Early life and prior at Durham Turgot came from the
Lindsey in
Lincolnshire. After the
Norman Conquest he was held as a hostage, but escaped to Norway, where he taught
psalmody to King
Olaf III. In about 1074 he returned to England and became a clerk at
Jarrow monastery. He then became a monk at Wearmouth, and in 1087 he was appointed
prior of the monastery at Durham, from 1093 combining this with the
archdeaconry of Durham. He became close to the Scottish court and became in 1089 a close friend and spiritual adviser to
Saint Margaret of Scotland, wife of King
Malcom III and a profoundly religious person. After her death and between the years 1100 and 1107, Turgot wrote a
vita of her life at the request of her daughter,
Matilda, wife of King
Henry I of England.
Bishop of St Andrews and death In 1107, the Prior was elected as bishop to the
see of St Andrews which had been without a bishop since 1093. Consecration was delayed by ecclesiastical disputes between York and St Andrews, and did not take place until 1 August 1109. According to
Symeon of Durham, he found that he could not exercise the office "worthily" as there was only a primitive
reliquary church, no Benedictine monks to support him and conflicts between various factions he had to deal with, including the Scottish King
Alexander, the Archbishop of York and the
culdees, a local Scottish monastic community. Alexander asked
Pope Paschal II to advice Turgot on these matters and the pope sent Turgot two letters as well as a book of excerpts of
canon law to support him. Turgot, perhaps in response to these letters, proposed to go to Rome to speak directly with Pope Paschal II but Alexander prevented him from doing so. Tugot became ill in June 1115 and was allowed to return to Durham where he had begun his clerical life, where he died on 31 August 1115. Turgot's last words were from
Psalm 76 "His dwelling is in peace and his habitation in Sion" and he was buried in the
chapter house of Durham next to the graves of other bishops. His
mortuary roll, which may have been prepared by Symeon of Durham himself, circulated as far as the French counties of
Anjou,
Blois,
Touraine and
Vermandois. ==Notes==