 Gerard also had an uneasy relationship with his cathedral chapter , after attempting to reform his cathedral clergy by forcing them to give up their wives and <unk> and become ordained priests . He wrote to Anselm in 1103 complaining of the <unk> of his clergy and <unk> Anselm 's better relations with Canterbury 's chapter , which was composed of monks instead of the secular canons who made up York Minster 's chapter . In this correspondence , Gerard complained that some of the York canons refused to be ordained as priests , thereby hoping to avoid taking the vow of celibacy . He also accused them of accepting <unk> but refusing to live or work at the cathedral , and of focusing on a narrow legal definition of celibacy without actually being <unk> . The canons ' argument was that they were only required not to maintain women in their own houses , but they were not forbidden to visit or entertain women in houses belonging to others . It was not only Gerard who complained about the relationship between him and his canons ; the latter accused Gerard of <unk> York by making gifts of lands to others . 
