Robert the Lotharingian

Robert was a native of Lorraine and probably a canon of St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège before coming to England, and may have been educated at the cathedral school there also. The school at Liege specialized in mathematics, which later became a specialty of Robert's. His name is often given as Robert de Losinga, but the earliest evidence gives it as Robert the Lotharingian. His birthdate is unknown, but it was probably before 1049.Barrow "Robert the Lotharingian" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Robert may have arrived in England by the 1050s,Mason William II pp. 76–77 or perhaps after the Norman Conquest. Arguments have been presented on both sides. King William the Conqueror's appointment of Robert was somewhat unusual, not just because he was not a Norman, but because he was not a religious scholar, and was instead an astronomer and mathematician.Barlow English Church pp. 63–64 Robert was ordained as a priest by Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester sometime before 29 December 1079.Barrow [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=34422 Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 8: Hereford: Bishops] Robert was consecrated as the Bishop of Hereford by Lanfranc on 29 December 1079Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 250 at Canterbury.

Robert brought the chronicle of Marianus Scotus to England,Welborn "Lotharingia" Isis p. 197 but it had little effect on historical writing in England,Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 621 beyond the use that Florence of Worcester made of it.Barlow English Church p. 15 Robert inserted into his own copy of Marianus, a notice about the Domesday Book survey, that is one of the best sources for information on the process of Domesday.Chibnall Anglo-Norman England pp. 110–111 His only other work that survives is a small introduction to Marianus' chronicle that corrects a few errors and discusses computation. He was also known as a mathematician and astrologer, and brought continental learning into his diocese. He was also familiar with the abacus,Chibnall Anglo-Norman England p. 124 and some historians feel he helped introduce it into England.Brooke "Diocese of Hereford" Churches and Churchmen p. 32 Others, though, disagree and feel that the use of the abacus was known before this time in England.Evans "Schools and Scholars" English Historical Review p. 77 He was good friends with Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester and it was Robert that buried the future saint.Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 149 It may be that Robert gave Wulfstan a copy of Marianus' chronicle, which allowed the monks at Worcester to use it in their own works. Robert was also friends with Osmund, who was Bishop of Salisbury.Cantor Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture pp. 36–37

Robert was present at the Council of Rockingham in February 1095, which dealt with the conflict between King William II of England and Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Robert sided with the king against the archbishop.Vaughn Anselm of Bec pp. 180–182 and p. 182 footnote 158 Afterwards, however, Robert and Osmund, the Bishop of Salisbury, were reconciled with Anselm.Cantor Church, Kinship, and Lay Investiture p. 95

Robert died on 26 June 1095. He was buried in Hereford Cathedral. He built a chapel at Hereford Cathedral, basing it on the church at Aachen.Barlow English Church p. 259 This was a two-tier chapel of a type reserved for royalty or archbishops in Germany. He also improved the financial condition of his diocese, although it remained poor.Mason William II p. 139

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• {{cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |title=The English Church 1066–1154: A History of the Anglo-Norman Church |author-link=Frank Barlow (historian)|publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979|isbn=0-582-50236-5 }}
• {{cite book |author=Barrow, J. S. |title = Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 8: Hereford: Bishops |url=http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=34422 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=2002 |access-date= 26 October 2007}}
• {{cite encyclopedia | author=Barrow, Julia | title= Robert the Lotharingian (d. 1095) |encyclopedia = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17026 | year=2004 | publisher= Oxford University Press |access-date=28 June 2008 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/17026}} {{ODNBsub}}
• {{cite book |author=Bartlett, Robert C. |author-link=Robert Bartlett (historian)|title=England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075–1225 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2000 |isbn=0-19-822741-8 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Brooke, C. N. L. |title=The Diocese of Hereford, 676–1200 |encyclopedia=Churches and Churchmen in Medieval Europe |year=1999 |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |pages=19–36 |isbn=1-85285-183-X }}
• {{cite book |author=Cantor Norman F.|author-link= Norman Cantor|title= Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England 1089–1135 |year= 1958|publisher= Princeton University Press |location= Princeton, NJ }}
• {{cite book |author=Chibnall, Marjorie |author-link= Marjorie Chibnall |title=Anglo-Norman England 1066–1166 |publisher=Basil Blackwell Publishers |location=Oxford, UK |year=1986 |isbn=0-631-15439-6 }}
• {{cite journal |author=Evans, Gillian R. |title=Schools and Scholars: The Study of the Abacus in English Schools c. 980-c 1150 |journal=The English Historical Review |issue=370 |volume=94 |date=January 1979 |pages=71–89 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XCIV.CCCLXX.71 |jstor= 567158}}
• {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |first=Christopher|last =Harper-Bill | publisher = Oxford University Press | encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | title=Losinga, Herbert de (d. 1119) | year = 2004 | url = https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-17025|doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/17025 |isbn =978-0-19-861412-8 }}
• {{cite book |author=Mason, Emma |title= William II: Rufus, the Red King |year=2005 |publisher=Tempus |location=Stroud, UK |isbn= 0-7524-3528-0 }}
• {{cite book |author=Vaughn, Sally N. |title=Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan: The Innocence of the Dove and the Wisdom of the Serpent |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA |year=1987 |isbn=0-520-05674-4 }}
• {{cite journal |author=Welborn, Mary Catherine |title=Lotharingia as a Center of Arabic and Scientific Influence in the Eleventh Century |journal=Isis |issue=2 |volume=16 |date=November 1931 |pages=188–199 |doi=10.1086/346608 |jstor= 224707|s2cid=144942058 }}
• {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=The English and the Norman Conquest |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Ipswich, UK |year=2000 |isbn=0-85115-708-4 }}

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• {{Cite journal|author=Moreton, Jennifer |title=Before Grosseteste: Roger of Hereford and Calendar Reform in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century England |journal=Isis |volume=86 |year=1995 |pages=562–586 |doi=10.1086/357318 |jstor= 235377|issue=4|s2cid=145470451 }}

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• {{PASE|19501|Robert 15}}

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{{s-bef |before = Walter}}

{{s-ttl |title = Bishop of Hereford |years=1079–1095}}

{{s-aft |after = Gerard}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}

{{Bishops of Hereford}}

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{{Short description|Priest in England (died 1095)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert the Lotharingian}}

Category:1095 deaths

Category:Bishops of Hereford

Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops

Category:Burials at Hereford Cathedral

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:People from Lorraine (duchy)