Lanfranc

Timeline

1. c. 1005–1042Pavia · LombardyLanfranc was born in Pavia in northern Italy, where he received an early education in law and grammar, becoming an outstanding rhetorician and legal scholar. Around 1042 he moved to Normandy, opening a school near Falaise that gained great renown, attracting many students and laying the intellectual foundation for his later monastic life.
2. c. 1042–1063Le Bec-Hellouin, Normandy · NormandyAround 1042 Lanfranc joined the Abbey of Bec in Normandy and soon became head of the abbey school, turning Bec into one of Europe's most important centers of learning. Around 1045 he became abbot, during which period he wrote theological works refuting Berengar's doctrine of transubstantiation and educated many outstanding disciples, including Anselm, later Archbishop of Canterbury. He established a close working relationship with William, Duke of Normandy, securing a papal dispensation for the latter's marriage.
3. 1063–1070Caen, Normandy · NormandyIn 1063 Duke William founded the Abbey of Saint-Étienne in Caen and appointed Lanfranc as its first abbot. Lanfranc made it an important religious and intellectual center of Normandy and continued to participate actively in church debates as a theologian. After William's conquest of England in 1066, Lanfranc began to serve as an important ecclesiastical and political adviser between Normandy and England.
4. 1070–1089Canterbury · KentIn 1070 William I appointed Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury, and he immediately launched large-scale church reform: replacing many Anglo-Saxon bishops with Norman clergy; confirming Canterbury's primacy over York at the Council of Winchester; advancing clerical celibacy and church discipline; and serving several times as regent of England while William was abroad. He died at Canterbury on May 24, 1089, at the age of about eighty.