Manasses I, known as Manasses de Gournay, was the Archbishop of Reims, and thus primate of France, from c. 1069 to his deposition on 27 December 1080. Manasses was the son of Hugh II of Gournay-en-Bray and Adelaide of Dammartin. His brother was Hugh III of Gournay-en-Bray, and his cousins included Peter, Count of Dammartin and Hugh-Rainard, the bishop of Langres. He was a simple cleric before he succeeded Gervase of Chateau-du-Loir as archbishop. He was known to be enterprising and liberal and was addressed in a letter by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, as "one of the columns of the church". He presided over one of the most intellectually and artistically vibrant episcopal courts of northern Europe. Pope Gregory VII entrusted Manasses with several delicate missions, but the bishop's ch