_Wives of Ecclesiastics_ (Vol. i., p. 115.).--In considering "the statutes
made by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas, Archbishop of York, and
all the other bishops of England," ann. 1108, interdicting the marriage of
ecclesiastics, might it not be worth investigating, by such of your
correspondents as are curious on the subject, what had been the antecedents
of the several bishops themselves?
With respect to Thomas II., Archbishop of York, it is historically certain,
that he was the _son_ of an ecclesiastic, and likewise the _grandson_ of an
ecclesiastic (his _father_ being one of the bishops who concurred in these
statutes). Neither does it seem altogether unlikely that Thomas himself
also had spent some part of his early life in bonds of wedlock, since we
learn from the _Monasticon_ (vol. iii. p. 490. of new edit.), that "Thomas,
_son of Thomas_ (_the second of that name_), _Archbishop of York_,
confirmed what his predecessors, Thomas and Girard, had given," &c. If this
be correct, as stated[4], the conclusion is inevitable; but possibly some
error may have arisen out of the circumstance, that Thomas I. and Thomas
II., Archbishops of York, were uncle and nephew.