Election and consecration Gerard was canonically elected after the death of Lietbert on 22 or 23 June 1076. As was the custom for bishops of Cambrai, he went to receive investiture with the symbols of his office from the
Emperor Henry IV in July. He was likewise invested with secular authority in the county of the Cambrésis. Unfortunately for him, in February 1075 the
Council of Rome had condemned the investiture of bishops by laymen and in February 1076
Pope Gregory VII had excommunicated the emperor. When Gerard went to his metropolitan, Archbishop
Manasses I of Reims, to receive consecration, he was refused. In the spring of 1077 Gerard travelled to Rome to plead his case to Pope Gregory, claiming that he was unaware that his investiture was irregular. Gregory refused to meet him, but ordered his legate, Bishop
Hugh of Die, to call a regional
council at Autun to decide the case. Gerard swore an oath before the council that he was unaware both of Henry IV's excommunication and of the canons of the council of Rome at the time of his investiture, and that he would uphold the
Gregorian reforms. The council concluded in September with a threat to depose bishops who consecrated clergy invested by laymen. Since Manasses had not attended, Hugh suspended him and himself consecrated Gerard, whose election was declared valid.
Secular politics During Gerard's absence in Rome and Autun, an urban revolt broke out in Cambrai. The citizens formed a
commune and bound themselves by an oath not to readmit the bishop. With the help of Count
Baldwin II of Hainaut, Gerard suppressed the revolt and executed the leaders. He also had to contend with the encroachments of the castellan of Cambrai,
Hugh I of Oisy. With the help of Count
Robert I of Flanders, he succeeded in exiling Hugh to England between about 1086 and 1090.
Reform and renewal at Cambrai Although many of the priests of the cathedral chapter were kinsmen of Gerard, they were also guilty of
simony and
nicolaitism and strongly resisted the bishop's efforts to promote the Gregorian reform. In 1080, Gerard was appointed by the pope to a council to judge Manasses of Reims. In 1082, the pope ordered him to admonish the count of Flanders against supporting
Lambert of Bailleul, the
bishop of Thérouanne, who had been deposed and excommunicated for simony and apostasy. Until a new bishop was elected in 1083, Gerard administered the vacant diocese. Gerard attended the
Council of Soissons (1084) and the
Council of Compiègne (1085). Gerard restored the
cathedral of Notre Dame and the hospital of Saint Julien in Cambrai. He helped found the abbeys of
Anchin (1079) and
Affligem (1086). He also revised the charters of his diocese to disencumber ecclesiastical
benefices from personal obligations. Gerard also dealt with the heretic
Ramihrd, who is only mentioned by name in the
Chronicon sancti Andreae castri Cameracesii (Chronicle of Saint-André du Cateau), written by an anonymous monk around 1133. ==References==