Henry Despenser

Henry Despenser, 14th century wood carving

Henry Despenser (also Henry le Despenser ; † August 23, 1406 in North Elmham ) was an English bishop of Norwich . He was a fighting bishop ( english fighting Bishop ) known.

origin

Henry Despenser was the fourth, presumably posthumous, son of Sir Edward Despenser and Anne, daughter of William Ferrers, 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby . His father was the second son of Hugh le Despenser , the favorite of King Edward II who was overthrown and executed in 1326. He died in September 1342 during the War of the Breton Succession at the siege of Vannes . His father's heir became Henry's eldest brother, Edward le Despenser .

Career as a clergyman

Henry was intended for the clergy as a child. Through the mediation of his older brother Edward, he was on August 2, 1354 at the age of about eleven years a candidate for a canon at Salisbury Cathedral . He studied law at Oxford University and graduated with a master's degree in February 1361 . As early as January 20, 1361, he was appointed pastor and in December he received his first church offices. On April 20, 1362, he became archdeacon of Llandaff , South Wales, where his family owned estates, and on December 17, 1362, he was ordained a subdeacon . In his ecclesiastical offices he was represented by deputies, because Despenser lived in Rome for the next few years. Probably together with his brother Edward, he took part in the wars of Pope Urban V against the Visconti of Milan.

When Bishop Thomas Percy of Norwich died on August 8, 1369 , it was known that the aging King Edward III. consistently undecided to nominate new bishops. The Despensers saw an opportunity to make Henry Bishop of Norwich. They had been related to the deceased bishop and now they used their connections to the papal curia . An election of Henry as bishop is not recorded, but on April 3, 1370 he was confirmed by Pope Urban V as Bishop of Norwich. At the same time he received a dispensation because of his age, which is given as 27 , and on April 20, 1370 he was ordained bishop in Rome. The approval of the English government was not yet available, because only after his return to England on June 4th Despenser received the approval of Archbishop Simon Sudbury , who introduced him to his office as bishop on July 12th. On August 14, Despenser was given the temporalities .

Despenser initially devoted himself primarily to his diocese, although he was mainly concerned with secular affairs. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham , who briefly served as prior of Wymondham Abbey in Despenser's diocese, described the young bishop as childish, illiterate, undisciplined and arrogant. As a bishop, Despenser was also a member of the English parliaments , but he was mostly cautious in the parliamentary assemblies. However, when John of Gaunt presented Bishop William von Wykeham to parliament as a political scapegoat in 1376 , Despenser was one of the first bishops to defend Wykeham at a church meeting in Canterbury and, in return, to criticize Gaunt's policies in parliament in February. Around June 1377 Despenser was wounded in an uprising in Bishop's Lynn in Norfolk , when he wanted to enforce his secular claim to rule over the city and moved into the city with an advance staff. The city and the bishops of Norwich had long been controversial about their rights, which Despenser's gesture and the incident fueled to the point that the Regency Council had to deal with the incident.

The Peasants' Revolt and the Norwich Crusade

In June 1381, the Peasants' Revolt had spread from southeast England to Norfolk, and insurgents occupied Norwich under the leadership of the dyer Geoffrey Lister . Upon learning of Wat Tyler's death , they tried to negotiate with the king and withdrew west. Despenser had in the meantime gathered troops and was moving with them towards Norwich. After beating rebels who wanted to attack Ramsey Abbey , he met a delegation of rebels who were on their way to the king at Newmarket . Despenser had the rebels executed and then moved with his army to North Walsham , where the main rebel forces camped. The rebels had holed up in a fortified camp, whereupon Despenser himself led the attack. The insurgents fled to a church, but Despenser knew that it was not yet consecrated, had the rebels driven out and then many of them executed. He also had their leader Geoffrey Lister executed after he had allegedly made his confession beforehand. Through this energetic procedure he won the admiration of the nobility, as in numerous other counties the authorities were weak against the rebellion. On the other hand, a failed revolt in Norfolk in 1382 had targeted his death.

Despenser wanted to lead a military expedition to Flanders in order to exert military pressure on France during the Hundred Years War . Since Despenser probably had the support of Pope Urban VI for his approach . he was able to declare his campaign as a crusade against the schismatics who supported the opposing Pope Clement VII . In October 1382, the Commons in Parliament were enthusiastic about this project, probably also because the English Church had to bear a large part of the costs of a crusade. On the other hand, they refused to support the campaign of John of Gaunt against Castile , the French ally in Spain, advocated by the Lords . The so-called Norwich Crusade , thus started for ecclesiastical, economic and political motives, was a complete failure. Despenser crossed over to Calais on May 17, 1383 with an army of 8,000 men . On May 25th he was able to defeat a Flemish-French army at Dunkirk , whereupon some of the neighboring cities surrendered. From June 9th he besieged Ypres . The siege failed and had to be called off on August 8th. Against the resistance of his deputies, especially the experienced Sir Hugh Calveley , Despenser then tried to invade northeast France. When an army led by the French King Charles V approached, Despenser was cut off from the way back to Calais, and he had to sign a humiliating truce in Gravelines in mid-September .

