Herfast

Born in Normandy, Herfast joined William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England and was appointed head of the royal writing office after the Battle of Hastings. He was Lord Chancellor of England from 1068 to 1070.{{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=3rd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |page=83}}

After serving as Lord Chancellor, he was consecrated Bishop of Elmham in 1070, but about 27 May 1072 he moved the see to Thetford, thus becoming Bishop of Thetford.{{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=3rd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=217 and 243}} He attempted to move his diocese to Bury St. Edmunds Abbey, with the assistance of Herman the Archdeacon, but the proposal was opposed by its abbot, Baldwin. Herfast finally lost in the King's Court in 1081 and was fined a crippling amount, which was unpaid when he died.{{cite journal| last= Licence|first=Tom |authorlink=Tom Licence| journal=English Historical Review |title=History and Hagiography in the Late Eleventh Century: The Life and Work of Herman the Archdeacon, Monk of Bury St Edmunds|volume=124 |number=508 |date=June 2009 |pages= 518–521|issn=0013-8266 }}

He signed the Accord of Winchester in 1072.{{cite book |last=Greenway |first=Diana E. |year=1971 |title=Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33866 |volume=2: Monastic cathedrals (northern and southern provinces) |pages=55–58}}

Bishop Herfast died in 1084. He was a married bishop, and his sons held land in Norfolk at the time of Domesday Book in 1086.{{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=The English and the Norman Conquest |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Ipswich |year=2000 |isbn=0-85115-708-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/englishnormancon0000will/page/46 46] |url=https://archive.org/details/englishnormancon0000will/page/46 }}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |first=Barlow|last =Frank | publisher = Oxford University Press | encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | title= Herfast (d. 1084)| year = 2004 | url =https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-13075 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/13075 |isbn =978-0-19-861412-8 | url-access = subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}

• {{PASE|197050|Herfast 1}}

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{{s-bef|before= first Norman Chancellor}}

{{s-ttl |title=Lord Chancellor |years=1068–1070 }}

{{s-aft|after=Osmund}}

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{{s-bef|before= Æthelmær}}

{{s-ttl |title= Bishop of Elmham |years =1070–1075 }}

{{s-aft |after= see moved to Thetford}}

{{s-bef|before= see moved from Elmham }}

{{s-ttl|title= Bishop of Thetford |years =1075 – 1084}}

{{s-aft |after= William de Beaufeu}}

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{{House of Normandy Lord Chancellors}}

{{Bishops of Thetford (ancient)}}

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Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:1085 deaths

Category:Lord chancellors of England

Category:Bishops of Elmham

Category:Bishops of Thetford (ancient)

Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops

Category:Normans in England

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