Introduction
Hugh of Avalon (?1135-1200) was a Frenchman from Burgundy who was appointed Abbot of the Charterhouse at Witham in the reign of Henry II. In 1186, he was raised to the See of Lincoln, where he gained a reputation for kindness towards the sick, to children and to animals, but Henry’s son Richard found that his indulgence did not extend to Kings.
HUGH opposed the raising of a subvention for the prosecution of war in France, when demanded by Richard I.* He refused to have it levied in his diocese. The Coeur de Lion* was furious when he heard of this, and sent some men to Lincoln to arrest and eject the bishop. Hugh had all the bells rung as they arrived, and they were solemnly excommunicated. Seeing all Lincoln stirring, they felt themselves not strong enough to get possession of the person of the bishop, and withdrew.
When Richard came to England, Hugh went to meet him.* The king was angry with the bishop, and would not salute him. Then Hugh went up to Richard, and said, “Give me a kiss.”*
“No,” answered King Richard, “you have not deserved one.”
“I have,” said Hugh; “for I have come a long way to see you. You owe me a kiss,” and he pulled the king’s cloak, and drawing him towards him, extorted the salutation which Richard had at first refused. The king laughed at his pertinacity, and gave way.
A subvention is any provision of aid, especially a grant of money; it was customary for the Church to be exempt from such wartime taxes. Richard had been granted Aquitaine in France by his father Henry II, but it required constant vigilance to defend it from seizure by Philip II of France.
Richard became King in 1189, but spent little time in England. He left for the Third Crusade in 1190, and on his way home was kidnapped by Leopold of Austria in 1192, and held prisoner for more than a year. He was liberated in February 1194. See Charles Dickens’s account in Richard Unchained. Richard died shortly afterwards, in 1199. See The Lion and the Ant.
French for Lionheart, King Richard I’s nickname. Indeed, he is better known as Richard the Lionheart than as Richard I.
See 1 Peter 5:14. The ‘kiss of charity’ was a brotherly embrace with a difference for Richard. Henry II, Richard’s father, had quarrelled with his Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, over whether the Church should be subservient to the interests of the State, and had sworn never to greet Becket with a kiss while the quarrel lasted. This prompted the anxious Pope to write to Henry, absolving him (unasked) of his oath. In the end, four knights murdered Becket, filling Henry with guilt and forcing him into a humiliating climbdown. Hugh’s demand for a kiss, against the background of Richard’s high-handed treatment of the Church, was therefore heavy with symbolism. See The Assassination of Thomas Becket.
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