Eustace de Fauconberg

Eustace de Fauconberg (also Eustace of Fauconberg ) (* around 1170; † October 31, 1228 ) was an English prelate . He served as a royal official and judge and rose to the position of Treasurer of the Exchequer , to which he became Bishop of London .

origin

Eustace de Fauconberg came from an Anglo-Norman family who named themselves after the village of Fauquembergues in Flanders . He was a younger son of Peter de Fauconberg , Lord of Rise in Holderness and probably his wife Beatrice. Since Eustace was referred to as a master , he must have attended university. Since he was also called Don , a term used for scholars at the University of Bologna , he may have studied there.

Promotion as an official in the service of the king

Fauconberg is first mentioned before 1192 in the retinue of Bishop Godfrey de Lucy of Winchester. As his successor he became royal judge in 1199. He served as a judge in Westminster as well as in local courts in numerous counties , often making tax assessments. During the Franco-English War he traveled to France and Flanders as an envoy for negotiations in 1204. As a reward, the king awarded him a benefice at the collegiate church of St Martin's-le-Grand in London and several rectorates in other churches. However, when King Johann Ohneland was excommunicated by the Pope , Fauconberg resigned from the king's service in October 1209. After Johann Ohneland submitted to the Pope and the excommunication was lifted, Fauconberg reappeared. He now served as assistant to the new royal justiciar Peter des Roches , to whom the king had entrusted the government of England during his absence on a campaign in France. When des Roches was not in Westminster between June and October 1214, but was traveling in England, Fauconberg testified to the letters and documents of the Justiciars with whom he gave instructions and ruled the empire. After the king returned after his failed campaign in October 1214, Fauconberg is no longer mentioned. It is not known whether he was in England during the ensuing conflict between the king and the aristocratic opposition that led to the recognition of the Magna Carta and then to the First War of the Barons .

Service as Treasurer and election to Bishop of London

The Peace of Lambeth ended the Barons' War in September 1217, and by November 4, 1217, Fauconberg had assumed the important office of Treasurer of the Exchequer , which he held until his death. Through diligent and conscientious work, he was able to restore order to the royal financial administration, which had been thrown into chaos by the civil war. As a reward he received the office of Bishop of London from the government, into which he was elected against considerable opposition on February 25 or 26, 1221 by the Cathedral Chapter of St Paul’s . On March 23, 1221, the royal election was confirmed, and after the papal legate Pandulf had also confirmed the election, Fauconberg was ordained bishop on April 25 in Westminster by Bishop Benedict of Sawston of Rochester. Both the choice of this officer and the place of consecration led to renewed dispute.

In the next few years Fauconberg was one of the leading members of the royal government. He attended numerous royal council meetings and assumed the office of administrator of Colchester Castle , which he held until 1227. In view of the continued tensions with France, which led to the renewed war from 1224 onwards, he traveled to France in 1223 and 1225 for negotiations, where he achieved little with the French King Louis VIII . After the failure of the rebellion of Falkes de Bréauté in 1224, he took it into his care until Falkes went into exile in October. In February 1225 Fauconberg testified to the renewed recognition of the Magna Carta and the Forest Charter by the young King Henry III. After he was declared of legal age in 1227, Fauconberg testified to numerous royal documents, mostly in Westminster.

Acting as Bishop of London

Despite his numerous government tasks, Fauconberg also conscientiously fulfilled his office as bishop. He employed not one but two senior officials, Master Reginald of Radnor and Master Robert d'Arches, to carry out the official business . According to the documents still preserved, he appointed priests and ministers, negotiated with papal envoys, confirmed endowments and donations, and granted indulgences to pilgrims traveling to Canterbury . Despite his secular and ecclesiastical power, Fauconberg enriched himself and the church only moderately. Through decisions by the royal courts, some lands that had belonged to the church but had been alienated during the civil war returned to church ownership. He tried to limit the exceptions and rights of Westminster Abbey before ecclesiastical courts so that it remained under the diocese of London , but had to agree to a compromise. As Bishop of London, he was also Dean of Canterbury Province . In this function he took over the office of Metropolitan after the death of Archbishop Langton on July 9, 1228, but died himself a few months later. Three days before his death, he was still serving as Treasurer in Westminster. He had had a harmonious relationship with his cathedral chapter, and he appointed three of its canons to be his executors. He was buried in a magnificent marble tomb in St Paul's Cathedral. Presumably he bequeathed a gold cross, silver measuring utensils and other jewelry to the cathedral treasury.

Web links

• Fred A. Cazel, Jr: Fauconberg, Eustace de (c.1170-1228). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
William of Ely	Treasurer of the Exchequer 1217-1228	Walter Mauclerk
William de Ste Mère-Église	Bishop of London 1221–1228	Roger Niger