Peter des Roches

Coat of arms of Peter des Roches

Peter des Roches (also Peter de Rupibus ) († June 9, 1238 in Farnham Castle ) was an English politician and bishop of the English diocese of Winchester . Originally from France, he was one of the most important politicians for three decades during the rule of King John Ohneland and King Henry III.

origin

Peter des Roches came from the county of Tours in north-western France, which was owned by the French kings until 1204. The des Roches family belonged to the knighthood , the center of the family's possessions was at Château-du-Loir . Another well-known member of the family was Guillaume des Roches , who had served as Seneschal of Anjou under the English kings and who eventually switched to the side of King Philip II of France.

In the service of the Angevin kings

Service in France

Peter des Roches is mentioned for the first time in April 1197 when he testified to a document from King Richard the Lionheart in Tours . Over the next few years he was appointed Prior of Loches , Dean of the Church of Saint-Martin in Angers and Treasurer of the Collegiate Monastery of Saint-Hilaire-de-Poitiers . Des Roches did not take on the tasks of these benefices himself, but was represented. According to the chronicler Roger von Wendover , however, des Roches' strength lay less in preaching and more in the siege of castles. His contemporaries also admired Des Roches' military skill rather than his activity as a clergyman. After France had conquered Normandy in the Franco-English War in 1203 , des Roches fled to England.

Rise to Bishop of Winchester

Under King Johann Ohneland , des Roches rose to become a leading official in finance, the royal financial administration. To compensate for his lost French benefices, the king rewarded him with a variety of benefices and ecclesiastical offices in England. He was among other Precentor of Lincoln Cathedral and Vicar of Bamburgh . In April 1204 he was granted the right to distribute benefices and pensions in the vacant Diocese of Chichester . After the death of Bishop Godfrey de Lucy in September 1204, the King of Roches proposed the rich diocese of Winchester as the new bishop . Although the Archdeacons of Winchester and Surrey nominated the Dean of Salisbury , Richard Poore, as their own candidate, des Roches received a majority of the votes of the monks of the cathedral chapter . The decision about the new bishop was then transferred to the Pope in the spring of 1205. This litigation was dragged on, with King John bearing the costs of this litigation for des Roches. Finally, Pope Innocent III. be convinced to confirm the choice of des Roches. On September 25, 1205, des Roches was consecrated by the Pope in Rome as the new Bishop of Winchester. On March 24, 1206, the temporalities were given to des Roches , and on March 26, Palm Sunday, 1206, he was installed as the new bishop in Winchester Cathedral .

Activity during the interdict over England

Peter des Roches also continued his service to the king as bishop. Between 1206 and 1214 he was the de facto head of the royal financial administration. He was responsible for the expenditures for castles as well as for campaigns, but he also took on duties at court and entertained and entertained foreign embassies. The circumstances of his election as bishop led the Pope to stipulate that des Roches as bishop could only be dismissed or excommunicated by the Pope himself. In return, the Pope hoped for the help of des Roches in the collection of St. Peter's penny by the English Church. The survey failed, but thanks to his special position, confirmed in writing by the Pope, des Roches retained a unique position as bishop, independent of the Archbishop of Canterbury . There is no evidence that Des Roches ever pledged obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury as head of the English Church. When Pope Innocent III. After a dispute with the king over the installation of Stephen Langton as the new Archbishop of Canterbury imposed the interdict over England in 1208 , Des Roches remained next to John de Gray the only English bishop who remained on the side of the excommunicated king.

As a skilful hunter and notable art patron, des Roches belonged to the close circle of friends and confidants of the king. He was involved in the financial exploitation of the Jewish population, the collection of royal taxes and the collection of fees for judicial processes. From 1212 at the latest, des Roches was entrusted with the education of the king's eldest son, the heir to the throne, Heinrich , who grew up in the von des Roches household.

Activity as military and justiciar

In 1206 des Roches took part in John's campaign in Poitou , and in 1211 he commanded part of the army that advanced against Prince Llywelyn from Iorwerth to Wales . As a native Frenchman and as a wealthy bishop, des Roches supported several other French who had moved to England. They included Peter de Maulay , Engelard de Cigogné and several relatives of the mercenary leader Girard d'Athée . Other native French from the areas of the Angevin Empire formerly belonging to the English king lived in his household, which the native English nobility often mistrusted. In 1213 des Roches had de facto taken over the office of royal chancellor , and in February 1214 Johann appointed him chief justiciar . As such, he took over the reign of England in 1214 during the failed campaign of the king in Poitou .

