18. #Robert of Gorham# (1151-1166). He was a nephew of Geoffrey of
Gorham, sixteenth Abbot. He had been a monk abroad, but coming on a
visit to his uncle he obtained permission to "migrate" to St. Albans. In
time he became Prior. As Abbot he managed the affairs of the Abbey with
prudence. He repaired and releaded the church, whitened it within and
without, that is to say, renewed the plaster with which from the first
it had probably been covered. Matthew Paris tells us that one Nicholas
Breakspear, a clerk from Langley, applied to him for admission to the
Abbey, but was refused, as he failed to pass his entrance examination.
"Wait, my son," said the Abbot, "and go on with your schooling so as to
become more fit." Nicholas is spoken of as a youth, but he must have
been about fifty years of age when Robert became Abbot, and was
certainly Bishop of Albano within a year or two of that date, and became
Pope, under the name of Adrian IV., in 1154, the only Englishman that
has ever sat in St. Peter's chair. If there is any truth in the story of
his rejection at St. Albans, it must have happened earlier than the
abbacy of Robert. King Stephen visited the Abbey, and Robert obtained
his authority to level the remains of the camp, that is, the tower that
AElfric, the tenth Abbot, had allowed to remain standing at Kingsbury,
which had become a den of robbers.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127