 Ranulf 's reputation has suffered because of the hostility of the monastic chroniclers to both himself and to Rufus . Many chroniclers decried his financial ruthlessness and his lax morals . Orderic described Ranulf 's career as " addicted to feasts and <unk> and lusts ; cruel and ambitious , prodigal to his own adherents , but rapacious in seizing the goods of other men " . Besides the chroniclers , Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury wrote to Pope Paschal II , while Ranulf was in exile , describing Ranulf as " a rent collector of the worst possible reputation . " William of Malmesbury said that Flambard was a " plunderer of the rich , destroyer of the poor " . Victorian historians , including E. A. Freeman , vilified Ranulf , and Freeman especially held that Ranulf was a " malignant genius " . Modern historians have embraced a more moderate view , starting with Richard Southern in 1933 . The historian David Bates felt that he , along with his successor Roger of Salisbury , " were essentially the chief managers of the king 's finance and justice " . 
