John Droxford

Depiction of Droxford on his funerary memorial in Wells Cathedral

John Droxford (also Drokensford ) († May 9, 1329 in Dogmersfield ) was an English minister and clergyman. From 1309 he was Bishop of Bath and Wells . Despite his position as a bishop and a long-time senior member of the government, relatively little is known about his life.

origin

John Droxford was believed to have come from Droxford , Hampshire , where he was baptized. Later he had a grave monument erected for his mother in the local church. He had at least three brothers: Philip, Michael and Richard. The family owned land in Hendon and Finchley in Middlesex .

Courtier and minister under Edward I.

Droxford hadn't graduated from college. He will be the first time in 1286 Gascony in the wake of King I. Edward mentioned. He served in the royal wardrobe , which was not only responsible for the royal apartments, but under Edward I was increasingly used for financial management, but also for numerous other services such as diplomatic missions. In May 1290 he was appointed cofferer for the finances of the wardrobe, in November 1290 he was controller of finances and in November 1295 administrator of the wardrobe. He took over each of these offices from Walter Langton . Droxford also served as Langton's deputy after he became treasurer in 1295 . Although Droxford received no salary as administrator of the wardrobe, but only robes worth 16 marks annually , Edward I rewarded his services by providing him with abundant religious benefices . At the instigation of the king, Droxford received a papal dispensation in September 1298 , so that he was allowed to receive the income from four parishes and eight canons at the same time . To this end, he was appointed papal chaplain , although he was only ordained a deacon until 1308 . From 1291 to 1292 he was involved in the Great Cause , the decision about the Scottish succession to the throne . In the spring of 1297 he took the initiative together with Hugh le Despenser the Elder and other councilors to increase the taxes on the price of wool in order to increase the king's income. However, the king did not have the measure implemented. As administrator of the wardrobe, he had a significant share in the financing of the Scottish War of Independence , for which he had to take out considerable loans. He was responsible for supplies and reinforcements, provided a contingent of soldiers for the war and was often on the road for the king. Probably mainly due to the increasing demands of the king and in view of the workload, Droxford could not make any significant improvements in the organization of the work of the wardrobe, so that the finances of the king got increasingly into disorder.

Under Edward II.

Dismissal, reinstatement, and election to bishop

After the death of Edward I, Droxford, like his mentor Walter Langton, was dismissed by Edward II in July 1307 . However, the new king had stood up as Prince of Wales in April 1306 with the Pope on behalf of Droxford. Indeed, in March 1308, Droxford received two additional papal dispensations that allowed him to accumulate offices. This included approval that he owned a benefit which alone gave him an annual income of £ 200. In May 1308 Droxford was made Chancellor of the Exchequer , but from July 1308 he resumed his old office as administrator of the wardrobe for almost a year. On February 5, 1309 he was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Bath and Wells . Archbishop Winchelsey , angry about the king's interference in the episcopal elections in several dioceses, wanted to ordain him bishop in Canterbury in August 1309 so that as few bishops as possible could attend the parliamentary assembly taking place at the same time in Stamford . However, Droxford was aware that he owed his episcopate to his service to the crown and attended Parliament in Stamford. The king himself turned to Pope Clement V to apologize for this failure. Finally, Droxford was ordained bishop on November 9, 1309.

Minister under Edward II.

Despite his office as bishop Droxford remained administrator of the wardrobe and was one of the leading ministers of the English government. In December 1309, the royal favorite Piers Gaveston and two earls lobbied the Treasury on behalf of Droxford. He was then allowed to pay off his considerable debts to the royal treasury in relatively small annual installments of 100 marks. This concession shows the chaotic conditions to which the dual financial administration by the treasury and the wardrobe had led. It was not until 1319 that this concession was revealed and revoked during a review of the royal finances. In 1310 Droxford was one of only five bishops who could be excused for paying a fee from military service in the war against Scotland. He was probably in the king's conflict with a nobility opposition over the so-called ordinances on the king's side. In the summer of 1313 he witnessed numerous documents and documents and was one of the four men who should open parliament on July 1, 1313 in the absence of the king. Droxford remained in the king's favor and took part on January 2, 1315 at the final funeral of Gaveston, who was arbitrarily executed by the aristocratic opposition. For the parliaments of Lincoln in 1316, York in October 1318 and Westminster in October 1320, he received petitions from Gascony.

However, when the king learned that he had sympathized with the rebellious barons during the Despenser War from 1321, he lost the king's favor. On January 2, 1323, the King asked Pope John XXII. To remove Droxford as bishop. On October 10, 1323 the king demanded that Droxford should be replaced as bishop by William, the abbot of Langdon Abbey in Kent . However, the Pope refused to suspend Droxford without a hearing . He affirmed this when the royal favorite Hugh le Despenser the Younger renewed the king's demands. In July 1323 Droxford was warned by the government for his keeping of the wardrobe, as insufficient records had been made for the whereabouts of 45,000 marks. It was, however, between 1295 and 1298, and probably the wardrobe's bookkeeping at that time did not correspond to the stricter practice of the Treasury of the 1320s. In fact, most Droxford receipts and bills were never archived on rolls .

Droxford as a clergyman

Before Droxford became bishop, in March 1308 he held sixteen benefices and the administration of five parishes. The income from these positions must have made him extremely wealthy. Unlike other ministers, he did not acquire extensive land holdings, but in 1306 his retinue included six knights and 22 squires. The register of documents from his tenure as bishop has been preserved. It shows that as a bishop, Droxford rarely lived in the area of ​​his diocese. He also had a pronounced nepotism . His nephew Richard Droxford he gave example briefly the office of Precentor of Wells Cathedral . From 1319 to 1321 he led a protracted argument with Dean Godley and the Cathedral Chapter of Wells, in which Droxford finally had to give in. Droxford died in Dogmersfield, Hampshire. He was buried in St Katherine's Chapel in Wells Cathedral. Due to unresolved allegations about his wardrobe accounts, the Crown confiscated his property after his death, but his brother Philip eventually inherited extensive estates in Hampshire, Somerset and Surrey that Droxford had acquired while serving as a civil servant and bishop.

literature

• NG Brett-James: John de Drokensford, bishop of Bath and Wells . In: Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, New Ser ., 10 (1951), pp. 281-301

Web links

• MC Buck: Droxford [Drokensford], John (d. 1329). 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. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 140
2. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 141
3. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 535
4. ↑ Jeffrey Denton: Robert Winchelsey and the Crown 1294-1313. A study in the defense of ecclesiastical liberty . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002. ISBN 0-521-89397-6 , p. 259
5. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 141
6. ^ Kathleen Edwards, The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops during the Reign of Edward II . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Vol. 9 (1959), p. 62

predecessor	Office	successor
Walter Haselshaw	Bishop of Bath and Wells 1309-1329	Ralph of Shrewsbury