His importance within the government became apparent when separate lists of documents were created for him over the next few months. However, Des Roches also made numerous opponents who accused him of favoring his foreign friends and criticized his crackdown on the collection of shield money for the controversial campaigns of 1214. After the repeal of the interdict in 1213, he had significant influence in the occupation of vacant dioceses and abbeys. He is also held responsible for the deterioration in relations between the Crown and the City of London . As justiciar, he tried unsuccessfully in 1214 to be elected Archbishop of York . The king offered him the election of Bishop of Durham , but des Roches refused. The criticism of the administration of des Roches strengthened the aristocratic opposition to the king and led to the recognition of the Magna Carta in the subsequent open war of the barons .

Role in the war of the barons

Des Roches remained a firm supporter of the king. He testified with the recognition of the Magna Carta by the king in June 1215. After that, however, he was replaced as justiciar by the native Englishman Hubert de Burgh . Des Roches now supported the king in the attempt to have the Magna Carta declared invalid by the Pope. He excommunicated numerous rebels by the Pope and announced in Dover in September 1215 the suspension of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury by the Pope. During the War of the Barons, Winchester was in the hands of the rebels, so that Des Roches withdrew to Taunton . From there he supported the king financially and militarily. After the death of King Johann in October 1216, des Roches became one of his executors. Together with at least four other bishops, including New Year's Eve of Worcester and Simon of Exeter and in the presence of the papal legate Guala Bicchieri , des Roches attended the provisional coronation of young Henry III on October 28 in Gloucester Cathedral . in front. Even after the coronation, the Regency Council gave the nine-year-old king into the care of des Roches. At the Battle of Lincoln on May 20, 1217, Des Roches commanded the crossbowmen of the royal army. His scouts discovered an unlocked gate through which the royal troops could penetrate the city and defeat the army of the rebels and the French. His troops took numerous prisoners, whom he only released after paying large ransom money. When the rebels surrendered the City of London towards the end of the Civil War, Des Roches was among the first to enter the city. The Tower of London was given to him.

Role during the minority of Henry III.

Power struggle in the Regency Council

When the Peace of Lambeth ended the Barons' War in 1217, des Roches resumed his duties in the royal financial administration and in the king's household. In addition, he served as the sheriff of Hampshire and as administrator of several royal castles and forests. Perhaps out of anger at the lenient treatment the defeated rebels received from the Regency Council, he refused to contribute to a tax that would finance the compensation French troops received for their withdrawal from England. As a result, he drew the displeasure of the Regency Council. Since he used his offices financially in the next few years, but at the same time continued to protect foreigners and was in a constant conflict with Hubert de Burgh, he became increasingly politically isolated. When the previous regent William Marshal was dying in 1219, des Roches grabbed the young king's head during a meeting of the Regency Council, thereby claiming the tutelage and leadership of the Regency Council. However, this gesture was sharply rejected by the papal legate Pandulf and William Marshal the Younger. As a result, von des Roches' influence on the government continued to decline. In 1220 he took part in the new solemn coronation of Heinrich III. part, but then retired from the Regency Council. Nominated by the Pope as Archbishop of Damiette , he wanted to join the Damiette crusade .

Rebel and prevented crusader

In the spring of 1221, des Roches first made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela . Hubert de Burgh used the absence of des Roches to overthrow his most important allies, Falkes de Bréauté and Peter de Maulay . Maulay had to resign from his offices as constable and sheriff and was briefly detained. De Burgh accused him of betraying England together with des Roches and of wanting to hand over to the French. When des Roches returned from Spain, the charges were quickly dropped, but des Roches finally lost control of the young king's upbringing. The failure of the Damiette Crusade in the summer of 1221 also delayed des Roches' plans for an indefinite period of time. Des Roches tried again to gain supremacy at the court. To this end, he turned to Pope Honorius III in 1223 . with the request to declare the 15-year-old king to be of legal age ahead of time. However, Hubert de Burgh and Archbishop Langton used these letters to accuse des Roches of abuse of power. They asked him to renounce his office as sheriff of Hampshire and the royal castles he held. Together with other former confidants of King John, including Earl Ranulf of Chester , des Roches tried briefly a rebellion against the Regency Council. The Earl of Chester, Count of Aumale and Falkes de Bréauté demonstrated armed outside the Tower of London in November 1223, and Des Roches purposely spent Christmas in Leicester while the King was in Northampton . England was once again on the brink of civil war, but the rebellion quickly collapsed. In the spring of 1224, des Roches joined the royal troops under de Burgh, who besieged and conquered Bedford Castle held by Falkes de Bréauté's troops . As a result, des Roches remained excluded from the king's immediate retinue. His conduct as sheriff was investigated and in 1227 he was forced to pay £ 500 to the Crown to settle his outstanding debts. Together with Bishop William Briwere of Exeter, he then went on a crusade to the Holy Land in June or July 1227 .

