Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hervey (d.1131)
HERVEY or HERVÆUS (d. 1131), bishop successively of Bangor and Ely, of Breton race, was a royal clerk, high in favour with William Rufus and confessor to Henry I. By Rufus he was thrust into the see of Bangor, with haughty disregard of the authority of the tribal king of Gwynedd, and was consecrated by Archbishop Thomas of York in 1092, while the see of Canterbury was vacant after the death of Lanfranc (Stubbs ap. Twysden, p. 1707). As bishop of Bangor, Hervey attended Anselm's council at Westminster (Michaelmas 1102), being the first Welsh bishop present at an English synod (Johnson, English Canons, ii. 25). Hervey belonged to the type of Norman prelates who, as Orderic laments (Ord. Vit. Hist. Eccles. lib. x. c. 2), owed their promotion to favour with the king, or the influence of some powerful noble, or simoniacal purchase, and not to holiness of life or learning. The Welsh, as yet only half subdued, refused to recognise as their bishop a Norman ignorant of their language and character, while he vainly sought to conquer their repugnance by violence, wielding against them ‘the two-edged sword of temporal and spiritual power’ (‘Richard of Ely,’ Anglia Sacra, i. 279), now visiting them with excommunication, now with force of arms. The Welsh met force with force. His brother fell a victim to the murderous attacks; many of Hervey's adherents were killed or grievously wounded, and he was plainly told that the same fate awaited him if he fell into their hands. Hervey was not only in constant fear for his life, but ran the risk of starvation, his mutinous flock refusing the customary dues and offerings. At last he fled to England, and took refuge in the royal court, petitioning for translation to a more agreeable see, and suggesting that of Lisieux. The pope was applied to on his behalf; both Paschal and Anselm told the king that the proposed translation was uncanonical, but the pope agreed that if Hervey could be canonically elected to a vacant see no obstacle would be raised (Haddan and Stubbs, i. 299, 303–6). At length, on the death of Richard, abbot of Ely, in 1107, Hervey was appointed by the king ‘administrator’ of the vast estates of the abbey until a new abbot should be appointed. Richard had striven hard for the conversion of the abbey into an episcopal see. The idea had found favour with the king, and its accomplishment was only prevented by Richard's death. Hervey, who by his courteous behaviour had ingratiated himself with the monks of Ely, promoted the scheme vigorously, and brought it to a successful issue. The council which sat in London at Whitsuntide 1108, under the presidency of Anselm, decreed that the diocese of Lincoln being too extensive for the effectual oversight of a single bishop, the county of Cambridge should be taken from it and constituted a new diocese with its episcopal see at Ely, and Hervey for its first bishop. The bishop of Lincoln, Robert Bloet, was compensated for the loss of his dues with the manor of Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire. The following year, after Anselm's death, the new see was confirmed by a council sitting at Nottingham, 17 Oct. 1109, and a charter of foundation was given by Henry I, and witnessed among many others by Hervey as the first bishop. Hervey had previously taken a journey to Rome to have the establishment of the see confirmed by the pope, and on his return had been put into possession of the new bishopric, 27 June 1109. He at once set himself to confirm and enlarge the privileges and possessions of the abbey. He used his influence with the king, with the aid of bribes, to free the convent from the services due for the custody of the castle of Norwich, and to get rid of recalcitrant tenants who rejected his authority. The monkish historian tells us nothing of any spiritual works carried out by Hervey, but says that he left the foundation in the enjoyment ‘of much greater privileges, rights, and immunities than most others in the kingdom.’ Relying on his influence with the king, he divided the lands and revenues of the monastery between himself and the monks, greatly to his own advantage, assigning the worst lands to the latter, the historian complains, and reserving the richer and more productive for himself. Seeking also in every way, it is said, to impoverish the abbey, he obtained a discharge for himself and his successors from the repair or enlargement of the church, and imposed this duty on the monks alone (Bentham, Hist. of Ely, p. 136; ‘Richard of Ely,’ Anglia Sacra, i. 616). Warned by a vision of St. Edmund, he had a causeway constructed across the previously impassable fen from the village of Soham to Exning, ‘a work which caused all to wonder and bless God’ (‘Richard of Ely,’ u.s.).
In his endeavours to secure from the king redress of grievances or increase of privileges, Hervey made frequent journeys to Normandy. He attended the council of London on clerical marriages 1 Aug. 1129. He also took part, a few months before his translation, in the consecration of Thomas, the archbishop of York, and after it in that of Theulf to the see of Worcester. Towards the close of his life he proposed to enter his convent as a monk, but was prevented by death. In his last sickness he sent for his relative, Gilbert the Universal [q. v.], afterwards bishop of London, who at his suggestion had originally left France for England, and sought his aid in settling both his temporal and spiritual affairs. He died 30 Aug. 1131, and was buried the next day in his cathedral. Dempster (Hist. Eccl. Scot. viii. 660) ascribes to Hervey a book of Letters to Henry I, but no such work is now extant (Hardy, Cat. Brit. Hist. ii. 182). Tanner confuses him with Hervé Nedellec (Hervæus Natalis).
[Bentham's Hist. of Ely, pp. 130–6; Godwin, De Præsulibus, i. 249; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, i. 616 sq.; Haddan and Stubbs's Councils and Documents, i. 299, 303–6; Orderic Vitalis's Hist. Eccl. xiii. iv. 312, ed. Le Prevost; Eadmer's Hist. Nov. (Rolls Ser.), iv. 104; Sim. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 230, 235, 241; Hen. Hunt. (Rolls Ser.), p. 250; Thomas Stubbs ap. Twysden, 1707; Will. Malm. De Gest. Pont. (Rolls Ser.), p. 325.]