Christopher Norton has produced a fine consideration of the career and legacy of St. William fitzHerbert, archdeacon of East Riding and twice archbishop of York (1141–47, 1153–54). William is best remembered for his disputed election to the archbishopric (a contest that drew in such heavyweight contemporaries as Bernard of Clairvaux and Henry of Blois), but the other facets of William's life have received scant attention. Norton therefore attempts to study the whole story by examining not only the famous points of dispute but also William's childhood, early career, and saintly reputation. The fruits of his labor are only partially sweet. The book might be better titled The World of St. William of York, for William himself is lost amid an otherwise excellent discussion of English history. This shortcoming is largely dictated by insufficient descriptions in the source material.

The chapters march chronologically through William's life, with the first two being the most biographical. Chapter 1 centers on his father Herbert and the archiepiscopate of Thomas II of York (d. 1109). With this can be paired the first appendix, which is an examination of the contacts and estates of Herbert, who was chamberlain to the first three Anglo-Norman kings. Chapter 2 is primarily concerned with early twelfth-century Yorkshire and William's role as treasurer of York Minster. As such, he was frequently in the company of Archbishop Thurstan (d. 1140) and privy to such major disputes as Stephen of Blois's rise to the throne of England and the ongoing primacy contest between York and the See of Canterbury. Although Norton suggests that the evidence of William's early career can be better mined for evidence, his name appears mainly in the witness clauses of charters, and there is little narrative evidence to go on. The chronicler Hugh the Chanter was, of course, more interested in Thurstan, and the author admits that even the principle source for his subject, the Vita Sancti Willelmi, offers no more than three sentences about William the treasurer.

The amount and quality of the evidence improves for the period after 1141, the year of William's election to the archbishopric. Correspondingly, chapters 3 and 4 focus more directly upon his career. The former chronicles his first archiepiscopate, which ends in 1147 with his deposition at the order of Pope Eugenius III (d. 1153). It is full of intrigue and should be read closely by ecclesiastical historians. Immediately following his election, William was indicted as having been intruded upon the See of York by outside forces, with King Stephen himself named as a possible villain. To this were added the charges of William having committed acts of fornication and simony, which, in the wake of the Investiture Contest and the Gregorian reforms, was a serious accusation indeed. Norton masterfully dissects the merits of each charge, identifies William's chief rivals (Walter of London and Osbert of Bayeux), and describes the long judicial process that ultimately ended in deposition. Apologists for Bernard of Clairvaux will find the going rough here, as the famous Cistercian comes across as inflammatory, vindictive, and almost petty as he attacks the validity of William's election.

In chapter 4, Norton examines the consecration of Henry Murdac as archbishop of York and then William's return to the seat upon Murdac's death in 1153. Most interesting, as is often the case with hagiographic studies, were the circumstances surrounding William's death. After celebrating his first Mass at York Minster on 30 May 1154, he suddenly became very sick and died just nine days later. His sudden, savage illness has been attributed to poison, which might have been placed in the chalice. It is a dramatic ending, but most striking about Norton's description of the death, however, is the glaring lack of analysis, especially given the thorough attention paid to William's associates elsewhere in the book. Other than a brief mention of Osbert of Bayeux as a suspect, the controversy of another “Murder in the Cathedral” is not discussed in any detail, nor is the thorny theological problem of poison remaining viable in transubstantiated wine. The fifth and final chapter wraps up the story by describing William's canonization by Pope Honorius III and the development of his cult.

There is much to commend in both the text and supplemental materials. It is clear that Norton is the master of his sources. In particular, he employs the charter evidence quite well, periodically pausing to critique editorial mistakes in collections such as Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum. Chapter 5 also includes a very fine historiographical analysis of the Vita Sancti Willelmi. There are twenty-two plates and figures, including architectural plans of various churches and useful maps of the towns of York, Winchester, and others, and the introduction is preceded by four genealogical tables. An itinerary of St. William's life in found in the third appendix, and two well-organized tables list his reputed miracles. Another appendix explores the role of Paulinus of Leeds, the master of St. Peter's Hospital in York, in the propagation of the Cult of St. William.

St. William of York is a worthy addition to the corpus of modern hagiographic studies. Regretfully, it is restrained by an overall lack of characterization of St. William himself. Despite three confident introductory paragraphs on the availability of chronicles, letters, and charters, it appears that most of the evidence points not to William but to his associates and/or the larger political scene. In other words, there is little biography here, and the result is a picture of an archbishop driven and pulled more by the actions of others than by his own ambitions and beliefs. Christopher Norton has made a good attempt to portray William as an individual, but the lack of specific, descriptive information ensures that, for the time being, he remains “one of the more obscure saints of medieval England” (1).