Mauger (Worcester)

After being destroyed by fire in 1202, Mauger began rebuilding Worcester Cathedral

Mauger († July 1, 1212 in Pontigny ) was an English prelate .

Mauger was born out of wedlock, but received a good education. He served Richard the Lionheart as a doctor and was appointed Archdeacon of Evreux and in 1195 treasurer of Normandy . After Richard's death, Mauger was elected Bishop of Worcester in August 1199 . Because of his illegitimate birth, Pope Innocent III declared. however, the election is invalid. Mauger then traveled to Rome and appealed to the Pope against his decision. The Pope was so impressed by Mauger that he withdrew the cancellation, granted Mauger a dispensation and personally ordained him bishop on June 4, 1200. On his return to England Mauger had the bones of Bishop Wulfstan in the Cathedral of Worcester umbetten. After the cathedral was badly damaged by fire on April 17th, 1202, Mauger convinced the Pope that many miracles had taken place at the tomb of Wulfstan, whereupon he was canonized in 1203. Mauger used the donations flowing through the beginning of the pilgrimage to Wulfstan's grave for the reconstruction of the cathedral. The English King John also visited Worcester several times and promoted the reconstruction.

However, when the king refused to accept the appointment of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1207 , the Pope instructed Mauger, together with the London Bishop William de Ste Mère-Église and Bishop Eustace von Ely, to threaten the king with the imposition of the interdict and him so to move to give in. However, Johann brusquely refused further talks, whereupon Mauger and the other bishops announced the interdict over England during Holy Week on March 23, 1208. He then fled into exile in France, first to the Augustinian monastery of St-Victor near Paris and finally to Stephen Langton in the Burgundian monastery of Pontigny . In 1208 and in September 1209 he returned to England for negotiations, including with the royal legal advisor Geoffrey Fitz Peter , but since these were unsuccessful, he went back into exile in France.

The king confiscated the possessions of the diocese, so that its income fell to him. Mauger joined the Cistercian Order before his death and died in exile in Burgundy. It was only after the interdict was repealed in 1214 that Walter de Gray succeeded him as Bishop of Worcester.

Web links

• MG Cheney: Mauger (d. 1212). 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
• The Baronial order of magna Charta: William Chester Jordan - King John and his Bishops

Individual evidence

1. ^ John T. Appleby: Johann "Ohneland". King of England . Riederer, Stuttgart 1965, p. 109
2. ^ Worcester Cathedral: King John. Retrieved March 9, 2015 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
John de Coutances	Bishop of Worcester 1199-1212	Walter de Gray