 At the succession of King Henry I , the new king imprisoned Ranulf in the Tower of London on 15 August 1100 on charges of embezzlement . His custodian , William de Mandeville , allowed the bishop to escape on 3 February 1101 . Flambard was not only the first inmate of the prison , but also the first person to escape from it . A popular legend represents the bishop as descending from the window of his cell by a rope which friends had smuggled to him in a flagon of wine . Ranulf gave the wine to his guards , and after they were drunk and asleep , climbed down the rope to escape . His friends had arranged a ship to transport Ranulf , some of the bishop 's treasure , and the bishop 's elderly mother to Normandy . He took refuge across the English Channel with Henry 's brother Robert Curthose , where he became one of the duke 's principal advisors . King Henry dispossessed Ranulf of his lands at Whitsun in 1101 , and the new Archbishop of York Gerard deposed him from his bishopric . The Archbishop of Canterbury , Anselm arranged for Flambard 's trial in a papal court for simony , and a papal decree was issued against Ranulf . 
