take possession of Sées. In May 1202, Pope Innocent III wrote to Coutances, urging him to impose religious punishments on any rebels against King John's rule in the duchy of Normandy. When John lost the duchy in 1204, Coutances did not resist the government of King Philip II, although he did not make his complete peace with Philip until March 1207. In 1206/07, Coutances, along with his suffragan bishops, petitioned Philip for special legal procedures relating to patronage, which Philip granted. As archbishop Although Coutances was absent from Rouen for most of the period between 1190 and 1194, he remained an active archbishop. He secured the continued immunity of clergy from secular jurisdiction, and supervised the administration of the archdiocese. He began the custom of keeping records in registers of episcopal judgements from about 1200, and he appointed the first officials of Rouen. He also oversaw the rebuilding of Rouen Cathedral, which had begun in 1155, and restarted the work after a fire in 1200. His relations with his cathedral chapter were evidently excellent, as they remembered him as "a magnificent benefactor of the church of Rouen". Death and legacy Coutances died on 16 November 1207 and was buried at Rouen Cathedral, in the chapel of Saints Peter and Paul. The inventory of his personal possessions made after his death included a large number of jewels and vestments. He also owned a large library, which contained not only religious works but also legal texts on canon law and works of classical authors such as Juvenal and Ovid. Coutances' nephew, John of Coutances, became Archdeacon of Oxford and Dean of Rouen under Walter's influence, and later Bishop of Worcester. Other nephews were William, successively a canon at Lincoln Cathedral and an archdeacon at Rouen, and Richard, also an archdeacon at Rouen. The historian John Gillingham called Coutances "one of the great fixers" of his time. Two other historians have argued that it was probably Coutances' judgement and stability that persuaded the king to trust him. The medieval poet John of Hauville dedicated a satirical poem in 1184 to Coutances called Architrenius. It was on the tribulations of a poor scholar. Notes Citations References 1207 deaths 12th-century births 12th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France 13th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France Anglo-Normans Archbishops of Rouen Archdeacons of Oxford Bishops of Lincoln Justiciars of England Medieval Cornish people 12th-century English Roman Catholic bishops Christians