away from his knightly duties. Once he turned to the priesthood, William studied at the school of Saint Hilaire-le-Grand in Poitiers and was said by Orderic to have returned to Normandy 'more learned than all his friends and neighbours'.

William was given positions of ecclesiastical authority, becoming chaplain to Duke William and archdeacon of Lisieux. However, he doesn't appear in ecclesiastical or royal and ducal charters as might be expected of someone of such a position, which perhaps casts doubts