PASTOR BONUS: MATTHEW PARIS'S LIFE OF STEPHEN LANGTON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY (1207-28) BRENDA BOLTON London Stephen Langton, educationalist and popular preacher, theologian and Biblical scholar, cardinal, ecclesiastical politician and invaluable servant of the Church, was to exert an unprecedented influence throughout Christendom for more than two decades on either side of 1200.' A native of Lincolnshire and possibly a pupil at Lincoln's famous cathedral school, Langton was to leave England around 1170 in pursuit of a career in France. There, under Master Peter the Chanter, Langton studied both liberal arts and theology in the School of Pastoral Theology, demonstrating outstanding skill as an exegete and gaining a reputation for scholarship that extended far beyond Parish Not only was he recognized as a teacher of much distinction but also as a proven preacher of repute, with well over two hun- dred extant sermons to his name.B A number of his commentaries on the Bible have survived, together with his inceptio or inaugural lecture as Professor of Theology in Paris, and a collection of ques- tiones or disputations, all of which recall something of an impressive classroom technique.' Langton continued to perform the dual functions ' F.M. Powickc, StephenLangton (Oxford, 1928); Raymonde Foreville, `Etienne. Langton', in Dictionnairede SjJiritualité4.2 ( 1961 ),cols. 1495-1502; Acta StephaniLangton CantuariensisArchiepiscopi, A.D. 1207-1228, ed. Kathleen Major, 1he Canterburyand York Society50 (1950); Christopher R. Cheney, Pope InnocentIII and England [Pdpste und 9] 150-54. Papsttum2 (Stuttgart, 1976), pp. Annales de Waveleiain AnnalesMona.stici, ed. H.R. Luard, 5 vols., Rolls Series (London 1864-69), 2: 2, 304, "In scientia theologica suo tempore nulli secundus". 3Phyllis Barzillay Roberts, Stephanusde Lingua-Tonante:Studies in the sermons#' Stephen Langton(Toronto, 1968), p. 31; Roberts, 'Langton on Becket: A New Look and a New Text', MediaevalStudies 35 (1973), 38-48; Roberts, Selected.Sermons of Stephen Langton[Toronto Medieval Latin 'Texts 10] (Toronto, 1980); Roberts, 'Archbishop Stephen Langton and his Preaching on Thomas Becket in 1220' in De Ore Domini: Preacherand Wordin theMiddle Ages, eds. T.L. Amos et al. (Kalamazoo, MI., 1989),pp. 75-92; Roberts, ThomasBecket in theMedieval Latin Tradition ' Preaching (The Hague, 1992). Beryl Smalley and Georges Lacombe, 'Studies on the Commentaries of Cardinal Stephen Langton', Archivesd'histoire doctrinale et littérairedu moyenage 5 (1931), 5-220; 58 of teaching and preaching in exemplary fashion until he was sud- denly and unexpectedly elevated to high office. First, in 1206, Innocent III created him cardinal priest of San Crysogono,? and then, in 1207, raised him to the archbishopric of Canterbury.`' While thy Interdict prevented Langton from entering England between 1208 and 1213, he subsequently faced further exile, this time at the instigation of none other than the Pope himself. Recovering from a black period of controversy, this relatively elderly archbishop ---- his age is reck- oned to have been somewhere between 55 and 65 at the time - who had never previously been involved in the day-to-day routine of pastoral work amongst the laity, successfully adapted to a profound involvement in ecclesiastical affairs, laying particular emphasis on the necessary restoration of order and discipline amongst the English clergy. This remarkable cvolution can perhaps be best understood through the eyes of Matthew Paris, author of the Life of Langton, whom he regarded as the model of the 'optimus pastor'.' Paris, who resided in the Benedictine community at St Albans from 1217 until his death in 1259, is best known for his chronicles, his exceptional artistic tal- ents? and vigorous anti-papal sentiment.9 Yet, this 'monastic polymath' was also the author of several hagiographical works,'" and the Lives of two other archbishops of Canterbury, Thomas Becket (d. 1170)" John W. Baldwin, Masters, Princesand Merchants:the, Social Viewsof Peter the Chanter and His Circle,2 vols. (Princeton, 1970), 1: 17-46, especially 25-31. 5 W. Maleczek, Papst und KardinalskoLLegvon lli)I his 1216 (Vienna, 1984), pp. 175-79. 6 Baldwin, Masters, Princesand Merchants(see above, n. 4), pp. 26-27. MatthaeiParisiensis, Vita sancti 6'?/MH! archiepiscopi (Eantuariensis, in 1/tlgedm;kteAnglo- .Normannische6°e.I<hicht.iquellen, ed. F. Liebermann (Strasbourg, 1879), pp. 318-29. Excerpts of the Vita are also found in Ex rerumAngLicarum scriptorihus saecuLi XIII, MGH SS, 28, ed. F. Liebermann (Hanover, 1888), pp. 441-43. 8 Suzanne Lewis, TheArt of MatthezvParis in the ChronicaMajora [California Studies in the History of Art 21] (Berkeley, 1987). l) Vivian H. Galbraith, 'Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris' [The David Murray Lectures 11] (Glasgow, 1944), pp. 5-48; Richard Vaughan, Matthew I'aria, rev. ed. (Cambridge, 1979); Antonia Gransden, Historical Writingin England c. 550-c. 1307, 2 vols. (London, 1974), 1: 356-79. 'o A Latin prose Vitae duorum Offarum(Lives of the Two (?ffas),London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero D i; a French verse Lives of SS Alban and Amphibalus, Dublin, Trinity College, MS 177 (E i 40), fols. 69v-72; and another French verse Life of .St käward, Cambridge University Library, MS Ee iii 39. " Matthew Paris, Fragmentsd'une vie de saint Thomasde Cantorhéry,ed. Paul Meyer [Societe des anciens textes fran?als] (Paris, 1885), with facsimiles. See also The Becket, Leaae.s,cds. Janet Backhouse and Christopher de Hamel (London, 1988). .