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Gilbert Folliot (d. 1187), was a medieval Bishop of Hereford, and a Bishop of London.

He was probably the son of Robert Foliot, who was the steward of the earl of Huntingdon, and Robert's wife Agnes, sister of Robert de Chesney who was Bishop of Lincoln. He is is first mentioned as a monk of Cluny, whence he was called in 1136 to plead the cause of the Empress Matilda against King Stephen of England at the Roman court. Shortly afterwards he became prior of Cluny, then prior of Abbeville, a house dependent upon Cluny.^[1]

In 1139 he was elected abbot of Gloucester.^[1] The appointment was confirmed by Stephen, and from the ecclesiastical point of view was unexceptionable. But the new abbot proved himself a valuable ally of the empress, and her ablest controversialist. Folliot's reputation grew rapidly. He was respected at Rome; and he acted as the representative of the primate, Theobald of Bec, in the supervision of the Welsh church. In 1148, on being nominated by Pope Eugene III to the see of Hereford, Gilbert with characteristic wariness sought confirmation both from Henry of Anjou and from Stephen. He was consecrated bishop of Hereford on September 5, 1148^[2] at St-Omer by Archbishop Theobald.^[1] But he was an Angevin at heart, and after 1154 was treated by Henry II with every mark of consideration. He was Becket's rival for the primacy, and the only bishop who protested against the kings choice. Becket, with rare forbearance, endeavoured to win his friendship by procuring for him the see of London, to which he was translated between January and March of 1163.^[2] His transfer was confirmed by Pope Alexander III on March 19, 1163 and he was enthroned at London on April 28, 1163.^[3] But Gilbert evaded the customary profession of obedience to the primate, and apparently aspired to make his see independent of Canterbury. On the questions raised by the Constitutions of Clarendon he sided with the king, whose confessor he had now become. He urged Becket to yield, and, when this advice was rejected, encouraged his fellow-bishops to repudiate the authority of the archbishop. In the years of controversy which followed Becket's flight, the king depended much upon Gilbert's skill as a disputant and diplomatist. Folliot was twice excommunicated by Becket, but both on these and on other occasions he showed great dexterity in detaching the pope from the cause of the exile. To him it was chiefly due that Henry avoided an open conflict with Rome of the kind which John afterwards provoked. Folliot was one of the bishops whose excommunication in 1170 provoked the king's knights to murder Becket; but he cannot be reproached with any share in the crime. His later years were uneventful, though he enjoyed great influence with the king and among his fellow-bishops. Scholarly, dignified, ascetic in his private life, devoted to the service of the Church, he was nevertheless more respected than loved. His nature was cold; he made few friends; and the taint of a calculating ambition runs through his whole career. He died on February 18, 1187.^[4]

In the motion picture Becket, he is portrayed by Donald Wolfit.

• List of the Bishops of the Diocese of Hereford, England and its precursor offices

• British History Online Bishops of Hereford accessed on October 26, 2007
• British History Online Bishops of London accessed on October 26, 2007
• Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.