James Berkeley

The grave of James Berkeley in Exeter Cathedral

James Berkeley (also de Berkeley ) (* around 1275; † June 24, 1327 in Yarcombe ) was an English clergyman. From 1326 he was Bishop of Exeter .

Origin and studies

James Berkeley came from the noble Berkeley family from Gloucestershire . He was the fourth son of Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley and his wife Joan Ferrers . As a younger son he became a clergyman. According to information from the 17th century, he is said to have been educated by the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Kingswood near Berkeley before he studied at Oxford University . Before 1302 he completed his studies with a master's degree . Before 1318 he also achieved the degree of doctor of theology .

Advancement as a clergyman

Before 1302 Berkeley received a canon at Exeter Cathedral from Bishop Thomas Bitton , who was also from Gloucestershire . In 1305 he had traveled to the Roman Curia on behalf of the heir to the throne Edward, Prince of Wales . He later received benefices to the cathedrals of Hereford , Lincoln , St David's and Wells , as well as the parishes of Slimbridge and Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire. However, while he apparently never moved into an apartment in Lincoln , he lived frequently in Hereford from 1313 onwards . In addition, Berkeley kept Eduard's favor after he became king in 1307. At the request of the king, Pope John XXII appointed 1318 Berkeley as Archdeacon of Huntingdon . In 1320 he became canon at the royal chapel of Hastings Castle .

Election to bishop and death

Although Berkeley had rarely visited Exeter , he was elected the new bishop of the Diocese of Exeter on December 5, 1326 by the cathedral chapter . This was possibly because he was one of the oldest canons of the cathedral chapter and was considered a learned clergyman. Presumably, however, he was chosen mainly because of the political situation after the fall of Edward II. His predecessor, Walter Stapeldon, was the former minister of the king who had been assassinated when the king was overthrown, and Berkeley's nephew Thomas de Berkeley was a son-in-law and close ally of the new ruler Roger Mortimer , who had helped Queen Isabelle to overthrow her husband. Already on December 12th the approval of the new King Edward III took place. for the election of Berkeley, and on January 8, 1327, the temporalities of the diocese were given to him . On March 22, Berkeley was by Archbishop Reynolds in Canterbury consecrated bishop, and on April 27, the Pope approved the election. But no sooner had Berkeley arrived in his diocese after his ordination than he died on the episcopal estate of Peterhayes in Yarcombe, Devon . He was buried in Exeter Cathedral on June 27th.

Aftermath

Due to Berkeley's short tenure, no register of documents has been preserved from him . But probably due to his sudden death in a politically troubled time, pilgrims quickly came to his grave. By September 30, 1327, the cathedral chapter was able to earn over £ 3 from the sale of candles. That totaled £ 6 by the end of the year and over £ 20 the following year. This included a donation from Thomas of Berkeley, who visited his uncle's grave in his annual office . The cathedral chapter used the money to build the main nave of the cathedral, and it was not until 1342 that some of the money was used for a ministry in memory of Berkeley. The worship of Berkeley remained a regional phenomenon, and neither cathedral chapters nor his successors as bishops requested official canonization . Berkeley's successor as bishop, John Grandison , was even more critical of his predecessor's veneration. In 1341 he uncovered a miracle that allegedly occurred at the Berkeley grave as a deception. On that occasion he openly criticized the veneration of people who had not been officially canonized. Nevertheless, popular worship of Berkeley provided additional income for the construction and maintenance of the cathedral until the 1360s. By the end of the fourteenth century, Berkeley worship became completely insignificant. Still, the memory of Berkeley remained, Edmund Lacy , the next bishop to be popularly venerated, was buried in a tomb almost identical to Berkeley's on the opposite side of the choir .

literature

• Nicholas Orme: Two saint-bishops of Exeter . In: Analecta Bollandiana , 104 (1986), pp. 403-418

Web links

• Nicholas Orme: Berkeley, James (c. 1275-1327). 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
• James de Berkeley on thepeerage.com , accessed December 8, 2018.

predecessor	Office	successor
Walter Stapeldon	Bishop of Exeter 1326-1327	John Grandison