New Years Eve (Worcester)

Silvester (also Silvester of Evesham ) OSB († July 16, 1218 in Ramsey ) was an English clergyman. From 1216 he was Bishop of Worcester .

Ascent to bishop

Why New Year's Eve was nicknamed Evesham is unknown, as there is no known reference to Evesham or the monastery there . He belonged more as a monk to the cathedral priory of Worcester and is first mentioned when he was elected prior in January 1215, perhaps as early as 1214 . In November 1215 he took part in the Fourth Lateran Council in Rome . In the spring of 1216 he was back in England. After Bishop Walter de Gray had become Archbishop of York, New Year's Eve was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Worcester on April 3, 1216 as the first monk of the priory after Bishop Wulfstan, who died in 1016 and canonized in 1203 . King Johann Ohneland had in letters to Pope Innocent III. , Papal Legate Guala and Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury declared that he would accept the election of New Years Eve. However, since Stephen Langton was still suspended from his office as archbishop and lived in exile, New Year's Eve traveled back to Italy by mid-May 1216 at the latest. He met the Pope in Perugia and was ordained bishop on July 3rd, just a few days before the death of Innocent III.

Bishop of Worcester

The First Barons' War had already begun in England in the autumn of 1215 , in which a noble opposition rebelled against King John Ohneland. The rebellious barons had asked the French Prince Ludwig for help, who landed in England with an army in the spring of 1216. New Year's Eve was still abroad when his bishopric became a battleground. The city of Worcester had submitted to the French prince, whereupon it was conquered by royal troops. Royal troops also invaded Worcester Cathedral in search of opponents . They ransacked the cathedral and demanded a fine of 300 marks (£ 200) which could only be raised by melting down the shrine of St. Wulfstan. Because the monks of the cathedral priory had held services for the king's opponents, they were excommunicated . It was not until August 15, 1216, that the monks received absolution , and after the devastation in the cathedral had been cleared, the returned New Year's Eve could be enthroned as bishop on September 8, 1216 . Johann Ohneland died on the night of October 19, 1216. Allegedly at his own request, he was to be buried in Worcester Cathedral. New Year's Eve was appointed one of the king's executors and presided over the king's funeral. Although this burial was costly, the cathedral benefited from it. Legate Guala and the regent William Marshal donated a part of the outer bailey of Worcester Castle , which the cathedral priory had long claimed, to the cathedral priory. On October 28, 1216, New Year's Eve took part in the provisional coronation of Henry III. , the young son of Johann Ohneland in Gloucester. In 1218 the government gave him the right to clear the great royal forests of Horeweck and Ombersley in Worcestershire for a fee of 700 marks . In the same year he was given the right to hold a four-day fair in Worcester on the feast of St. Barnabas .

After the end of the War of the Barons, Worcester Cathedral was consecrated again on June 7, 1218, during which the body of St. Wulfstans was transferred to a new shrine. The re-consecration was probably done to improve the memory of the dead Johann Ohneland. New Year's Eve presided over the ceremony, and he also distributed relics of St. Wulfstan to other churches. A chronicler accused him of having roughly chopped off the relics from the corpse with an ax. A few weeks later, New Year's Eve left Worcester. Possibly he wanted to take part in the Damiette crusade , to which numerous English knights had set out. However, he fell ill and died in Ramsey , Cambridgeshire . He was probably buried in Worcester.

Web links

• Philippa Hoskin: New Year's Eve (d. 1218). 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
Walter de Gray	Bishop of Worcester 1216-1218	William de Blois