Laney, Bknjamin, D.D., a prelate of the Church of England, was bishop of Peterl)orough from 1C50 to 16G3 ; was then transferred to Lincoln, where he remained un- til 1()67, when he was transferred to the bishopric of Ely. He died about 1G75. Some of his sermons were pub- lished in ll)()2 and 1G75. He was considered a very learned divine, and of great acumen. — Allibone, Diet, of A nthors, ii, 105G.
Ijanfranc, the most noted foreign churchman who rose to distinction in the English Church of the ^Middle Ages, was born of a senatorial family in Pavia, Italy, about 1005; studied law in Bologna, but not without attention to other subjects; returned to Pavia, where he taught jurisprudence, and also the liberal arts, -with great success. lie soon gave bis attention exclusively to the latter, the liherales disripliniv, and especially to dia- lectics, and, leaving his own country, he travelled over a large part of France, until, induced perhaps bj^ the fame of William, duke of Normandy, he settled in Av- ranches with some of his old iiujiils. He there won great distinction as a teacher, but in 1042, having de- termined upon a more private and contcmjilative life, he betiidk himself to Kduen, where, in fidlillment of such a ])urpose, according to his hiograidier Crispinus, lie proposed to reside. On his way thitlier he was fall- en upon by robbers, bound to a tree, and there, stricken in conscience for what he tlcemed a too sellish fear, and
for his unfitness to find consoling communion with God in the hour of peril, he made a vow, should he escape with his life, to enter a monastery. Delivered from the hands of tlie robbers bj' some passing travellers, he en- tered the cloister of Bee, of the Benedictine Order. After three years of cjuiet, he began again, at the instance of llerluin, the abbot of Bee, to give instruction, and Bee became the resort of students from every class, both clergy and laity, and from many lands. Made prior of the monasterj' in 104G, he established a more extensive and systematic course of study, sacred as well as secular, unusual attention being given to grammar and dialec- tics. In respect to the former, Lanfranc's inlluenee con- tributed greatly to revive the general study of Latin, and ill dialectics he is a forerunner of the schoolmen. Ex- egesis, and patristic, but especially speculative theology, were pursued. Anselm was among his pupils at Bee, and also the future pope Alexander II. During this period, about 1049, occurred Lanfranc's first dispute with his former friend Berengar, then archdeacon at Angers, on the subject of the Lord's Supper. The latter, while defending the opinions of Scotus Erigena, sought in a letter to persuade Lanfranc; but the letter, falling into the hands of others, gave rise to such charges of hereti- cal fellowship against Lanfranc that he was provoked, in defending himself at Rome and Yercelli in 1050, to a violent attack upon Berengar. The learning which he disjilayed in this controversy greatly increased Lan- franc's fame for scholarship, and he was now invited to the position of abbot in various cloisters, and was treat- ed with special favor by William of Normandy. It is related that, on occasion of some false charges, the duke fell out with him, and banished him from his dominions. A lame horse was given him for the journey, and, seated on it, he happened to meet the duke, who coidd not help noticing the laughable hobbling of tlie animal, when Lanfranc took occasion to say to him, "You must give me a better horse if you wish me out of the coimtry, for with this one I shall never get over the border." The jest won the duke's attention, and an explanation fol- lo;ved, which established Lanfranc in a position of per- manent favor. He was emphiyed by AMlliam in lOGO to secure from the pope Niclmlas II Ubcrty to many a near relative, a princess of Flanders. This allowance was obtained on the condition that A\'illiam should found two cloisters, one for monks and another for niuis. Over the monastery of St. Stephen, at Caen, which was there- upon established, Lanfranc was installed in 10G3 as ab- bot, Anselm succeeding him in that capacity at Bee. Tlie dispute with Berengar meanwhile continued. The latter, though constrained at Rome in 1059, through fear, to recognise the doctrine of Paschasius Ratlbertus, nevertheless afterwards sought to spread his former sen- timents, and was bitterly opposed by Lanfranc in his work. Be corpore et suv</uini' Dam. Jesu Chrisii, adv. Berengar Turonen^em, published between the years 10G4 and 10G9. In this work the doctrine of transiibstantia- tion is clearly contained. Berengar issued a reply. Be sacra cana adv. Laifraticiim (an edition of which was published by Yischcr in Berlin in 1834). The ability with which this controversy was conducted on both sides has been confessed. Severe personal charges are min- gled with argument, and, whatever fault may have been established against Berengar, his opponent was not with- out blame nor without prejudice in dealing witli jiatris- tic authorities. While at Caen, Lanfranc steadfastly refused the archbitihopric of Rouen, but. upon the ad- vice of his old abbot llerluin, he acce]ited in 1070, with much reluctance, the archbishopric of Canterbury, which was urged upon him by William of Normandy, at this time on the throne of England. His task in the arch- bishopric was b^' no means light, inasmuch as he was obliged not onlv to contml and amend the rudeness and ignorance of his own clergy, but to lUfend also the au- thority of his primacy against the other prelates, espe- cially Thomas of York and Odo of Baycux and Kent. The self-will of the king jJso gave him much trouble,