doings of Rannulf and the king (Florence of Worcester, ii. 46).
It was perhaps towards the end of his ministerial career that Rannulf was entrapped by a pretended message from his old patron, Maurice, the bishop of London, on board a boat belonging to a certain Gerold, one of Rannulf's own vassals. He was carried off to sea in a larger ship, full of armed men; but, after three days, during which the manner of his death was disputed, he obtained his liberty by an appeal to Gerold's fealty and the promise of a large reward to the pirates. Gerold fled, distrusting his lord's word, while Rannulf, attended by a great train of knights, made an imposing entry into London, became a greater favourite with the king than ever, and was not entrapped again (Cont. Hist. Dun. Eccles. i. 135–8).
On the Whitsuntide festival of 1099 (29 May) William Rufus gave him the bishopric of Durham, which had been vacant since about New-year's day 1096 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ii. 203; Simeon of Durham, Hist. Dun. Eccl. i. 133–5; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 232; Florence of Worcester, ii. 44). A week later (5 June) Rannulf was consecrated in St. Paul's Cathedral by Thomas, archbishop of York, to whom, however, he would make no profession of obedience (Cont. Hist. Dun. Eccles. i. 138; Simeon of Durham, Hist. Reg. ii. 230; Florence of Worcester, ii. 44). A year later William Rufus was slain (2 Aug. 1100), and, immediately after his accession, Henry I flung Rannulf into the Tower (15 Aug.) (Cont. Hist. Dun. Eccles. i. 138; Anglo-Saxon Chron. ii. 204; &c.), partly, as it seems, to gratify a private grudge (Ord. Vit. iv. 107).
Anselm, when he returned to England (23 Sept. 1100), found the people rejoicing over Rannulf's captivity, ‘as if over that of a ravaging lion.’ When brought up before the king's curia ‘pro pecunia … male retenta,’ Rannulf appealed to his ‘brother bishop,’ and Anselm offered to help him, though at his own risk, if he could clear himself of simony. Rannulf failed to do this, and was imprisoned in the Tower. He was not severely treated, and managed to escape by a rope conveyed to him in a wine-stoup, after having intoxicated his warders at a banquet. He reached the sea-coast, where he and his mother—according to Orderic, a witch who had lost one eye in communications with devils—embarked with all their treasure in two different ships. The mother, while trying to subdue a storm with her incantations, was taken by pirates and put ashore in Normandy ‘ moaning and naked’ (Ord. Vit. iv. 108–10; cf. William of Malmesbury, ii. 620; Anglo-Saxon Chron. ii. 205; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 234; Florence of Worcester, ii. 48). Anselm, writing to Paschal II early in 1101, says that the bishop has escaped into Normandy, ‘and, joining himself with the king's enemies, has made himself “Lord of the Pirates,” whom, as is said for a certainty, he has sent out to sea’ (Anselm, Epp. 1. iv. ep. 1; cf. Hermann of Laon, ii. c. 6).
Robert of Normandy received Rannulf eagerly, and made him ruler of Normandy (Ord. Vit. iv. 110, 116). Rannulf in return urged the duke to invade England (Florence of Worcester, ii. 48; William of Malmesbury, ii. 620; Ord. Vit. iv. 107, 110; Anglo-Saxon Chron. ii. 205). When the fleets of Robert and Henry were mustered, Rannulf counselled the bribery of the English sailors (Florence of Worcester, ii. 48). After the treaty of Winchester, August–September 1101 (Cont. Hist. Dun. Eccles.), or more probably after Robert's defeat at Tenchebrai (28 Sept. 1106), Rannulf obtained the king's favour. He sent envoys to the king, who came on to Lisieux, where the bishop received him with splendour. There Henry pardoned Rannulf's offences, and restored him the see of Durham (Anglo-Saxon Chron. ii. 205, 208–9; Cont. Hist. Dun. Eccles. i. 138; Ord. Vit. iv. 273–4; Florence of Worcester, ii. 49; William of Malmesbury, p. 625).
Rannulf seems to have been a fully ordained priest by the time Anselm left the kingdom (c 30 Oct. 1097) (Anselm, Epp. 1. iv. ep. 2); cf. Flor. of Worc. ii. 46), for the primate speaks of him as being ‘professione sacerdos.’ A somewhat apocryphal account shows us Rannulf, probably about the same date, as pulling down and rebuilding the primitive church at Twyneham (Christchurch, Hampshire), with its surrounding canon's houses (Reg. de Twinham, ap. Dugdale, vi. 303). After the peace of Winchester Rannulf seems to have returned to Normandy. Gilbert Maminot, the aged bishop of Lisieux, died in August 1101 (Ord. Vit. iv. 116), and in the following June Rannulf procured the appointment of his brother Fulcher, who, though almost an illiterate person, held the post till his death in January 1102 or 1103 (ib.) Rannulf then persuaded the duke to make his son Thomas, a boy of some twelve years of age, his successor, on the condition that should Thomas die the succession was to pass to Rannulf's second son (ib.) During the boyhood of these two children Rannulf, seemingly with Henry's consent, ruled the bishopric for three years ‘non ut præsul sed ut præses’ (ib.; cf. Ivo of Chartres, Epp. 153, 154, 157, and 159). At last, apparently on his final restoration to Durham, he gave
