A Bishop and His Diocese: Politics, Government, and Careers in Hereford and Winchester Dioceses, 1282-1317
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A Bishop and his Diocese: politics, government, and careers in Hereford and Winchester dioceses, 1282-1317 James Richardson Doctor of Philosophy University of York History September 2016 Abstract The present study explores two late thirteenth-century bishops’ registers, one from Hereford diocese, the other from Winchester, in order to shed light on the act of registration during this period. In doing so, the thesis aims to further current understanding of registers and develop new methodologies for their use in historical research. Where previous studies only focus on one particular type of record in a register, such as charters, each chapter of this thesis examines a different type of record, meaning a far greater range of each register is explored. The thesis also considers what light the two registers can shed on episcopacy in Hereford and Winchester dioceses in the late thirteenth century. While most studies of this period focus on archbishops or royal government officials, this thesis turns to two workaday bishops in order to consider how those men who played a less prominent role in English political and ecclesiastical life practised episcopacy. Each chapter concerns a particular episcopal activity: the safeguarding of ecclesiastical benefices, the construction of episcopal households, ecclesiastical reform, episcopal visitations and, more broadly, the pursuit of a career, affording a broad investigation into each bishop’s activities. Using the two registers, this study argues that it is essential to consider episcopacy as something distinct to each individual, shaped by a range of motives, agendas, and relationships. It emphasizes the role of human beings and their interactions in diocesan administration and in producing registers, leading to diverse approaches to episcopacy and the record of episcopal acts. It also draws connections between registration and episcopal activity, developing new ways of reading the material based on a greater understanding of the content and production of registers and their contexts. 2 Contents ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... 2 CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. 6 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ......................................................................................... 7 A NOTE ON CONVENTIONS ........................................................................................ 8 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 9 I. THE STUDY OF LATE-THIRTEENTH CENTURY BISHOPS, EPISCOPACY, AND REGISTERS..................................................................................................................... 11 II. PONTOISE, SWINFIELD, AND THEIR REGISTERS .................................................... 17 III. METHODOLOGY AND OUTLINE ............................................................................ 27 CHAPTER ONE. ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE, PART ONE: CROWN AND CURIA ............................................................................................................................ 31 I. ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE IN THE LATE THIRTEENTH CENTURY .................. 33 II. BISHOPS’ REGISTERS AND THE RECORDS OF ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE ......... 38 III. THE EXTENT OF CROWN AND CURIAL PATRONAGE IN HEREFORD AND WINCHESTER DIOCESES ................................................................................................ 44 IV. BISHOPS, THE ENGLISH CROWN, AND ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE .................. 48 V. PAPAL PROVISIONS IN HEREFORD AND WINCHESTER DIOCESES .......................... 64 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 76 CHAPTER TWO. ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE, PART TWO: THE BISHOP’S HOUSEHOLD ................................................................................................................ 78 I. BISHOPS’ REGISTERS FOR THE STUDY OF HOUSEHOLD CAREERS.......................... 81 II. THE HOUSEHOLD AND THE BISHOP’S POWERS OF PATRONAGE ............................ 88 3 III. SWINFIELD’S AND PONTOISE’S HOUSEHOLDS COMPARED: TOWARDS BUILDING NETWORKS .................................................................................................................... 96 IV. ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE, THE BONDS BETWEEN BISHOP AND HIS CLERICS, AND THE ROLE OF NETWORKS IN DIOCESAN GOVERNMENT ........................................... 99 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 128 CHAPTER THREE. ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM IN LATE THIRTEENTH- CENTURY HEREFORD AND WINCHESTER DIOCESES ..................................... 129 I. REFORM IN THE LATE-THIRTEENTH CENTURY ................................................... 134 II. BISHOPS AND SECULAR CLERICS: PASTORAL LEADERSHIP AND DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION ........................................................................................................ 159 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 178 CHAPTER FOUR. EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES ........... 181 I. VISITATIONS RECORDS IN BISHOPS’ REGISTERS ................................................. 184 II. VISITATIONS AND EPISCOPAL AGENDAS IN HEREFORD AND WINCHESTER DIOCESES .................................................................................................................... 190 III. ST SWITHUN’S AND LEOMINSTER: THE CHALLENGES OF MANAGING GREAT RELIGIOUS HOUSES ..................................................................................................... 204 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 225 CHAPTER FIVE. EPISCOPAL CAREERS AND BISHOPS’ REGISTERS ............. 227 I. EVIDENCE FOR EPISCOPAL CAREERS ................................................................. 229 II. PONTOISE’S AND SWINFIELD’S CAREERS AND THEIR APPROACHES TO EPISCOPACY... ............................................................................................................. 237 III. RICHARD DE SWINFIELD ................................................................................... 246 IV. BISHOPS’ REGISTERS AND THEIR USES .............................................................. 255 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 265 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 266 APPENDIX ONE. A BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF PONTOISE’S AND SWINFIELD’S HOUSEHOLD CLERKS .................................................................... 274 ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... 287 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 289 4 List of Tables Table One: General classification of advowson holders in the two dioceses 47 Table Two: Pontoise’s institution of royal clerks after 1285 63 Table Three: John de Kempsey’s benefices 102 Table Four: Nicholas de Reigate’s and Hamo de Sandwich’s benefices 106 Table Five: The three Maidstone clerks’ benefices 120 Table Six: Orders of instituted clerics in the two dioceses 169 Table Seven: Recorded licences for study in both registers 170 Table Eight: Visitation material in Pontoise’s register 186 Table Nine: Visitation material in Swinfield’s register 188 Table Ten: Pontoise’s commissions as a royal diplomat 242 Table Eleven: Pontoise’s absences from Winchester diocese 243 5 Acknowledgements My eternal gratitude goes to my supervisor, Sethina Watson, for all the support, guidance, and inspiration over the last several years, without which I wouldn’t have developed such a keen interest in medieval bishops or made it quite this far. So many people have offered help and a sense of direction over the past few years and I would like to give thanks to them all. Special thanks go to Mark Ormrod and Lucy Sackville for their time and their wisdom, which was much appreciated. I would also like to give thanks to Paul Dryburgh, both for his tutoring in palaeography and his insights at TNA. I am grateful to Rosalind Caird at Hereford Cathedral Library and Archives, who was most helpful in facilitating several research trips, and to Michael Burger, David Lepine, and Bill Campbell for several stimulating conversations about bishops, episcopal clerks, cathedral canons and registers. I would also like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding this research. I owe my gratitude to a great number of friends and colleagues who have offered means of escape, provided much light relief, and created a sense of community, all of which made this thesis possible. There are so many that it is difficult to name them all here. Also to my parents, Deborah and Neil, and my sister, Amy, for their support and prompting my perseverance. And my most heartfelt thanks go to Emma, saved