Following the execution of Earl Waltheof, William I appointed Walcher, Bishop of Durham, as Earl of Northumberland -- the only bishop in England to hold a secular earldom simultaneously. The dual appointment was an experiment in ecclesiastical-military governance for the difficult north, combining the spiritual authority of the bishop's seat with the military responsibility of the earldom. The experiment ended with Walcher's murder at Gateshead in 1080, proving that ecclesiastical governors could not manage the Northumbrian nobility.
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