John Monmouth

John Monmouth (also John de Monmouth or John Ludlow ) († April 8, 1323 ) was bishop of the Welsh diocese of Llandaff from 1294 .

Origin and advancement as a clergyman

John Monmouth came from an English family from the Welsh Marches . As a student he was promoted by Robert Winchelsey in Oxford . Before 1276 he graduated as a Masters and before 1290 he was Regius at the University of Oxford . On June 6, 1290 he was elected Chancellor of Oxford University, which he held until December 1291. As a theologian, he obviously enjoyed a good reputation, so that he took part in disputations several times . In 1277 he was ordained a subdeacon and in 1285 a priest. From 1276 to 1284 or 1285 he was Rector of Wolferlow in Herefordshire and from 1284 to 1294 he was Rector of Severn in Worcestershire . From 1289 he was dean of the collegiate church of Westbury-on-Trym . This church tried to upgrade Bishop Godfrey Giffard of Worcester by transferring further patronage rights , which led to a bitter dispute with the Cathedral Priory of Worcester. In addition, Monmouth was a canon at Lincoln Cathedral from 1290 to 1294 . As a rule, however, he did not perceive these spiritual offices himself, but was represented by vicars .

Bishop of Llandaff

Appointment as bishop

After the death of Bishop William de Briouze on March 19, 1287, the diocese of Llandaff remained vacant until February 1297. The election of a successor in 1287 failed, as did the attempt by Pope Nicholas IV to appoint a new bishop in October 1290. When Archbishop Robert Winchelsey visited Rome in the summer of 1294, Pope Celestine V commissioned him to appoint a new bishop for Llandaff. Winchelsey named Monmouth as the new bishop, but after the resignation of Celestine V in December 1294, the new Pope Boniface VIII lifted all the appointments of his predecessor. The validity of Monmouth's appointment remained controversial. With his appointment as bishop, Monmouth had resigned from his other ecclesiastical offices except for the office of Dean of Westbury. There was also a serious conflict with the powerful Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Gloucester , over the administration of the diocese's temporalities . This had as Lord of Glamorgan claimed during the vacancy of the Diocese of managing the possessions, but that of King Edward I was denied. The king finally decided in 1290 that Gloucester and his wife had the right to administer the temporalia only during their lifetime and were not allowed to bequeath them. After the nomination of Monmouth in 1294, Gloucester resisted the royal invitation to surrender the estates until August 1295. Archbishop Winchelsey only reacted to the decision of the new Pope in July 1296 and asked whether the appointment of Monmouth by Celestine V remained valid. Only after the affirmative papal answer was received, Monmouth could be ordained bishop on February 10, 1297 in Canterbury .

Supporters of Archbishop Winchelsey and Bishop Godfrey Giffard

As bishop, Monmouth remained a supporter and close ally of Archbishop Winchelsey. In 1297 he refused to pay an excessive fee for handing over the temporalities to the king. Winchelsey supported this attitude, whereupon both fell out of favor with Edward I. Monmouth remained Winchelsey's confidante and served as the Archbishop's spiritual vicar general for the last few months before his death in 1313 . On May 22nd and 23rd, 1313, he directed the funeral of Winchelsey, who had left Monmouth in his will, among other things, 100 marks . As early as 1297 Monmouth had supported the old and sick Bishop Godfrey Giffard of Worcester in the administration of his diocese. He probably took on this role because he was still Dean of Westbury. As Giffard's health deteriorated further, Monmouth took over almost all of his duties from April 1301 until Giffard's death in January 1302.

Role in the conflict between King Edward II and the aristocratic opposition

On March 16, 1310 Monmouth was appointed one of the Lords Ordainer , who should work out a reform program for the reign of King Edward II . These reforms, the Ordinances , were published in 1311, but the conflict between the king and a noble opposition led to a revolt in 1312 in which the royal favorite Piers Gaveston was captured by the leaders of the noble opposition and after a short trial executed. In view of this act of violence, Monmouth no longer supported the nobility opposition under the Earl of Lancaster , which insisted on the further implementation of the ordinances, but rather stood on the side of the king. As a former Lord Ordainer, however, Monmouth was still respected by members of the aristocratic opposition, so that he played an important role in the attempts to reach a compromise between the king and Lancaster. When Lancaster took over a leading role in government from 1315, Monmouth belonged to a committee with other prelates and magnates from the beginning of 1316 to further improve the rule and the royal household. After Lancaster failed as a member of the government, Monmouth was part of the delegation of bishops and magnates that the king probably sent to Lancaster in August 1317 to seek a new balance. In April 1318 Monmouth took part in a meeting of several bishops with Lancaster in Leicester , at which reform proposals were worked out. This eventually led to the Treaty of Leake , through which the conflict between Lancaster and the king was settled in the meantime. In the next few years, Monmouth continued to support the king, for whom he guaranteed a loan from the Order of St. John in 1320 . In his diocese he suppressed criticism of the king, and he presumably hoped for the protection of the king from the ambitions of the royal favorite Hugh le Despenser , who began as Lord of Glamorgan to build up a contiguous estate in south Wales. When it came to the Despenser War , a rebellion of the Marcher Lords against Despenser in 1321 , Monmouth did not support the rebels. The Despenser War expanded into open rebellion against the king while the Monmouth prayed for the king. In the spring of 1322 the king was able to put down the rebellion now led by Lancaster, after his victory he had Lancaster executed.

Acting as Bishop of Llandaff

Few documents have survived from Monmouth's tenure, so there is little evidence of Monmouth's activity as a bishop in his diocese. In 1299 he began a long-running legal battle against William de Braose , Lord of the Southeast Welsh rule Gower ., Against whom there were numerous other complaints a little later. As bishop, Monmouth improved the pastoral care and administration of Llandaff Cathedral and made several visitations to the parishes of his diocese. He showed great sympathy for the Welsh population and learned the Welsh language as an adult . He was extremely popular with the Welsh population. The recognition that Monmouth enjoyed among the Welsh is evident when the Welsh nobleman Llywelyn Bren, at the beginning of his rebellion against the king in 1316, brought his books and other personal effects to Llandaff Cathedral, where they would be kept safe for Monmouth. This led to the fact that the British Government Monmouth suspected outlaws and criminals sanctuary to grant in the cathedral.

His extensive book collection, which included the works of Anselm of Canterbury and Thomas Aquinas , he bequeathed to Merton College , Oxford.

literature

• W. Greenway: The election of John of Monmouth, bishop of Llandaff, 1287-97 . In: Morgannwg , 5 (1962), pp. 3-22

Web links

• David Walker: Monmouth, John (d.1323). 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. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 210
2. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 538
3. ^ Diane M. Williams: Gower. A Guide to ancient and historic monuments on the Gower peninsula. Cadw, Cardiff 1998. ISBN 1-85760-073-8 , p. 13

predecessor	Office	successor
William de Briouze	Bishop of Llandaff 1294-1323	John Eaglescliff