Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/375

 95). He was chancellor of the university of Oxford in 1159 (, Monasticon, ii. 135). Later he sojourned at Canterbury, and heard many tales of the miracles wrought at the tomb of Becket. He investigated them, and was subsequently ‘many a time a loving pilgrim to the holy Archbishop Thomas’ (Thomas Saga, ii. 107). He met there on one occasion an eastern primate, the archbishop of Negromonte, with whom he conversed (ib. p. 109), and on another he was restored when at the point of death after prayer to St. Thomas (Materials for History of Thomas Becket, ii. 96–7). He wrote a life of the martyr in Latin, which is known only through frequent references to it in the Icelandic ‘Thomas Saga.’ Many important details of the life and character of Becket are ascribed to the authority of ‘Prior Robert of Cretel.’ Such are the accounts of Becket's relations with Archbishop Theobald and of the saintliness of his early life. The personal experiences of the prior, which are also described in the ‘Miracula’ by Benedict (d. 1193) [q. v.], abbot of Peterborough, are relied upon to show the saint's power after death. It seems probable that all valuable matter in the Saga which cannot be traced to other known authorities is derived from Prior Robert's work. He also wrote a translation of Pliny's ‘Natural History,’ in nine books, which he dedicated to Henry II. Several minor historical works, now lost, are ascribed to him by Leland, who described them as extant in his time (De Scriptoribus Britannicis, i. 235).

Philip had succeeded Robert as prior in 1188. Leland states that Robert lived till the reign of John.

[Thomas Saga Erkibyskups, ed. Eirïkr Magnússon (Rolls Ser.); Materials for the History of Thomas Becket (Rolls Ser.), vol. ii. (Miracula S. Thomæ, auctore Benedicto); Cartulary of the Monastery of St. Frideswide, ed. S. R. Wigram, vol. i. pp. xiii, 10, 33 (Oxf. Hist. Soc.); Dugdale's Monasticon, ed. 1846, ii. 135; Leland's Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis (1709), i. 234–5; Radford's Thomas of London, pp. 255–6; Hutton's St. Thomas of Canterbury, pp. 278–9.]  ROBERT (d. 1178), abbot of Glastonbury, formerly prior of Winchester, became abbot of Glastonbury in succession to Henry of Blois [q. v.], bishop of Winchester, in 1171 ( Chronica, i. 172, ed. Hearne). Through his ill-advised acceptance of the canonry of Wells, which he was shortly driven to resign, two churches—Pilton and South Brent (the patronage of which was disputed between Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey)—fell under the jurisdiction of Wells, and were lost to the abbey (ib.) Otherwise the abbey prospered under Robert's rule. He remitted to it certain of his dues, enriched the church with gifts, and instituted a festival for the brethren and the poor after his death (Chronica, i. 172). He died on 28 April 1178, and was buried in the south part of the chapter-house (ib.) He was author of ‘De actibus Willelmi et Henrici episcoporum Wintoniæ,’ printed in Wharton's ‘Anglia Sacra,’ pp. 394 et seq. (, Descr. Cat. ii. 398, 491;, Biogr. Litt. ii. 321; , p. 636). He is also credited, on doubtful authority, with the ‘Speculum Ecclesiæ,’ extant in Cotton. MS. Tiberius B. xiii. 3.

[In addition to the authorities cited in the text, see Warner's History of the Abbey of Glastonbury, Introd. pp. cxxvi–vii.]  ROBERT (1110?–1186), chronicler, called by his contemporaries Robertus de Torineio, from his birthplace of Torigni-sur-Vire, is now generally called de Monte because he was abbot of Mont St. Michel. The names of his parents, Teduin and Agnes, are recorded by Huynes, but without contemporary evidence; there is reason to believe that they were people of good position. The date of Robert's birth is not known; 1110 has been ingeniously suggested by Mr. Howlett. At an early age he was devoted to religion, and took the monastic habit at Bec in 1128. In 1139 Henry of Huntingdon [q. v.] visited Bec and records Robert's zeal in correcting secular and religious books; from him Henry first heard of the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth. By that time Robert must have already finished his additions to the chronicle of William of Jumièges, in which he speaks of Henry I as lately dead. It is probable that in 1151 Robert became prior of Bec, and about that time he wrote to urge another prior to undertake the history of the Counts of Anjou and Maine. In 1154 he was abbot of Mont St. Michel, a house which had suffered from a period of anarchy. The election was confirmed by the Empress Matilda and her son Henry.

The scattered property of the abbey necessitated travelling, and in 1156 Robert visited Jersey and Guernsey (, p. 335). Next year he was in England visiting the abbey's possessions in the diocese of Exeter and the house at Mount St. Michael (ib. pp. 336–7), which by the bull of Adrian, 1155, had become the property of his abbey. Robert complained that the immunities of his house were not respected at Southampton, where he was made to pay portage, but in the same year Robert obtained redress from Henry II, and the portage money was refunded. 