Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/117

 declared to belong [see, d. 1184]. On 15 Aug. 1176 the two archbishops made peace for five years. In the Lateran council of 1179 it was declared that no profession of obedience was due from York to Canterbury. No further controversy appears to have occurred between the sees during the life of Roger.

During the next few years Roger was actively engaged in pushing his claims to supremacy over the Scots church. These he had originally asserted while Becket was still alive, and they were strengthened by the submission made by William the Lion in 1175. He claimed that the sees of Glasgow and Whitherne had always belonged to York; but the question was complicated by the claims of the archbishop of Canterbury and by the Scottish prelates' declaration that they were immediately subject to the pope. On 3 June 1177 Cardinal Vivian, papal legate, held a synod at Edinburgh, and suspended Christian, bishop of Whitherne, for his absence. Christian claimed that his bishopric belonged to the legation of Roger of York, who had consecrated him bishop according to the ancient custom of the predecessors of them both, and Roger, on his own part, supported this claim (ib. i. 166–7). The question continued to be discussed for many years; but in 1180 Alexander III recognised a certain authority over Scotland as belonging to Roger of York, when he ordered him to compel the king of Scots to compliance with his order to make peace with Bishop John of St. Andrews. He also made him legate for Scotland (ib. pp. 263–4). In 1181 Roger proceeded to excommunicate William the Lion for his contumacy.

Roger remained steadfast in his allegiance to Henry II. During the rebellion of 1173–1174 he gave valuable assistance to the royal forces. When Henry took the barons' castles into his hands in 1177, he gave Scarborough to the custody of the archbishop of York, who was constantly present at royal councils during the ten years previous to his death.

He remained a friend of Gilbert Foliot [q. v.], as well as of his great neighbour, Hugh de Puiset [q. v.], bishop of Durham. In 1181 he felt his end approaching. He called together his clergy, and ordered the distribution of his property for the benefit of the poor (, i. 282–3). He was moved from his palace at Cawood to York, where he died on 21 Nov. He was buried by Hugh de Puiset in the choir of York minster. His body was removed to a new tomb by Archbishop Thoresby.

Hugh of Durham was forced by the king to disgorge a large sum which he had taken from the treasure of the archbishop, and to apply it to pious uses.

Roger's true character is hard to discover. He is asserted to have been an opponent of monasticism, and William of Newburgh frequently speaks severely of his treatment of the monks. He was in fact engaged for many years in a quarrel with the canons of Newburgh. John of Salisbury charges him with odious vices (Materials, vii. 527), and it is certain that he amassed a very large treasure—William of Newburgh asserts ‘by shearing rather than tending the Lord's flock.’ He was, however, a munificent builder—‘the most munificent ruler that ever presided over the see of York’ ( and, p. 248). He erected an archiepiscopal palace at York—of which small ruins remain—and endowed many churches in his diocese. As an enemy of Becket he incurred the hate of almost all those who wrote the history of his times, and his lack of spiritual fervour, if not his personal vices, served to deepen the bad impression. He was one of Henry II's statesmen-prelates, and as a bishop he shaped his course so as to satisfy a political ambition.

[Materials for the Hist. of Archbishop Thomas Becket (Rolls Ser.); Thomas Saga Erkibyskups (Rolls Ser.); Benedict of Peterborough (Rolls Ser.); Roger of Hoveden (Rolls Ser.); Gervase of Canterbury (Rolls Ser.); William of Newburgh (Rolls Ser.); Garnier de Pont S. Maxence's Vie de S. Thomas, ed. Hippeau, Paris, 1859. Almost all contemporary writers, in fact, contain some references to his character and career. Among modern writers may be named: J. C. Robertson's Life of Becket; J. Morris's Life of St. Thomas of Canterbury; Dixon and Raine's Lives of the Archbishops of York; Radford's Thomas of London before his Consecration; Hutton's St. Thomas of Canterbury.] 

ROGER or  (d. 1201?), chronicler. [See .]

ROGER (d. 1202), bishop of St. Andrews, was second son of Robert de Beaumont, third earl of Leicester (d. 1190) [q. v.], by Petronil, daughter of Hugh de Grantmesnil [q. v.], lord high steward of England. The marriage in 1186 of his relative, Ermengarde, daughter of Richard, viscount de Beaumont, with William the Lion, king of Scotland, probably accounts for the description of him as cousin of the king. Craufurd states that Roger was dedicated to the church in his youth, and that his father caused him to pursue his studies for that purpose. Having taken orders, he was made lord high chancellor of Scotland by William the Lion in 1178, and held that office till 1189. For twelve years before that date the possession of the see of St. Andrews had been disputed by two claimants—John