebat ' (ibid. ccxv. 58-9). William of Tyre, who brought 

 up his Historia Rerum to 1184, has drawn a woeful picture of the inhabitants of Ragusa at this period 

 ' populo ferocissimo, rapinis, et caedibus assueto inhabitata ' (ibid. cci. 266-7). 



21 



