Robert of Stichill

Robert of Stichill OSB († August 4, 1274 in L'Arbresle ) was an English clergyman. From 1260 he was Bishop of Durham .

Origins and promotion to Bishop of Durham

Robert got his nickname probably after the village of Stichill in the Scottish Roxburghshire not far from the border with England, where the cathedral priory of Durham had the patronage right of the parish church. His father was a priest, presumably his father was Master William Scot . Robert became a monk in Durham Cathedral Priory. In 1244, Bishop Nicholas Farnham allowed him to vote with the prior. Before 1246 he was sexton of the monastery and in 1249 he belonged to the embassy of the monks, which King Heinrich III.asked permission to elect a new bishop after Farnham's death. Robert became prior of the Durham dependent but highly regarded Finchale Priory before he was elected bishop of the Diocese of Durham on September 30, 1260 as the first monk of the cathedral priory . Because of his illegitimate birth, he needed a papal dispensation , which had already been requested by the monk Henry of Horncastle . On December 5, 1260 were his temporalities of the diocese passed. On February 13, 1261 he was ordained bishop in Southwell by Godfrey de Ludham , Archbishop of York.

Bishop of Durham

Secular ruler in County Durham

As a bishop, Robert made sure to uphold the secular rulership rights he had as Count Palatine of County Durham . When he himself called the royal judges in December 1269 in a dispute, his privileges bestowed by the king were confirmed. He is also said to have successfully enforced his privileges against the city of Howden and against the citizens of Durham . Towards the end of the Second War of the Barons , King Heinrich III. the estate of Greatham , County Durham, which had been confiscated from rebel Peter de Montfort . Robert managed to have the donation revoked in May 1267 because, as Count Palatinate, he was entitled to confiscated goods. This decision set a precedent . He still acquired all rights that Roger Bertram owned to Greatham and founded the Hospital of God for 40 poor people there in 1273 .

Act as a bishop

As bishop Robert donated about 520 hectares of forest and moorland to the cathedral priory. Nevertheless, his relationship with the cathedral priory was not free of conflict. In December 1272, Robert repeatedly refused to accept the resignation of Prior Hugh of Darlington because he disapproved of his post- resignation life. He accused the monks of having filled offices as head of the cathedral priory without his consent, and they had also appointed the constable of Durham Castle and thus a layman as administrator of the vacant priory. He refused to follow his instructions. There is also said to have been a protracted dispute about the right to visit the cathedral priory.

In 1274 Robert took part in the Second Council of Lyon . There he received permission from Pope Gregory X to resign. Before he could return to England, however, he died in the castle of L'Arbresle near Lyon. He was buried in the nearby Benedictine abbey of Savigny . His heart was transferred to Durham and buried there .

Web links

• AJ Piper: Stichill, Robert of (d. 1274). 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. ^ The Hospital of God at Greatham: History of the Charity. Retrieved November 15, 2016 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Walter of Kirkham	Bishop of Durham 1260–1274	Robert of Holy Island