Henry de Sully

This article is about the Bishop of Worcester. For other people, see Henri de Sully .

Henry de Sully (also Henry de Soilli ) († October 24 or 25, 1195 ) was an Anglo-Norman clergyman. From 1193 he was Bishop of Worcester .

Henry de Sully was named after the French town of Sully-sur-Loire, east of Orléans , but its exact origin is unknown. He is often confused with Heinrich von Sully of the same name , who like him was a Cluniac monk , but a son of Count Wilhelm von Blois and thus a nephew of the English king Stephan von Blois .

Henry de Sully probably became prior of Bermondsey Abbey , a Cluniac settlement near London, in 1186 . At the instigation of King Richard I , he became abbot of Glastonbury Abbey in 1189 . As abbot he came into conflict with Bishop Savaric of Bath . This was a relative of the Roman-German Emperor Heinrich VI. and took advantage of the captivity of King Richard I to make Glastonbury Abbey under his diocese. When Henry de Sully visited the imprisoned king in Germany in 1193, the latter revealed to him that the emperor was demanding that Glastonbury Abbey be given the independence in addition to the high ransom. As a replacement, King Henry de Sully offered to be elected bishop of the Diocese of Worcester . Henry de Sully was left with no choice. He was elected Bishop of Worcester on December 4, 1193 and resigned his office as abbot. On December 12, he was ordained bishop and on January 6, 1194, his enthronement in Worcester . In the then politically troubled time during the king's long absence, he did not travel to his diocese. instead he is mentioned in Westminster in February 1194 and in embattled Nottingham at the end of March 1194 . After the return of King Richard he took part on April 17, 1194 in his renewed coronation in Winchester . Although he died the following year, 33 documents have been preserved from Sully's brief tenure as bishop. In them he confirmed the previous rights and privileges of monasteries and churches in his diocese. In other documents he already took care of masses and prayers for his soul's salvation.

Web links

• Philippa Hoskin: Sully, Henry de (d. 1195). 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
Robert Fitzralph	Bishop of Worcester 1193–1195	John de Coutances