is attested by the archdeacon of Canterbury and by Master Peter of Blois, archdeacon of Bath.[1] Moreover he writes three urgent letters in her name to Celestine III concerning the king's captivity. Another he writes in the name of Walter of Coutances, archbishop of Rouen, then in England, urging the pope to take action: and on his own behalf he writes a like exhortation to Conrad archbishop of Maintz.[2] When the queen went to Germany at the beginning of 1194, Peter seems to have joined himself to the new primate, Hubert Walter, thus taking his place once more in the archbishop's household.[3]
With Archbishop Hubert Walter, however, Peter's relation does not appear to have been so close or so constant as it had been with his two predecessors. More than one reason suggests itself to account for this. In the first place, as justiciar of England the archbishop was the chief ruler of the country in K. Richard's continual absence; and, though the new pope, Innocent III, insisted early in 1198 upon his resigning the office, he soon afterwards became chancellor under K. John and was once more immersed in secular affairs. For legal and political business such as these offices involved Peter of Blois had not the requisite qualifications. Moreover, when the archbishop renewed the attempt of his predecessor to found a college of secular canons at Lambeth in opposition to the monks of Canterbury, Peter was disqualified in another way from rendering him assistance. We may well believe that he had no heart to engage afresh in the controversy, and in any case, he had solemnly promised the prior and convent that he would never side against them any more. Moreover he was getting on in years, and his health was failing him. He must have been nearly sixty, and in a letter to the archbishop, in which he is excusing himself for prolonged absence, he speaks of recurrent fevers from which he has been suffering for full two years (Ep. 109). He was certainly no longer vigorous enough to be the archbishop's proctor at the Roman court: this task was now undertaken by the Cistercian abbots of Boxley and Robertsbridge. The struggle lasted four years, until in June 1201 it found a sudden close in a compromise which secured to the monks nearly all their demands. Peter's name never appears in the matter.
We have only two letters written by Peter in the name of Hubert Walter. The first (Ep. 122) is addressed to William archbishop of
- ↑ Litterae Cantuarienses (Rolls S.), iii. 379.
- ↑ Epp. 144-6; 64; 143.
- ↑ 'Peter chaplain to Q. Alianor' is mentioned in a charter (1189–99) of Walter archbishop of Rouen: the preceding charter shows that he was a canon of Rouen (Round, Doc. in France, p. 13). This would seem to be our Peter.
