=Source.=--William of Newburgh, _Historia rerum Anglicarum_, ed.
Howlett, vol. i., p. 35 (Rolls Series, Chronicles of Stephen, Henry
II., and Richard I.); and William of Malmesbury, _Historia Novella_,
ed. Stubbs, vol. ii., p. 557 (Rolls Series).
A few words must be said, since occasion offers, of Roger’s early
career and progress, so that his wretched end may show forth the
majesty of the divine judgment. In the reign of king William the
younger he was a quite obscure priest, it is said, who lived by his
office in the outskirts of Caen. At that time the young Henry was at
war with his brother, and going on his way with his knights chanced
to pass the church in which Roger ministered, and asked for service
to be celebrated in his presence; the priest acceded to the request,
and was quick to begin and swift to finish, pleasing the knights twice
over, so that they remarked that nowhere could knights discover a more
accommodating chaplain. So when the prince said “Follow me,” he clove
to him no less than Peter to his heavenly King at the same words.
Peter left his boats to follow the King of kings; he left his church
to follow the son of a king; and as chaplain at will to him and his
knights, became a blind leader of the blind. And though he was almost
destitute of learning, he profited so well by a native cunning that in
a short while he won his lord’s affection and took charge of his most
secret affairs.
* * * * *
On December 11 (1139) Roger, bishop of Salisbury, was relieved by
death from the quartan ague which had long afflicted him; they say
that his illness was the result of vexation at the severe and repeated
injuries suffered by him at the hands of king Stephen. For my part I
consider that God made him an example to the rich of the fickleness of
circumstance, that they should not put their trust in the uncertainty
of riches, for, as the apostle says, some who seek thereafter have
suffered shipwreck of their faith. He attached himself first to prince
Henry, afterwards king, by his wise management of his household and
his restraint on extravagance; for before his reign Henry had been
forced by his scanty resources to study economy and spend carefully,
owing to the ungenerous behaviour of his brothers, William and Robert.
Recognising his habit of mind, Roger earned his gratitude in the time
of his poverty to such a degree that after his ascension to the throne,
Henry could deny him little or nothing that he chose to ask, bestowing
on him estates, churches, prebends of clerks, entire abbeys of monks,
and finally committing to his charge the realm itself; at the beginning
of his reign he made him chancellor, and not long after, bishop of
Salisbury. So Roger heard causes, Roger regulated expenditure, Roger
had charge of the treasury, and that too both when the king was in
England, and also when he was in Normandy, as happened often and for
long periods, without an associate or a witness. Not the king only, but
the barons, even those who were secretly jealous of his prosperity,
and above all the king’s ministers and debtors, gave him whatever he
pleased. If any estate adjoined his own and promised to serve his
purpose, he extorted it forthwith either by prayer or purchase, or if
that failed, by force. He had no rival, in the memory of our own times,
in the building of palaces and the splendour of the houses which he
erected throughout his possessions, to maintain which his successors
but labour in vain. He spared no expense to beautify to the utmost his
own cathedral with marvellous ornament and construction. Verily it was
wonderful to behold how honours of all kinds were heaped about him in
rich abundance, and gathered into his hand; how great was his glory,
and how unbounded his power, that he should have made bishops of his
two nephews, educated by himself to be men of notable learning and
industry; bishops, too, of no mean sees, but of Lincoln and Ely, the
wealthiest, I suppose, in the realm....
Under king Stephen his power declined, except that at the beginning
of his reign he secured for his nephews the offices of chancellor and
treasurer, and for himself the borough of Malmesbury, the king often
repeating to his friends, “By the birth of God, I would give him the
half of England, if he asked for it, until times change; he shall tire
of asking before I tire of giving.” But in his latter years fortune,
which before had smiled upon him overmuch and overlong, struck him at
last with cruel scorpion-sting. What a blow it was to see men wounded,
who had served him well, to see his most devoted knight cut to pieces,
and on the next day to see himself a prisoner, and his nephews, the
great bishops, one forced to fly, and the other, dearest of all, bound
with chains; and afterwards, on the surrender of the castles, to behold
his treasures plundered and himself in the council taunted with the
vilest abuse, and last of all, when he lay at Salisbury at death’s
door, to see the residue of his money and plate, which he had put upon
the altar for the completion of the church, carried off against his
will. Saddest of all I count it, and even I cannot withhold my pity,
that while many thought his end pitiful, there were scarce any who
pitied him; so much hatred and envy had his excessive power drawn upon
him, and that too undeservedly, in the case of some whom he had himself
advanced to honour.