Richard of Ferings

Richard of Ferings (* before 1253; † October 17, 1306 ) was an English clergyman. From 1299 he was Archbishop of Dublin .

Origin and studies

Richard of Ferings came from a family that named themselves either after Feering in Essex or after Feering in Sussex . He studied Canon Law at the University of Oxford . In November 1267, he was among the students who signed a peace treaty at Oxford after a violent conflict between Northern English and Irish students. He completed his studies as a doctor of canon law.

Advancement as a clergyman

After his studies Ferings entered the service of the Archdiocese of Canterbury and rose to official . He became a friend of Archbishop John Pecham . In 1279 he took part in the Council at Reading . In 1280, during the vacancy after the death of Bishop Nicholas of Ely, Pecham appointed him official of the Diocese of Winchester . Apparently Pecham could not do without Fering's services, because a little later he appointed Adam of Hales as official of Winchester and called Ferings back to Canterbury. In 1281 Ferings became archdeacon of Canterbury and in 1284 he received the rectorate of Tunstall from Pecham , which he was allowed to keep along with the office of archdeacon. After the death of Pecham in 1292 Ferings became involved in the dispute over the administration of the ecclesiastical province and the Archdiocese of Canterbury, whereupon he traveled to Rome to represent his point of view before the Curia . Ferings was still in Rome, where he was Pope Boniface VIII. To the Pontifical Kaplan appointed him, and in 1299 a sinecure at the Lincoln Cathedral handed.

Appointment as Archbishop of Dublin

In the same year, the Pope appointed Ferings bishop of the Archdiocese of Dublin after the election of the chapters of the two competing cathedrals Holy Trinity and St. Patrick’s had led to constant disputes. In 1297, William Hothum , appointed by the Pope after a controversial election, died shortly after his ordination. In early 1298, the Cathedral Chapter of Holy Trinity had chosen Adam of Belsham , while the Chapter of St Patrick's had chosen its Dean Thomas Chadworth . The Pope urged the two rival candidates to resign, whereupon Ferings was ordained bishop on July 1, 1299. Both chapters had carried out their elections in a hurry and had not previously obtained royal permission to hold the election. King Edward I then summoned representatives from both chapters, where they had to answer before him. After that, the king had temporarily confiscated the temples of the Holy Trinity Cathedral. When the king found out about the appointment of Fering by the Pope, he did not object, but it was not until June 1, 1300 that he gave him the temporalities of his diocese. Previously, he had to officially renounce individual provisions that were recorded in the papal deed of appointment and that contradicted the royal prerogatives.

Activity as archbishop

Ferings tried to reconcile both the disappointed opponents and the divided cathedral chapters. Before he was ordained, he had appointed his rival Chadworth as his vicar general. He feared that he would not be able to serve much longer because of his age and therefore urged both the Chapters of St Patrick's and Chadworth to recommend a successor in the event of his incapacity. In 1301 he confirmed the agreement that the canons of St Patrick's and the monks of Holy Trinity had made. Ferings recognized both churches the rank of a cathedral and the metropolitan seat , whereby he gave Holy Trinity an honorary priority as the older foundation. Ferings spent only a small part of his tenure in Ireland. During his frequent absences, Chadworth continued to serve as his vicar general, while the English king permitted him to have the proceeds of his Irish estates sent to him in England. When Ferings was in Ireland, he was mainly concerned with the administration of St Patrick's Cathedral. During his tenure the first traditional visitation of the cathedral took place. Ferings issued a regulation for further visitations. From then on, this was allowed to be carried out by the dean of the cathedral, who was also responsible for improvements. In 1304 Ferings issued a decree on his estate at Swords that exempted the collegiate churches of the Archdiocese of Dublin from visitations by the dean and the archdeacon. In 1303 he donated two new benefices for St Patrick's in Stagonil and Tipperkevin . He aroused the wrath of the king when he denied a royal official the right to fill the benefice of Tipperkevin because he was not ordained a priest. Ferings was supposed to answer to John Wogan , the Justiciar of Ireland , but how the dispute ended is not known. In April 1302 Ferings Edmund Butler renounced the archbishops' claims to the Hollywood estate near Dublin, because of which there had been a long-standing dispute with Butler. In 1303 he was invited to the English Parliament as Archbishop of Dublin . In July 1304 Ferings received permission for a two-year trip to the Curia in Rome. He died near Rome.

Ferings presumably had an illegitimate son, because he successfully campaigned with the Curia to ensure that Master William de Irton was allowed to have an ecclesiastical benefice despite his illegitimate birth. Allegedly, Irton was his nephew.

Web links

• Ronan Mackay: Ferings, Richard of (Dictionary of Irish Biography)
• TF Tout, Margaret Murphy: Ferings, Richard of (b. In or before 1253, d. 1306). 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 A. Watt: The Church and the two nations in medieval Ireland . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-521-61919-X , p. 155.
2. ^ Geoffrey J. Hand: The rivalry of the cathedral chapters in medieval Dublin . In: Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland , 92 (1962), p. 201.
3. ^ Geoffrey J. Hand: The rivalry of the cathedral chapters in medieval Dublin . In: Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland , 92 (1962), p. 204.

predecessor	Office	successor
William Hothum	Archbishop of Dublin 1299–1306	Richard de Havering