John Gervase

John Gervase also Gervais or John of Exeter (died January 19 or 20, 1268 ) was an English clergyman. From 1262 he was Bishop of Winchester .

Ascent to bishop

John Gervase was probably from Exeter . In 1234 he is mentioned as a royal messenger sent to Ireland. Apparently he was also in the service of King Henry III in the following years . In 1246 and 1248 he is referred to as a doctor. In 1247 Ware Abbey named him a priest of Byfield . Between 1248 and 1251 he became Chancellor of York Minster . In addition, he received other benefices , including the office of Rector of Wawne and the office of Pastor of Mixbury in Oxfordshire . These offices but he held only sinecures , because in 1250 he taught at the University of Paris . In 1255 he was commissioned by Pope Alexander IV to resolve a church dispute in Oxford . Appointed papal chaplain , he traveled to Rome in March 1256 to represent the position of the cathedral chapter of York in the dispute over the election of Sewal de Bovill as the new archbishop, which was rejected by the king .

Bishop of Winchester

Appointment as bishop

In 1257, Sewal, who had been confirmed as archbishop, proposed him in vain as the new bishop of Carlisle . In 1262 Gervase was again in Rome, where he testified as a witness for the canonization of Richard of Chichester , whom he apparently had known personally. Pope Urban IV appointed Gervase on June 22, 1262 as the new bishop of the diocese of Winchester , which had been vacant since 1260 and which had fallen under papal administration after the monks of the cathedral priory did not elect a new bishop. On September 10, 1262, Gervase was consecrated bishop by the Pope. For a high fee of £ 2000, King Henry III gave him the property. on October 18, the diocesan temporalities , and at Christmas 1262 Gervase was enthroned as the new bishop in Winchester . At this time Gervase was in debt to Italian merchants with at least 12,000 marks . This led to allegations that he had bribed both the Pope and the Papal Vice Chancellor to be appointed bishop.

Act as a bishop

Gervase's tenure as bishop was marked by a long argument with the Winchester Cathedral Priory over the choice of a prior and the political crisis of the Second Barons' War in England. To this end, he issued new diocesan statutes and made a visit to his cathedral priory. This was probably one of the first such visitations by a bishop. Politically, Gervase hesitantly supported the aristocratic opposition under Simon de Montfort against King Henry III. When it came to open fighting between the king and the aristocratic opposition in 1264, Gervase refused the king military support before the Battle of Lewes . In this battle the king came under the control of Montfort, who now took over the government of England. At the end of 1264 Gervase was in France, where he stayed with the French King Louis IX. unsuccessfully used in favor of the government of the rebel barons. His attempt by the papal legate Gui Foucois the absolution to obtain for his support of rebels failed because he refused the pronounced by the legate excommunication to announce the rebellious barons. In August 1265, the king's supporters were able to decisively defeat the rebellious barons at the Battle of Evesham and regain power in England. From then on, Gervase was reprimanded by Foucois, who had become the new Pope as Clement IV , and was relieved of his office in 1266. The administration of the Diocese of Winchester was transferred to the papal legate Ottobono , while Gervase again traveled to Italy to seek forgiveness from the Pope. In addition, the king sentenced him to pay a fine of 1,000 marks, which further increased Gervase's debts. Gervase died at the Papal Court in Viterbo , where he was also buried. On his deathbed he allowed the monks of his cathedral priory to freely choose their prior. The heavy debts he left behind put a heavy burden on his successors.

Web links

• CL Kingsford, Nicholas Vincent: Gervase, John (d. 1268). 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
Aymer de Lusignan	Bishop of Winchester 1262–1268	Nicholas of Ely