Jocelin de Bohun

The presumed tomb of Jocelin de Bohun in Salisbury Cathedral

Jocelin de Bohun (* between 1105 and 1110; † November 18, 1184 in Forde Abbey ) was an Anglo-Norman clergyman. From 1141 or 1142 he was Bishop of Salisbury . In addition to the 42-year tenure of Hugh de Puiset of Durham, his tenure was the longest tenure of an English bishop in the 12th century.

Origin and education

Jocelin de Bohun came from a branch of the Anglo-Norman noble family Bohun from Sussex . His brother Richard became Bishop of Coutances in Normandy. Engelger de Bohun († 1175) belonged to his uncles , and he was a distant cousin of Savaric FitzGeldewin , who later became Bishop of Bath. His other relatives included William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester . Little is known about Jocelin's youth and education. Since the later Pope Alexander III. referring to him as an old friend, he probably studied in northern Italy. Presumably there he became the father of an illegitimate son, Reginald fitz Jocelin , who was called Italus or Lombardus . Reginald later also became a clergyman and rose to be elected Archbishop of Canterbury.

Bishop of Salisbury

Election to bishop

In England, Jocelin was part of the household of Henry von Blois , Bishop of Winchester. This appointed him before 1139 Archdeacon of Winchester . When, after the death of Bishop Roger at the end of 1139, a new bishop was sought for the Diocese of Salisbury , an unexpected dispute broke out between Henry of Blois, who was also a papal legate , and his brother, King Stephen of Blois . The brothers' two candidates for the office of bishop were rejected by the other side. When King Stephen was captured in February 1141 during the controversy for the succession to the throne, known as the anarchy , Heinrich von Blois proposed Jocelin as a new candidate. Although Azo in particular , the dean of the cathedral chapter, rejected Jocelin as bishop, Jocelin was elected as the new bishop and consecrated in 1142 by Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury .

Opponent of King Heinrich II.

Jocelin participated on December 19, 1154 at the coronation of Henry II in Westminster and on June 3, 1162 in the ordination of Thomas Becket as the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Reluctantly, he surrendered Devizes Castle to the king in 1157 , and after he supported Archbishop Becket's view that clergymen were beyond royal jurisdiction even for secular offenses, he had completely lost the king's favor. At the council meeting of Clarendon in January 1164, the hostile attitude of the king towards the bishops Jocelin and William Turbe of Norwich caused Becket reluctantly to give in to the king's demands. When Becket and the other bishops finally vowed to recognize the Constitutions of Clarendon , Jocelin hesitated and turned to the archbishop. He advised him to take the oath like the other bishops. Jocelin took this advice.

From opponent to supporter of the king

Although Becket had initially given in to the demands, it came a little later to a break between him and the king. When Becket was convicted of a traitor at the Northampton council meeting in October 1164 , Jocelin tried to comfort him. Later, however, he advised him, like other bishops, to resign from his office as archbishop. Due to the further circumstances he even became an opponent of Becket.

In May 1165, the official John of Oxford was one of the ambassadors of the English king who negotiated with the German princes on the court conference of the Roman-German Empire in Würzburg, who the antipope Paschal III. supported. As a reward, the king wanted to make him dean of the cathedral chapter of Salisbury. In view of his previous bad relationship with the king, Jocelin fulfilled this wish, although in Pope Alexander III. this prohibited. Thereupon Becket suspended him as bishop in 1166. Jocelin protested against this church punishment to Pope Alexander III. As a justification, he gave that John of Oxford had been unanimously elected dean by the cathedral chapter under canon law . Although John of Salisbury and other theologians stood up for Jocelin, Becket insisted that the election of John of Oxford be canceled before Jocelin's suspension was lifted. Jocelin then turned to Bishop Gilbert Foliot of London, who was one of Becket's most bitter opponents. As a result, he supported Foliot in the dispute against Becket and switched to the king's side.

Opponent of Beckets

Together with other English bishops, Jocelin protested in November 1167 in Argentan in front of the papal legates against Becker's position in the conflict with the king. In 1168 the Pope lifted Jocelin's suspension under certain conditions. However, when Bishop Foliot stood against Becket again, he and Jocelin were excommunicated by Becket on Palm Sunday, April 13, 1169 . In early 1170 he and Foliot received papal absolution , but after he supported Archbishop Roger of York in the coronation of young Henry as co-king on June 14, 1170 , Becket renewed the excommunication and suspension. Before he himself translated from Normandy to England, Becket sent the papal bull with the church punishments to Dover . There Jocelin had waited for Becket with Foliot and other clergymen. They now traveled to the king in Normandy, where they angrily reported to him about the recent conflict with Becket. The subsequent outburst of anger of the king saw four knights as an invitation to kill Becket, which they put into practice on December 29 in Canterbury.

After the assassination of the archbishop, the Pope did not want to extend the excommunication of Bohun and Jocelin any further and granted them absolution again under conditions in April 1171. However, their suspension was not lifted until March 1172.

Activity as bishop

Although Jocelin had played a leading role in the conflict with Thomas Becket, he was probably more of a clergyman than a politician. The more than one hundred documents he received show him as a conscientious bishop who took care of the occupation of his parishes and settled conflicts over patronage rights and the church tithe. He made his son Reginald archdeacon of Wiltshire and his relative Savaric FitzGeldewin treasurer of the cathedral, but compared to other bishops of his day he did little to favor his family. During his long term in office he had mostly good relations with the monasteries in his diocese. Only in the 1140s there were conflicts with Cerne and Sherborne Abbey , and there was also a major argument with Malmesbury Abbey , whose abbots were trying to free themselves from the suzerainty of the Bishop of Salisbury. At Reading Abbey he promoted the worship of the relic of St. James . In Salisbury he further established the cathedral chapter and its offices, which he provided with income. Before the conflict with Thomas Becket he was occasionally appointed by the Pope as a judge in church disputes. In 1157 he was able to reach an agreement between York Minster and Gloucester Abbey over the possession of a number of estates in Gloucestershire . Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury also asked him several times for his advice. In May 1175 he took part in the Provincial Synod of Westminster under Archbishop Richard of Dover and in July 1175 in a royal council in Woodstock . In 1184, as an old man, he resigned his position as bishop and entered the Cistercian Abbey of Forde as a monk , where he died a few months later. He was buried in Old Sarum , from where his body was transferred to the new Salisbury Cathedral on June 14, 1226 .

Web links

• BR Kemp: Bohun, Jocelin de (1105x1110? -1184). 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
Roger of Salisbury	Bishop of Salisbury 1141 / 2–1184	Hubert Walter