ABSTRACT
In 1116-17 Archbishop William accompanied Archbishop Ralph d'Escures on his unsuccessful journey to Rome to gain a resolution of the primacy dispute with Archbishop Thurstan of York. As an Augustinian William was something or a novelty, being neither a secular cleric nor a monk. Hugh the Chanter pictured the Canterbury party retiring in confusion, literally laughed out of the papal court when they ventured to suggest that perhaps lead bullae had not been used on such early documents. The documents appeared suspicious based on the style and the number of erasures, so Archbishop Theobald decided to send them back to Rome for the pope himself to examine. Faced with yet another massive blow to their prestige when Archbishop Ralph failed to win his case for the primacy over York, they copied the best of these documents into the handsome presentation volume that made its way to Rome with such embarrassing results in 1123.
