Ralph d'Escures

Ralph d'Escures
Archbishop of Canterbury
Modern view of the Abbey of Bec, where Ralph entered monastic life.
Appointed	26 April 1114
Term ended	20 October 1122
Predecessor	Anselm of Canterbury
Successor	William de Corbeil
Other posts	Bishop of Rochester
Orders
Consecration	9 August 1108
Personal details
Died	20 October 1122 Canterbury
Buried	Canterbury Cathedral
Parents	Seffrid d'Escures Rascendis

Ralph d'Escures (died 20 October 1122) was a medieval Abbot of Séez, Bishop of Rochester and then Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the school at the Abbey of Bec. In 1079 he entered the abbey of St Martin at Séez, and became abbot there in 1091. He was a friend of both Anselm of Canterbury and Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, whose see, or bishopric, he took over on Gundulf's death.

Ralph was not chosen archbishop of Canterbury by the chapter of Canterbury alone. His election involved an assembly of the lords and bishops meeting with King Henry I of England. Ralph then received his pallium from Pope Paschal II, rather than travelling to Rome to retrieve it. As archbishop, Ralph was very assertive of the rights of the see of Canterbury and of the liberties of the English church. He claimed authority in Wales and Scotland. Ralph also quarrelled for a time with Pope Paschal II.

Ralph suffered a stroke on 11 July 1119 and was left partially paralysed and unable to speak clearly from that time until his death on 20 October 1122. A surviving English translation of a sermon delivered by Ralph is preserved in a manuscript in the British Library. The sermon survives in some fifty Latin manuscripts.

Ralph was the son of Seffrid d'Escures and his first wife Rascendis, and a half brother of Seffrid I,Bishop of Chichester from 1125 to 1145. The surname of de Turbine, by which he is sometimes known in older scholarship, is only attested in the fourteenth century and possibly resulted from confusion with William de Corbeil, Ralph's successor at Canterbury. Ralph studied at the school at the Abbey of Bec before entering the abbey of St Martin at Séez in 1079. St. Martin was a house founded by the Montgomery and Bellême families, and was still under their lordship. He became abbot of the house in 1091, and his election was attended by Anselm, abbot of Bec.