Hubert Walter rescued a king, admonished kings and was one of the most famous ever Archbishops of Canterbury. A statesman and prelate, Hubert Walter’s rise came courtesy not of a formal education or even any great saintliness but via a more practical route, his legal and administrative training and the school of hard knocks. He’s also one of those bods who has a transposable name.
Hubert Walter (c.1160-1205), from East Anglian stock, owed his early rise to a bit of good old-fashioned nepotism, courtesy of his uncle, politician and scholar Ranulf de Glanvill, who saw to it that Hubert became a Clerk of the Exchequer and was ensconced in the household of King Henry II by 1182. Walter became a judge in 1185 and then Dean of York and Bishop of Salisbury in 1189, shortly before Richard I became king. He was clearly upwardly mobile, although there were accusations he engaged in trading with the enemy and market-rigging: If true, it seems he had an unscrupulous side, the J.R. Ewing of the late-12th century. It would be fair to say that for a man destined to be an Archbishop, holiness wasn’t his forte. It was during the reign of Henry’s son and heir, Richard I, that Walter kicked on, proving himself a clever and successful diplomat. He was also not averse to sticking his neck out. Servant to Richard I he may have been but this didn’t stop him correcting the king’s Latin grammar on at least one occasion.
Hubert accompanied Richard I on the Third Crusade, negotiating on his behalf with Saladin, the Muslim leader, arranging the return home of English forces. On his own return to England he was instrumental in negotiating the ransom enabling the Lionheart to be repatriated after he’d been captured on his way back from the Holy Land. It was apparently the first tax ever imposed for secular purposes and was levied at 25 per cent on revenue and chattels. We have much to thank him for (cough, cough). I understand the amount to be raised was a whopping £100,000, estimated to be around £165,000,000 in today’s loot; a king’s ransom indeed. Walter was the first English subject to reach the imprisoned king and kick-started the process to obtain his release. It was, unsurprisingly, on Richard’s recommendation that Walter was then made Archbishop of Canterbury in the same year (1193). He was to be one of the most famous and significant holders of that office.
Acting as Chief Justiciar (1193-98) Walter played a prominent part in suppressing the rebellion of Richard’s younger brother, John, the panto villain (along with the Sheriff of Nottingham) of those Robin Hood movies, repaying Richard in the process. Walter went as far as excommunicating John. Richard I was hardly ever here, of course, spending maybe only six months of his reign in England, which meant Walter was pretty much running the show in his absence, particularly after the King’s last departure for the Continent in 1194. He was effectively vice-regent raising the moneys Richard needed for his wars. Walter introduced financial and judicial reforms, including establishing the forerunner of today’s JPs, which made the government more efficient and profitable, on the back of a restoration of law and order following John’s revolt, then became a papal legate in 1195. It was the Pope who finally made him give up some political office over a perceived conflict of interest. When Richard died there were two possible candidates for the throne, his younger brother, the perfidious John, or John’s nephew, young Arthur of Brittany. Although John became king, Walter warned those backing him of what lay ahead: ‘You will never come to regret anything you did as much as what you’re doing now’. As usual he’d be proved correct.
When John became king in 1199 Walter remained in favour, having eventually helped secure his accession, crowning him in Westminster Abbey on 25th May 1199. He became the new monarch’s Chancellor (1199-1205), and was the principal figure in the avoidance of war with France in 1205. Even though John had his fleet assembled Walter persuaded him not to cross the Channel, citing his French adversary’s military strength and financial clout, John’s lack of ‘safehouses’ on the Continent should the war go badly, the fickleness of his Poitevin allies, the vulnerability of England to invasion while the King was away, and his lack of an heir should the worst happen. Hubert Walter could be persuasive when the chips were down; the fleet didn’t sail.
Hubert Walter, by this time an administrative servant of veteran dimensions, died on 13 July 1205 in Teynham, Kent - where he had his manor - from a septic carbuncle on his back, which sounds unpleasant. It possibly becomes even nastier with some sources saying it was ‘a growth near his groin’ that he was too embarrassed to have examined (and even today too many men bury their medical heads in the sand). Incidentally, he was travelling from Canterbury to Boxley, near Maidstone, when he died (there’s a Hubert Walter Drive in Maidstone). Anyway, John summed up the late Walter’s influence by rejoicing at his passing: ‘By God’s feet! Now for the first time I am king of England!’ It would take a decade but he’d make a right royal mess of it. I wonder if he came to regret the loss of his able administrator. Hubert was laid to rest in Canterbury Cathedral the day following his death, the greatest churchman/statesman this country had - until Cardinal Wolsey during the reign of Henry VIII.
And what were Walter’s qualities? Well, aside from being a brilliant administrator, he was brave, as demonstrated whilst on crusade with Richard. He was perhaps the ablest of all able medieval royal servants, a gift that made him so rich he could afford to be generous. He was also pious yet ambitious and was broadly trusted, his word assumed to be as good as the king’s.
HUBERT'S CHRONOLOGY
c.1160 – Birth of Hubert Walter, probably in Norfolk.
1182 – Hubert Walter begins his royal service in the household of Henry II.
1189 – Walter’s early ascent of the greasy pole sees him become Bishop of Salisbury.
1193 – Walter is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury on the recommendation of Richard I.
1195 – Appointed a Papal Legate by Pope Celestine III.
1198 – Has to give up his role as Justiciar after the Pope claims a conflict of interest.
1199 – Crowns the new king, John, in Westminster Abbey.
1205 – Death of Hubert Walter at his manor of Teynham, Kent.
