Robert of Holy Island

Robert of Holy Island OSB (also Robert de Insula ) († June 7, 1283 in Bishop Middleham ) was an English clergyman. From 1274 he was Bishop of Durham .

Ascent to bishop

Robert came from a modest background. He got his nickname after Holy Island , as the small island of Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumberland is also called, and became a monk of Durham Cathedral Priory . Between 1265 and 1269 he was appointed sexton of the cathedral. Before 1272 he became prior of the small but prestigious Finchale Priory , a branch of the cathedral priory . He served several times as envoy of the cathedral priory, including in 1265 at the royal court and in 1266 with Italian merchants in London. From these he borrowed money, which he later repaid. In 1268 he took part in a church council meeting in London as a representative of the monastery and in 1274 at the second council of Lyon . On September 24, 1274 he was elected bishop of the Diocese of Durham . On November 8, the temporalities were given to him before he was ordained bishop on December 9, 1274 in York .

Bishop of Durham

As bishop, Robert left the Church of Bishop Middleham, County Durham, to his former Finchale Priory in 1278 . With their income, the number of monks in Finchale could be increased to six. Robert is assigned the synodal statutes, which were probably issued in 1276, but these are mainly revisions of older statutes. They deal primarily with the church tithing as well as with church disciplinary measures.

In 1277 Robert complained about Scottish raids on the northern area of County Durham south of the Tweed . After these incidents had been addressed during parliamentary assemblies and then in the royal council, King Edward I appointed a commission in February 1279 to negotiate with Scotland, but which was unlikely to be successful. When Bishop Robert was in the border area of ​​the Scottish Marches in March 1281 , William of Wickwane , the Archbishop of York , wanted to make a visit to the Diocese of Durham. Relations between Bishop Robert and Archbishop Wickwane had been strained before. The monks of Durham Cathedral Priory immediately decided to oppose a visit to their monastery, with the assistance of Robert. When Archbishop Wickwane arrived in Durham on June 25 , he was denied access to the monastery. Bishop Robert had already traveled to the Curia in Rome to indict the Archbishop. A long argument ensued between the Archbishop and Bishop Robert. It was not until the beginning of 1283 that Archdeacon Antony Bek , who was supposed to settle the dispute through the king's mediation, was able to negotiate a compromise. This became obsolete again only a few months later with the death of Robert Bischof. The conflict was ultimately never resolved, and in 1939 Archbishop William Temple renewed Archbishop Wickwane's right to a visitation.

According to the Lanercost Chronicle , Bishop Robert kept two monkeys to cheer him up. He was heavily indebted to the cathedral priory when he died. On June 10, 1283 he was buried in the chapter house of Durham Cathedral. His brother Henry was one of his executors.

Web links

• AJ Piper: Holy Island, Robert of (d. 1283). 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
Robert of Stichill	Bishop of Durham 1274–1283	Antony Bek