John of Salisbury

John of Salisbury (c.1120–80). Scholar and clerical author. His letters and books drew on his own experience in church politics and reflected the immense range of his classical and Christian scholarship. Born at Salisbury, a student at Paris (1136–46) in the days of Abelard, in his Metalogicon he defended the value of logic as an intellectual discipline. As political secretary to Archbishop Theobald (1147–61) of Canterbury he used his friendship with Adrian IV to promote Canterbury's interests at the papal curia and then used his insider knowledge to discuss both the theory of church–state relations and contemporary history in his Policraticus and the Memoirs of the Papal Court. He acted as adviser to Becket during his quarrel with Henry II and then became an active hagiographer, promoting the cult of the murdered archbishop. In 1176 he was elected bishop of Chartres.

John Gillingham