On his return to England, bitter accusations were made against Despenser. The campaign had achieved nothing militarily, trade with Flanders was still denied to English merchants, and the reputation of the church and the bishop was due to the improper use of indulgences and the attack on the real Pope Urban VI. nearby Flanders badly damaged. On October 28, 1383, Despenser was charged by parliament for bad conduct. His temporalities were withdrawn, but he was allowed to keep his freedom and his episcopate. Presumably the government was relieved that his unwanted interference had ended in disaster, and the Commons were too disappointed to defend him. John Wyclif and his followers took Despenser's failure in their writings as a warning from God. Still, some of Despenser's deputies blamed his disloyalty and did not complain about his performance. In July 1385 Despenser was allowed to accompany the campaign of King Richard II. To Scotland, which was perhaps intended as a warning to the Scottish Bishop Thomas de Rossy of Galloway, who spoke to every English bishop, with the exception of the gun-loving Despenser, about the dispute over the schism Had challenged duel. On October 24, 1385 he received his temporalities back from Bishop Thomas Arundel .

The ruins of the North Elmham mansion, a residence of Henry Despenser

Administration of the diocese and support from Richard II.

During the political crisis that hit England between 1386 and 1388, Despenser did not play a special role, but dealt only with the administration of his diocese. In the next ten years he remained largely passive and remained until 1388, where he preferred Hoxne in Suffolk as his residence , until 1395 in the Bishops' Palace of Norwich, which he rarely left to attend parliaments and meetings of bishops. Only in a few years did he visit his diocese in autumn . In 1395 he moved his main residence to South Elmham in Suffolk, which he left again frequently for travel. From May 1397 to February 1398 Despenser stayed at his London home permanently. Presumably King Richard II, who had just taken action against his opponents, the Lords Appellant , wanted the presence of his devoted bishop, and the dispute between Despenser and the monks of his cathedral priory over the authority of the bishop had escalated. Richard II had entrusted the clarification of the case to Thomas Arundel, who had meanwhile become Archbishop of Canterbury, who in March 1398 ruled in favor of Despenser on almost all points.

In May and June 1399 Despenser traveled more often than ever through his diocese, although he was more likely to seek support for King Richard II than for spiritual matters. When the king's rule collapsed in July 1399, Despenser, whose family was highly favored by the king, was one of the few who openly opposed Henry Bolingbroke's takeover . When he continued to oppose the new king publicly, he was arrested and imprisoned at Berkeley Castle until he was allowed to attend parliament in October 1399. He then returned to his diocese in November. Through his nephew Thomas le Despenser he was involved in the failed Three Kings conspiracy against the new King Henry IV in January 1400 . Presumably, the only way he escaped prosecution was the appointment of John Derlington, Archdeacon of Norwich, as his vicar general on February 5, and the protection of Archbishop Arundel. Until he was pardoned by Parliament in February 1401, he stayed in Canterbury, leaving Derlington to administer his diocese. Presumably Despenser's presence drew the attention of the archbishop to the priest William Sawtrey, who was suspected of being Lollards . Despenser had illegally threatened Sawtrey, who came from his diocese, with cremation as early as 1399, so that he would revoke the teachings of Wyclif, and Arundel has now brought the case to a church meeting. Despenser issued a written statement on February 23 about Sawtrey, who was convicted of a heretic and rebel and, in March 1401, was publicly burned as the first follower of Wyclif.

Despenser reredos

Last years and death

At the end of March 1401 Despenser returned to his diocese. There he got into another quarrel with the monks of the cathedral priory, who had turned to the Pope to secure their rights. The judge appointed by the Pope now found that Archbishop Arundel had decided too much in favor of the bishop, and decided the dispute now in favor of the cathedral priory. Arundel then took sides again for Despenser and intimidated the monks so that they finally accepted his verdict of 1398 and ultimately reached a settlement with Despenser.

1403 and 1404 there was another dispute with the city of Bishop's Lynn, which was finally submitted to the king for decision. Despenser himself did little and stayed almost permanently in his palace in North Elmham before moving back to the Bishops' Palace in Norwich in March 1405. In August 1406 he made another trip to Bishop's Lynn before returning to North Elmham, where he died. His last trip had probably so stressed him that he died without making a will. He was buried in Norwich Cathedral. In the cathedral, the so-called Despenser reredos commemorates him, a magnificent altarpiece that Despenser probably commissioned.

literature

• Richard Allington-Smith: Henry Despenser. The fighting bishop . Larks, Dereham 2003. ISBN 1-904006-16-7

Web links

• RG Davies: Despenser, Henry (d.1406). 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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andrew Prescott: Lister, Geoffrey (d. 1381). 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
2. ^ Norwich Cathedral: Henry Despenser, the fighting Bishop. Retrieved August 26, 2015 . 
3. ^ The Oxford Companion to British History: Norwich Crusade . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009
4. ↑ Norwich Cathedral: Art Treasures and Despenser Retable. Retrieved August 31, 2015 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Thomas Percy	Bishop of Norwich 1370-1406	Alexander Tottington