Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/89

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Laney
83
Lanfranc

it,’ 'not I, but the law' (ib, pp. 376, 804, 813, 815; Kennett, Lansd. MS. 986). He was a member of the Savoy conference, but he was not frequent in his attendance, and spoke seldom Baxter, Life apud Calamy, i. 173). On the death of Bishop Sanderson [q. v.] in 1663, he was translated on 10 March to Lincoln, having, as a parting gift to Peterborough, devoted 100l. towards the repair of one the great arches of the west front of the cathedral, ‘which was fallen down in the late times ({sc|Patrick}} apud Guntin, Hist. of Peterborough). At Lincoln, when he remained five years, he pursued the same system of moderation towards the nonconforming clergy as at Paterborough, and allowed a nonconformist to preach publicly very near his palace for some years (Calamy, Memorial, pp. 92, 94, 496). Calamy ill-naturedly suggested that this line of conduct was adopted to spite the government through ‘discontent because he not a better bisshoprick' (ib. p. 94). On the death of Bishop Wren in 1667 he was translated to Ely, and held the see till his death on 24 Jan. 1674-5, aged 84. He is described as ‘a man of a generous spirit, who spent the chief of his fortune in works of piety, charity, and munificence.' He rebuilt the greater part of Ely Palace, which had suffered at the hands of the puritans. By his will he bequeathed 500l. to the rebuilding of St. Paul's, the like sum to the erection of public schools at Cambridge, or failing that, to the improvement of the fellowship at Pembroke, and other sums to putting out poor children in Elys and Soham as apprentices. The legacies to his relatives were small, as he had helped them adequately in his lifetime. (Baker MSS. xxx. 381) He was unmarried. He was buried in the south aisle of the presbytery of Ely Cathedral, under a monument for which he left the money. There is a portrait of him in the master's lodge st Charterhouse. Laney's only contribution to literature, with the exception of sermons, was ‘Observations' upon a letter of Hobbes of Malmesbury, ‘about Liberty and Necessity published in 1677 anonymously after his death; it shows acuteness and learning. Most of his printed sermons were preached before the king at Whitehall, and were published by command. Five of these were issued in a collected shape during his lifetime, 1668-9, which, Canon Overton writes, are ‘especially worthy of notice, as giving a complete compendium of church teaching as to the particular errors of the times, showing a firm grasp and bold elicidation of church ‘There is a raciness shout them which reminds one of South, and a quaintness which is not unlike that of Bishop Andrewes’ (Lincoln Dioscesan Magazine, iv. 214).

[Landsdowne MS. 985, pp. 27, 180; Baker MSS. xvii. 439, xxx. 381; Clarke's Ipswich, p. 385; Prynne's Canterburies Doome, pp. 177, 193, 398; Crenshaw's Works by Grossart., ii. 7-15; Heylyn's Land, p, 55; Wood’s Life and Times (Oxf. Hist.; Soc.), ii. 26. 106, 297; Calamy's Account, pp. 92,94; Neal's Puritans, ii. 251; Patrick’s Life, p. 167; Fuller's Church Hist. vi. 290; Kenneth Register. pp. 81, 222, 376, 407, 804, 813, 815; Baker's Hist. of St. John's College, Cambridge, ed. Mayor, p. 214.]

E. V.

LANFRANC (1005?–1089), Archbishop of Canterbury, born about 1005 (Marillon), was son of Hanbald and Roza, citizens of Pavia, of senatorial rank. Hanbald, who was a lawyer, held office in the civic magistracy. From early youth Lanfranc was educated in all the secular learning of the time, and seems to have had a knowledge of Greek. Specially applying himself to the study of law he became so skillful a pleader that while he was a young man the older advocates of the city were worsted by his knowledge and eloquence, and his opinions were adopted by doctors and judges. His father died in his son's youth, a instead of succeeding to Hanbald's office and dignity he left the city, bent on devoting himself to learning. He went to France, where he gathered some scholars round him, and hearing that there were was a great lack of learning in Normandy, and that might therefore expect to gain wealth and honour there, he moved to Avranches, where he set up a school in 1089. He soon became famous as a teacher, and many scholars resorted to him. Among the was one whom he named Paul, afterwards abbot of St. Albans, one of his relations, and, according to tradition, his son (Vitæ Abbatum, i. 52). Religion gained power`over him, and he determined to become a monk in the poorest and most despised monastery that he could find. He left Avranches secretly, taking Paul with him. As he journeyed towards Rouen, in the forest of Ouche he fell among thieves, who robbed, stripped, and bound him to a tree, leaving him his cap tilted over his eyes. In the night he wished to say the appointed office but found himself unable to repeat it. Struck by the contrast between the time which he had devoted to secular learning and his ignorance of divine things, he renewed his vow of self-dedication. In the morning some some passers-by released him, and in answer to his inquiry after a poor and despised monastery directed him to the house which Herlwin was building at Bec. Herlwin, the founder and abbot, gladly received him as a member of the convent, and found