GILBERTO FOLIOT. — Bishop of Hereford and of London, d. 17 Feb. 1187, was among the opponents of St. Thomas Becket in the struggle against Henry II for the rights of the Church in England.
Of noble Anglo-Norman family, he became a monk at Cluny and later was its abbot. In 1136 he pleaded at Rome the cause of Matilda, daughter of Henry I, against Stephen of Blois, who had usurped the kingdom and had been recognized by the Pope. In 1139 he was elected abbot of St. Peter’s, Gloucester, and continued to support, though unsuccessfully, the cause of Matilda.
He was created Bishop of Hereford in 1148, and in 1162 opposed Becket’s candidature for the primatial see of Canterbury. Becket, to win him over, had him elected. The following year he was made Bishop of London, but G., though accepting the appointment, refused to the primate the customary profession of obedience and worked to render his own diocese independent of Canterbury. In January 1164 he was among the leaders of the majority of bishops who subscribed to the articles gravely prejudicial to ecclesiastical liberties, drawn up at the assembly of Clarendon by Henry II. Later he became confessor to Henry himself, lending him valuable aid in the struggle against the primate Becket, and remained in his see even after two excommunications by the latter. Yet his opposition did not prevent him from condemning the assassination of the holy archbishop, perpetrated by knights of Henry.
He was a learned man, blameless and austere in private life; he promoted the good of religion among the faithful of whom he was pastor, but by reason of his cold and calculating nature he was more feared than loved, followed everywhere by the reproach of concealed ambition. Of his writings there remain very many letters, written as abbot and as bishop, and a commentary on the *Song of Songs*.