In the Holy Land, both bishops became influential advisors to Emperor Frederick II , who arrived in the Holy Land on his crusade in 1228. The emperor was in opposition to the Church in the Holy Land and the Pope, but both bishops ignored the papal order of the Pope not to support the excommunicated emperor. In February 1229 both testified to the emperor's treaty with the Sultan of Cairo, according to which Jerusalem was peacefully returned to the Christians, the so-called Peace of Jaffa . In March 1229, des Roches entered Jerusalem. After he had already supported the re- fortification of Sidon , Askalon and Jaffa , he advised the emperor on the new fortifications of Jerusalem, including the Tower of David and St. Stephen's Gate . Des Roches was criticized by the Patriarch of Jerusalem for supporting the excommunicated emperor and temporarily suspended as bishop by the Pope. In May 1229, des Roches followed Friedrich II to Italy, and around July 22nd he reached the papal court. He then brokered peace between the Pope and the Emperor in San Germano and Ceprano . During the next two years he stayed mainly at the papal court before returning to England in July 1231 after almost five years of absence.

Return to power and political failure

Displacement of de Burgh

In England, during Roches' absence, there had been an increasing estrangement between the powerful Justiciar Hubert de Burgh and the young king. The empire still suffered from financial difficulties compounded by expensive but unsuccessful wars. Des Roches was celebrated triumphantly as a returning crusader and quickly regained the favor of the king. He urged the king to break new ground financially and to exert greater influence over the government himself. The king celebrated Christmas 1231 as a guest of des Roches in Winchester, and in early 1232 des Roches was again appointed Baron of the royal Exchequer . De Burgh's influence, however, continued to decline. Des Roches sponsored his nephew Peter de Rivallis , who was given a number of royal offices in the summer of 1232 and who was appointed administrator of several lucrative estates. De Burgh then had himself confirmed by the king as Justiciar for life in July 1232. Shortly afterwards, presumably through the influence of des Roches, de Burgh was accused of assaulting Italian clergy appointed by the Pope. From July 28, 1232 he was removed from office. With the support of Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke , des Roches de Burgh and his followers removed from the court; instead, confidants of des Roches were appointed whom he knew from his time on the Regency Council before 1223.

Civil war and political failure

Des Roches went even further. He had de Burgh imprisoned at Devizes Castle , and in early 1233 he replaced Treasurer Walter Mauclerk with his nephew Peter de Rivallis . Contemporary chroniclers accused des Roches of taking the rule of Emperor Friedrich II as an example and, like King Johann Ohneland, ruling autocratic and often even tyrannical. In fact, the king issued numerous new Royal Charters in which he revoked the offices and possessions of several barons. One of these victims was Gilbert Basset , who then began an open revolt in the spring of 1233. Basset was a close retainer of the Earl of Pembroke whom he persuaded to support the revolt. As a result, there was an open civil war, almost a year, which was mainly fought in the Welsh Marches .

Des Roches officially held no office at this time. The justiciar was Stephen of Seagrave , who had also been instrumental in putting down the Earl of Pembroke's revolt. The role of des Roches cannot therefore be precisely assessed, but Huw W. Ridgeway and numerous other historians are of the opinion that des Roches, who had almost daily contact with the king, was the actual ruler of England at this time. Many of his favorites held important offices. The high cost of the civil war and the financial obligations to allies in Brittany and Poitou, with whose help the king wanted to continue to recapture the possessions of the Angevin Empire in France that his father had lost, weighed heavily on the crown. It turned out that Peter de Rivallis was completely overwhelmed with his office. There is no evidence to support the accusation of the contemporary chronicler Roger von Wendover that des Roches lured the Earl of Pembroke into a trap in Ireland, where he was fatally wounded. Des Roches, however, had in a short time made enemies of the vast majority of his English bishops. On February 2, 1234, Edmund Rich , the newly elected Archbishop of Canterbury, supported by several other bishops, requested the removal of Roches from court. This demand was also approved by many barons, who rejected an authoritarian rule as under King John and because of the repeated recognition of the Magna Carta and because of the excessive minority of Henry III. had also become more confident.

Henry III. first tried to postpone a decision. When Edmund Rich was installed as the new archbishop, the bishops demonstratively stayed away from des Roches, and on May 9 the archbishop threatened the king with excommunication if the government was not changed. Thereupon the King des Roches ordered to withdraw to his diocese and not to be politically active. Peter de Rivallis, Stephen of Seagrave and other minions of des Roches were removed from office. While Stephen of Seagrave and Peter de Rivallis had to answer for their duties, des Roches was allowed to withdraw without further investigation.

