Ralph d'Escures

Ralph d'Escures (died 20 October 1122) was a medieval Abbot of Séez, Bishop of Rochester and then Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the school at the Abbey of Bec. In 1079 he entered the abbey of St Martin at Séez, and became abbot there in 1091. He was a friend of both Anselm of Canterbury and Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, whose see, or bishopric, he took over on Gundulf's death.

Ralph was not chosen archbishop of Canterbury by the chapter of Canterbury alone. His election involved an assembly of the lords and bishops meeting with King Henry I of England. Ralph then received his pallium from Pope Paschal II, rather than travelling to Rome to retrieve it. As archbishop, Ralph was very assertive of the rights of the see of Canterbury and of the liberties of the English church. He claimed authority in Wales and Scotland. Ralph also quarrelled for a time with Pope Paschal II.

Ralph suffered a stroke on 11 July 1119 and was left partially paralysed and unable to speak clearly from that time until his death on 20 October 1122. A surviving English translation of a sermon delivered by Ralph is preserved in a manuscript in the British Library. The sermon survives in some fifty Latin manuscripts.

Charles Gabriel Morel d'Escures

Charles Gabriel Morel d'Escures (3 January 1751, Alençon – 13 July 1786, Baie des Français, Lituya, Alaska) was a French navigator and explorer and a member of the La Pérouse expedition (1 August 1785 to 13 July 1786) and of the Académie de Marine.

Life

Training at the Ecole royale de Marine (1773–1775), he fought in several campaigns from 1776 to 1783 and held his last command on the la Dorade (decommissioned in 1783).

Lieutenant de vaisseau from 14 April 1781, he received the ordre de Saint-Louis on 1 June 1783. On 13 May 1785, the comte d'Hector chose Morel d'Escures, to oversee the works on and arming of the Portefaix (later the Boussole), and would embark on that ship as ensign. He died trying to negotiate the passage of the bay of Lituya.

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