FLAMBARD, RANULF, or RALPH (d. 1128), bishop of Durham and chief minister of William Rufus, was the son of a Norman parish priest. Migrating at an early age to England, the young Ranulf entered the chancery of William I. He was dis liked by the barons, who nicknamed him Flambard in reference to his talents as a mischief-maker. He appears to have played an important part in the compilation of the Domesday survey, in which he is mentioned as a clerk by profession, and as holding land both in Hants and Oxfordshire. Before the death of the old king he became chaplain to Maurice, bishop of London, but early in the next reign Ranulf returned to the royal service. He is usually described as the chaplain of Rufus; he seems in that capacity to have been the head of the chancery and the custodian of the great seal. But he is also called treasurer; and there can be no doubt that he was an agent of the extortion from which all classes suffered between 1087 and IIoo. He profited largely by the tyranny of Rufus, farming for the king a large proportion of the ecclesiastical preferments which were illegally kept vacant, and obtaining for himself the wealthy see of Durham On the accession of Henry I., he was imprisoned, but escaped from the Tower of London. A popular legend represents the bishop as descending from the window of his cell by a rope which friends had conveyed to him in a cask of wine. He took refuge with Robert Curthose in Normandy, and received the adminis tration of the see of Lisieux. After the victory of Tinchebrai (11o6) the bishop made his peace with Henry, and was allowed to return to Durham where he passed the remainder of his life. His private life created much scandal, but he distinguished him self, even among the bishops of that age, as a builder and a pious founder. He all but completed the cathedral which his predeces sor, William of St. Carilef, had begun ; fortified Durham ; built Norham Castle ; founded the priory of Mottisfout and endowed the college of Christchurch, Hampshire. As a politician he ended his career with his submission to Henry. Ranulf died on Sept. 5, 1128.