Last years and death

In the spring of 1235 des Roches left England again, among other things, he supported a campaign by Pope Gregory IX. and by Emperor Frederick II against the citizens of Rome. The emperor was however by Heinrich III. warned against des Roches in letters, while the Pope was mainly interested in des Roches' vast fortune. With the mediation of the Pope, des Roches was allowed to return to England in 1236, where he arrived around September 29th. Already ill, he wrote his will in England. In his last months before his death, he preached in favor of a crusade to save the Latin Empire in Constantinople, suppressed unrest that had broken out in Oxford against the new papal legate Oddone and is even said to have urged the king instead of Simon de , who came from France Montfort to trust his English barons. He died at Farnham Castle , the traditional main residence of the Bishops of Winchester. His heart was buried in a separate burial at nearby Waverley Abbey and his body in Winchester Cathedral , where his black marble tomb is preserved. In his will he decreed that funeral masses should be held for him in England and in Tours Cathedral .

Funerary monument of Peter des Roches in Winchester Cathedral

Activity as bishop

During his tenure as bishop, a new form of bookkeeping called Winchester Pipe Rolls was introduced in his diocese . He managed to increase the diocese's annual income from around £ 1,500 to over £ 3,000. The construction of was him Retro Choir of Winchester Cathedral continued. Apparently he was the first bishop of Winchester to issue diocesan statutes , influenced by the fourth Lateran council in 1215 . Under his protection, the first Dominicans arrived in England in 1221. In its initiatives towards the Prämonstratenserabteien were Hales Abbey in Worcestershire and Titchfield in Hampshire founded, to the Augustinerpriorat of Selborne and the Cistercian branches Netley in Hampshire and Clarté Dieu in Poitou, which due to a foundation of the Roches after his death near his birthplace in Touraine founded has been. Des Roches is one of the most important sponsors of the religious orders in England in the 13th century. He also directed the re-establishment of St Thomas' Hospital in Southwark, the re-establishment of the Crusader Hospital and the Order of St Thomas of Acre in the Holy Land, the Dominican establishment in Winchester prior to 1234, and the establishment of a hospital in Portsmouth.

With his enormous fortune, des Roches also supported hermits and donated large sums of money for the welfare of the poor. In his will, he decreed that the bishops of Winchester should keep forever supplies of grain and seeds for times of need. His pipe rolls also prove the high expenditure on jewels, spices and precious metals, for hunting and for supporting numerous minions and knights at the royal court. Several pupils belonged to his household in Winchester, among them the poets Henry d'Avranches († 1262/3), Elias of Dereham († 1245) and at least one, maybe two later bishops: Eustace de Fauconberg , who later became Bishop of London, and Ralph de Neville , who later became Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Chichester. Despite his origins in France, which is why des Roches was unpopular in England throughout his life, he seemed to have been an avid supporter of the Anglo-Saxon saints. He commissioned poems from Henry d'Avranches to reinforce the claim of the bishops of Winchester to the relics of the Anglo-Saxon Saint Birinus , which were also claimed by Dorchester Abbey . He had the shrine of St. Swithin restored in Winchester Cathedral . In 1231 he brought an alleged foot relic of St. Philip with him from the crusade, as well as a book by William of Tire on the wonders of the East , which he gave to the chronicler Matthew Paris . The monks of the cathedral chapter of Winchester called des Roches as hard as rocks (dt. Hard as bricks ), an allusion to his name. Despite this nickname, they owed him several privileges. He confirmed the tithe that the cathedral chapter was allowed to raise on its lands, and gave it further possessions in his will.

literature

• Nicholas Vincent: Peter des Roches. An alien in English politics, 1205 - 1238 . Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 2002. ISBN 0-521-52215-3

Web links

• Nicholas Vincent: Roches, Peter des (d. 1238). 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. ↑ Nicholas Vincent: Peter des Roches. An Alien in English Politics 1205-1238 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, ISBN 0-521-52215-3 , p. 134
2. ^ David Carpenter: The minority of Henry III. University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 0-520-07239-1 , p. 107
3. ↑ Tyerman: England and the Crusades , pp. 99-101
4. ↑ Christopher Tyerman: God's War. A New History of the Crusades. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2006, ISBN 0-674-02387-0 , p. 744
5. ↑ Nicholas Vincent: Peter des Roches. An Alien in English Politics 1205-1238 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, ISBN 0-521-52215-3 , p. 251
6. ^ HW Ridgeway: Henry III (1207-1272). 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
Geoffrey Fitz Peter	Chief Justiciar of England 1213-1215	Hubert de Burgh
Godfrey de Lucy	Bishop of Winchester 1205–1238	William Raleigh