Lewis Charlton

Lewis Charlton , also Lewis Cherleton (* before 1336; † May 23, 1369 ) was a bishop of the English diocese of Hereford .

origin

Lewis Charlton was a younger son of John Charlton, 1st Baron Charlton and his wife Hawise de la Pole . His father had risen from the lower country noble to Marcher Lord , and his uncle Thomas Charlton had already been Bishop of Hereford from 1327 to 1344 and had held high offices. Lewis had several brothers, John , who inherited their father, and Humphrey, William, and Griffin, who became clergy and scholars.

Youth and Studies

Lewis grew up in Wrockwardine , Shropshire , before moving to Hereford in 1336 , where he had received a canon at the cathedral. His uncle Thomas Charlton, who was Bishop of Hereford at the time, consecrated him on September 21, 1341 as a subdeacon . His successor John Trillek confirmed him as a priest on January 2, 1348, at which time Charlton was perhaps still studying in Oxford. In the same year he completed his studies as a Master of Arts , but then remained as a teacher in Oxford at the university until he was elected bishop in 1361. In Oxford he lived with his brothers, who also taught in Oxford, in a house on High Street that was later called Charlton's Inn . Lewis was considered a respected theologian, and he taught mathematics to the later Lord Chancellor William of Wykeham in the 1350s .

Charlton's White Cross in Hereford is a reminder of the plague epidemics

Bishop of Hereford

While he was still in Oxford, Charlton held seven benefices , several of which were in the Hereford diocese, and he was rector in Welshpool , where his family held the church patronage . When Bishop Trillek of Hereford died in 1360, the cathedral chapter was undecided whether to choose Charlton or John Barnet , Archdeacon of London, to succeed him. Charlton traveled to Avignon and addressed himself personally to Pope Innocent VI. who appointed him bishop on September 10, 1361 and consecrated him on October 2. The duties of the highly educated Charlton as bishop were not easy. The area of ​​the diocese had barely recovered from the Black Death of 1348 and 1349 when it was hit again by the epidemic in 1361. Charlton proved to be a keen steward in dealing with the aftermath. He moved the market from the narrow inner city of Hereford to the western outskirts, where the White Cross was later built to commemorate the plague epidemics. He amalgamated depopulated parishes, and during visitations he ordained new priests to quickly replace those who had died of the plague. He expected his pastors to live in their official residence. He himself set a good example and rarely left his diocese, especially to attend parliamentary sessions.

In the spring of 1369, Charlton fell ill. After his death in May, he was buried in Hereford Cathedral, where parts of his funerary monument are still preserved. He bequeathed several of his books to the cathedral library, which he had chained to the bookcases to protect against theft.

Web links

• WJ Dohar: Charlton, Lewis ( d.1369 ). 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
John Trilleck	Bishop of Hereford 1361-1369	William Courtenay