Walter de Luci

Walter de Luci (also Walter de Lucy), Abbot of Battle Abbey, was the brother of Richard de Luci, who was Chief Justiciar of England.

Walter de Luci
Main Gate of Battle Abbey
Personal
Born1103 (or 1091)
Lucé, Normandy
Died21 June 1171
Battle, East Sussex
ReligionCatholic
Senior posting
Based inEngland
Period in office1139–1171
PredecessorWarner
SuccessorOdo

Walter de Luci (or de Lucy) was a Benedictine monk at Lonlay-l'Abbaye in Normandy, before being elected Abbot of Battle Abbey in Sussex, England. He was elected on 8 January 1139. He died while still abbot on 21 June 1171.[1] While abbot, he became involved in a dispute with Hilary, bishop of Chichester, who was the bishop who held jurisdiction over Battle Abbey.[2] Battle had never received a papal exemption, and instead relied on its status as a royal foundation by King William I of England and its status as an eigenkirche.[3] Hilary obtained from both Pope Eugene III and Pope Hadrian IV orders to obey the bishop, but in 1157, Walter brought the case before King Henry II of England at a council held at Colchester.[2] The foundation charter of William I and the confirmation by King Henry I of England, who was Henry II's grandfather, were produced by Walter, and were admitted as genuine. Both documents freed the abbey from ecclesiastical oversight, and Henry II had at his coronation confirmed all his grandfather's charters.[3] However, Hilary argued that only a papal privilege could exempt a monastery from episcopal oversight, and that Battle had no such privilege. Henry was not impressed by this argument, for it impinged on his royal rights.[2] Thomas Becket, then Henry's chancellor, was one of the main opponents of Hilary at this council.[4]

References
  1. Knowles, David; Brooke C. N. L.; and London, Vera C. M. The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 940–1216 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1972 ISBN 0-521-08367-2 p. 29
  2. Knowles, Dom David The Monastic Order in England: From the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976 reprint ISBN 0-521-05479-6 p. 589
  3. Warren, W. L. Henry II Berkeley: University of California Press 1973 ISBN 0-520-03494-5 p. 429-432
  4. Powell, J. Enoch and Keith Wallis The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540 London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1968 p. 79 and footnote 45

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