usque ad A.D. 1199.’ 2. ‘Chronicon succinctum de vitis imperatorum et tam Franciæ quam Angliæ regum.’ Both were edited by Colonel R. Anstruther for the Caxton Society in 1851. The former is contained in Cotton MS. Cleopatra, C. x.; the latter in Cotton MS. Vesp. D. x., Claud. D. vii., College of Arms, xi., and Reg. 13 A. xii. Ralph's share in the latter extends only to 1161; from this point it was continued by Ralph Coggeshall [q. v.] Neither chronicle contains much notice of English affairs, and what there is is borrowed from Geoffrey of Monmouth, William of Malmesbury, and Henry of Huntingdon. The second chronicle, however, is of interest for the savage invective against Henry II, on pp. 167–9. Ralph is also credited with three other historical works, namely, ‘Gesta Regis Johannis,’ ‘Initia Regis Henrici Tertii,’ and ‘De regibus a Gulielmo.’ But the first two are really extracts from Roger of Wendover, and the third is perhaps an extract from Ralph's own chronicle.
In the first of his chronicles Ralph gives the following list of his works: 1. ‘Septem digesta super Eptaticum.’ 2. ‘Moralia in Libros Regum.’ 3. ‘Epitome Veteris Testamenti sive commentarii in Paralipomena.’ 4. ‘Remedia in Esdram et Nehemiah.’ 5. ‘De re Militari et de tribus viis Hierosolymæ.’ 6. ‘De quattuor festis beatæ Mariæ Virginis.’ 7. ‘De interpretatione Hebræorum nominum.’ The last six, together with the second chronicle, were formerly in the cathedral library at Lincoln (cf. Catalogue ap Giraldus Cambrensis, vii. 170); only the last three and the chronicle appear to be there now; the fifth is contained in Pembroke College, Cambridge, MS. 76. Tanner also gives: 1. ‘Super Pentateuchum.’ 2. ‘Digestum in Numerum.’ 3. ‘Digestum in Leviticum.’ 4. ‘Pantheologicum,’ in which last Ralph was styled archdeacon of Gloucester. The commentary on Leviticus referred to by Tanner seems to be really the voluminous work of Ralph of Flaix, of which there are numerous manuscripts; it was printed at Cologne, 1536, and in the ‘Bibliotheca Patrum Maxima.’ Ralph of Flaix was also author of a commentary, ‘Super Parabolas Salomonis,’ in Pembroke College, Cambridge, MS. 83, which has been ascribed to Ralph Niger; and of commentaries on Genesis, Nahum, the Epistles of St. Paul, and Revelation. Some have also ascribed to Ralph of Flaix the chronicles which belong to Ralph Niger.
[Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 548; Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue of British History, ii. 287, 496; Wright's Biogr. Brit. Litt. Anglo-Norman, pp. 423–4; Cave's Script. Eccl. ii. 232; Oudin, ii. 441, iii. 94; Histoire Littéraire de France, xii.; information kindly supplied by Canon Venables; other authorities quoted.]
NIGER or LE NOIR, ROGER (d. 1241), bishop of London, was perhaps a native of Bileigh, at Little Maldon, Essex, for in the copies of his statutes at Cambridge he is called Roger Niger de Bileye. His father and mother were called Ralph and Margery. He founded a chantry for them at St. Paul's. There seems to be no evidence as to whether he was connected with Ralph Niger [q. v.] the historian. Roger is first mentioned as prebendary of Ealdland, St. Paul's, in 1192, and in 1218 he occurs as archdeacon of Colchester. In the latter capacity he issued a collection of statutes for the rectors and priests of his archdeaconry, a copy of which is preserved in the university library at Cambridge—MS. Gg. iv. 32, ff. 108–16. In 1228 he was elected bishop of London, and was consecrated 10 June 1229, at Canterbury, by Henry, bishop of Rochester (Matt. Paris, iii. 190). On 25 Jan. 1230 St. Paul's Cathedral was struck by lightning, while Roger was celebrating mass. All but one deacon fled in terror; the bishop, however, remained unmoved, and finished the service. In June 1231 he was summoned to meet the king at Oxford to consult on the affairs of Wales (Shirley, Royal and Hist. Letters, i. 400). When in 1232 Hubert de Burgh [q. v.] was dragged from the Boisars Chapel, near Brentwood, Roger went to the king, and, declaring that unless Hubert was sent back he would excommunicate all concerned in the matter, obtained his restoration. This same year the bishop had excommunicated those who had been guilty of violence to Roman clerks. He was nevertheless accused of consenting to the pillage of the Romans, and summoned to Rome, where he purged himself at great expense. On his way thither he was robbed of his jewels and money at Parma, but recovered a portion with some difficulty. At a later date the men of Parma, when their city was besieged by Frederick II in 1247, ascribed their sufferings to Roger's well-deserved curse for their ill-treatment of him (Matt. Paris, iv. 637).
On Roger's return in the autumn of 1233, he arrived at Dover just at the time of the arrest of Walter Mauclerk [q. v.], bishop of Carlisle. He at once excommunicated the offenders, and going to the king at Hereford, remonstrated with him for having ordered the arrest. Roger officiated at the consecration of Edmund as archbishop of Canterbury on 2 April 1234. In 1235 he endeavoured to expel the Caursines from his diocese, on account of their practice of usury. But the accident in the new year changed him life.
