new bishop. Although winning support from most local potentates (though notably not Robert de Conyers), Cumin failed to secure the consent of the monastic chapter or the archdeacon, who insisted on a canonical election. For two years William had the support of earl of Northumberland Henry and his father the Scottish king, along with other Matildines, making his struggle for recognition part of The Anarchy, the wider struggle between Stephen de Blois and the Empress Matilda for the throne of England. Cumin lost most of this support by the end of 1142, neutralising the dispute, and in 1143 William de Ste Barbe was elected at York as the new bishop. Cumin subsequently seized the priory and ejected the monks, including Lawrence. Lawrence's opposition, as expressed in his writings, was vehement, and he has been described as "one of the most persistent opponents of Cumin". Subsequently, Lawrence rose in station within the hierarchy of the priory. Lawrence held the office of sub-prior [deputy prior] by November 1147. Following the death of Prior Roger in either 1148 or 1149, Lawrence took over the leadership of the priory itself, and is named for the first time in such capacity in 1149. As prior of Durham, the most important ecclesiastical office in the diocese after the bishop, he remained until his death. Lawrence died on either 16 March or 18 March 1154. Lawrence had gone to Rome to seek confirmation of the election of Hugh du Puiset as bishop of Durham, the replacement of William de Ste Barbe who had died in 1152. It was on his return, while in a French town, that illness took him. His body was later taken and buried at Durham. Writings His earliest work appears to be his Vita Sanctae Brigidae, a Latin hagiography of the Irish Gaelic saint Brigid of Kildare. The story, Lawrence tells us, was that Lawrence had received from Ailred's father a hagiography of the saint written in a "half-barbaric" [semibarbarum] style. Lawrence polished it up, and sent it to Ailred while the latter was a member of the court of David I, King of the Scots; that is, between 1130 and 1134. Lawrence's letter to Ailred survives. Lawrence's most famous work in the Middle Ages—surviving in at least 17 manuscript copies—was the Hypognosticon (meaning, according to Lawrence, abbreviation). This he wrote during his years [before 1141] at Bishop Geoffrey's court. It is a