Gerard (archbishop of York)

Gerard (archbishop of York).
Gerard (died 1108) was Archbishop of York between 1100 and 1108 and Lord Chancellor of England from 1085 until 1092. A Norman, he was a member of the cathedral clergy at Rouen before becoming a royal clerk under King William I of England, who appointed him Lord Chancellor. He continued in that office under King William II Rufus, who rewarded him with the Bishopric of Hereford in 1096. Soon after Henry I's coronation, Gerard was appointed to the recently vacant see of York, and became embroiled in the dispute between York and the see of Canterbury concerning which archbishopric had primacy over England. He secured papal recognition of York's jurisdiction over the church in Scotland but was forced to accept Canterbury's authority over York. He also worked on reconciling the Investiture Controversy between the king and the papacy over the right to appoint bishops until the controversy's resolution in 1107. Because of rumours, as a student of astrology, that he was a magician and a sorcerer, and also because of his unpopular attempts to reform his clergy, he was denied a burial inside York Minster but his remains were later moved into the cathedral.