Philip of Poitou

Philip of Poitou (also Philip of Poitou or Philip of Pictavia ; † April 22, 1208 ) was a clergyman from France who was Bishop of Durham from 1196 . Above all, however, he was in the service of the Angevin kings Richard the Lionheart and Johann Ohneland .

Rise to Bishop of Durham

Philip of Poitou came from France, but his exact origin is unclear. He probably came from Poitou , which at that time belonged to the Angevin empire of the English kings. After he was ordained a bishop, he was often referred to as a master's degree , indicating that he was attending university. Philip was part of the household of Richard , who was Duke of Aquitaine and became King of England after his father's death in 1189. He accompanied the king on his crusade and on May 12, 1191 was a witness to Richard's marriage to Berengaria in Cyprus . In January 1192 in Jaffa and at sea in November 1192 he testified to other documents from Richard. He was one of the few companions with whom the king was captured in 1193 on his return journey from the crusade near Vienna. After his release in early 1194, Richard appointed Philip Archdeacon of Canterbury while still in Worms . Geoffrey , Archbishop of York and half-brother of the king tried unsuccessfully to make him dean of York Minster . After Richard had regained control of his kingdom, Philip was often part of the king's entourage again, and he traveled to Germany again when part of the ransom was brought. In thanks, the king appointed him as the new bishop of the Diocese of Durham at the end of 1195 . Presumably on January 4, 1196, he was elected by the monks of the cathedral priory. Pope Celestine III confirmed the election on April 13, and on June 15, 1196, Philip was ordained a priest at Durham . Since Philip continued to serve the king, his episcopal ordination was delayed. Nevertheless, he acquired the right from the king to operate a mint in Durham . He made his nephew Aimery Archdeacon of Durham and Carlisle .

Bishop in the service of Richard the Lionheart

Even as the elected bishop, Philip served as royal judge. In 1196 he was part of the King's retinue in Normandy , where Richard commissioned him to check the accounts of the Treasury together with the Abbot of Caen and to bring the King's orders to the Justiciar Archbishop Hubert Walter . He was very angry about this interference with his administration. At the end of the year, the King instructed Philip to travel to Rome with Chancellor William de Longchamp and Bishop Guillaume de Ruffière of Lisieux to represent the King in the dispute with Archbishop Walter de Coutances of Rouen. He had imposed the interdict on Normandy after Richard had confiscated property from the church for the construction of Château Gaillard . Longchamp died on the trip in Poitiers , but in Rome Philip and Bishop Ruffière were able to negotiate a compromise with Archbishop Coutances. Fifteen months after his election, Philip was elected on April 20, 1197 by Pope Celestine III. consecrated bishop.

In September 1197 Philip was again part of the king's entourage in Rouen . In December 1197 he took part in a council meeting in Oxford , England , where the bishops Hugo of Lincoln and Herbert Poor of Salisbury rejected the king's demand that the English dioceses send more knights to Normandy for the war. At the end of 1197 he was together with Count Baudouin de Béthune von Aumale leader of a delegation from the king, which after the death of Emperor Henry VI. successfully negotiated an alliance with the Low German princes under the leadership of Archbishop Adolf of Cologne in Rouen. After that, in February 1198, he led the English embassy that traveled to Cologne on the occasion of Richard's nephew Otto's election . He spent the summer of 1198 in Richard's entourage in Normandy. At the end of 1198, the king sent him, along with four other bishops, to Archbishop Geoffrey of York, with whom Richard had since fallen out, but this attempt at reconciliation also failed. After Richard's death in April 1199, he objected in vain to the coronation of Richard's brother Johann Ohneland as king, since Archbishop Geoffrey was still in Rome. In May 1199 he then took part in the coronation of John Ohneland as the new King of England.

Bishop in the service of Johann Ohneland

In 1199 Philip tried in vain to persuade the Scottish King William I to meet the two kings in Nottingham on behalf of John . However, the Scottish king was initially ready for an armed conflict over his possessions in England until he relented the next year. Philip belonged together with the Earl of Norfolk , the Earl of Hereford , Eustace de Vesci , Robert de Ros , Roger de Lacy and other nobles of the great English legation, which led the Scottish king to Lincoln , where he was the English king for his English Possessions paid homage. In February 1201 Philip set out on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela . At the end of July 1201 he was in Chinon . As a witness to the wedding of Berengaria and Richard, he was now a witness when King John awarded his brother's widow her Wittum . From Chinon he traveled to London, bringing funds to England on behalf of the king.

Serving as Bishop of Durham

As a bishop Philip acquired Sadberge , County Durham . His predecessor as bishop had already acquired this from King Richard, but since the purchase price was not paid, it had reverted to the crown. Philip now paid the requested sum to Richard and Johann, so that Sadberge belonged to the temporalia of the diocese in the future . Philip had a difficult relationship with Durham Cathedral Priory, as he denied the monks' claims to their church patronage . Once he is even said to have forcibly driven the monks out of a church. His nephew, Archdeacon Aimery is said to have fueled the argument, but Philip is said to have been no less aggressive. He continued to interfere significantly in the affairs of the cathedral priory. He is even said to have besieged the monks in Durham Cathedral and excommunicated the prior , but ultimately had to compromise with the monks.

Last years and death

There are few documents and reports on the last seven years of his tenure. In 1203 he was one of the papal commissioners who were to judge the status of the diocese of Saint David's in the Gerald of Wales trial . After 1201 he is only mentioned in March and May 1204 as a witness of documents at the royal court. After that he only occasionally witnessed documents, the last known in February 1206. In 1207, like Archbishop Geoffrey of York, he resisted a new special tax from the king, but after Geoffrey had gone into exile, he accepted the tax and asked the king for forgiveness. He died a month after the interdict was imposed on England due to the dispute between the Pope and King John. Because of the interdict, he is said to have been buried in unconsecrated earth and only later reburied in a grave in the Durham chapter house. As a supporter of the unpopular King John and because of his violent arguments with the cathedral priory, he had a bad memory in Durham. The cathedral chapter chose Richard Poore as his successor, but he was not installed as bishop because of the interdict. Only after the abolition of the interdict was John de Gray the new Bishop of Durham in 1214 .

literature

• Alice Margaret Cooke: Philip of Poitiers (d.1208?) , In: Dictionary of National Biography . Volume XLV . Macmillan, Smith, Elder & Co., London and New York 1896

Web links

• MG Snape: Poitou, Philip of (d.1208). 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 Gillingham: Richard I . Yale University Press, New Haven 1999. ISBN 0-300-09404-3 , p. 232
2. ^ Robert C. Stacey: Walter, Hubert (d.1205). 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
3. ↑ John Gillingham: Richard I . Yale University Press, New Haven 1999. ISBN 0-300-09404-3 , p. 301
4. ↑ John Gillingham: Richard I . Yale University Press, New Haven 1999. ISBN 0-300-09404-3 , p. 311
5. ^ John T. Appleby: Johann "Ohneland". King of England . Riederer, Stuttgart 1965, p. 81
6. ^ John T. Appleby: Johann "Ohneland". King of England . Riederer, Stuttgart 1965, p. 94
7. ↑ Wilfred L. Warren: King John . University of California Press, Berkeley 1978, ISBN 0-520-03494-5 , p. 191

predecessor	Office	successor
Hugh de Puiset	Bishop of Durham 1196-1208	Richard Poore (elect)