Simon Langham

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Simon Langham OSB (* around 1315 in Langham , Rutland , † July 22, 1376 in Avignon ) was an English prelate and politician. As a monk from relatively simple backgrounds, he rose to the highest ecclesiastical and secular offices. He held numerous ecclesiastical offices, including that of Archbishop of Canterbury and was made cardinal in 1368 . For this he served at times as royal treasurer and as lord chancellor of England. He was the last monk to hold the office of Archbishop of Canterbury.

Origin and promotion to Abbot of Westminster Abbey

Little is known of the Langham youth. He was a son of Thomas Langham , who was named after the village of Langham in Rutland . Westminster Abbey owned real estate in Langham and before 1339 Langham entered the abbey as a monk. In 1346 he represented the abbey at the triennial chapter of the English Benedictine Order in Northampton . In the same year he began studying at Oxford . In 1348 he returned to Westminster without a degree, perhaps because of the plague outbreak in Oxford. At the height of the plague epidemic he was elected prior on April 10, 1349 and a few weeks later, on May 27, abbot of Westminster Abbey. Coping with the aftermath of the plague epidemic was a difficult task for the new abbot, and Langham also had to assume the considerable debts of his predecessor. The religious discipline of the convent was also neglected. During his tenure as abbot, Langham went to great lengths to address these issues. In order to improve the economic situation of the abbey, he increasingly leased the property of the abbey, which he was able to enlarge through acquisitions. This enabled him not only to pay off the debt, but also to bring the abbey back to prosperity. Under his leadership the construction of the abbey's new cloister in Perpendicular Style was completed. With good judgment and pragmatism, Langham succeeded in raising the spiritual discipline of his convent. Because of his merits and later donations, he is also referred to as the second founder of Westminster Abbey.

Rise to Royal Treasurer and Bishop of Ely

According to John Flete , who wrote a chronicle of Westminster Abbey in the mid-15th century, Langham was an eminent reformer, wise counselor, and eloquent preacher. According to Langham's contemporary John Reading († 1368/69), however, he was presumptuous and ambitious. Despite these conflicting assessments, Langham was certainly an excellent administrator. This was also noticed by King Edward III. who appointed him treasurer on November 23, 1360 .

Langham retained his post and duties as abbot. As treasurer, Langham endeavored to pay off the king's debts caused by the Hundred Years War . In 1361 he was elected bishop by both the cathedral chapters of London and Ely, but Langham turned down the office of bishop of London because he felt connected to the Benedictine order, to which the cathedral chapter of Ely belonged. On January 22, 1362 Langham was by Pope Innocent VI. sustained as Bishop of Ely and ordained bishop on March 20 by Bishop William Edington of Winchester in London's St Paul's Cathedral .

Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury

On February 21, 1363, the King appointed Langham Chancellor . In this office he was the first chancellor to open parliament in English in 1363 . One of his duties as Chancellor was to legislate for royal politics. These included the amended Statute of Praemunire in 1365 , which issued stricter limits on appeals to the Pope. Other clergymen rose to high offices in Langham's service. William Wykeham he appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal in 1363 , and later the future Cardinal Adam Easton belonged to his household. Satisfied with Langham's work, the king nominated him in 1366 for the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. After his election, Pope Urban V confirmed him on July 24, 1366 as archbishop and head of the English Church.

As archbishop, Langham also conscientiously took care of the administration and pastoral care of his diocese. In September 1367 he resigned as chancellor. Langham implemented new regulations to limit the accumulation of offices in the church and tried to remedy grievances by visiting churches and monasteries. In 1367 he banned the Reformation priest John Ball from preaching and in 1368 he intervened in a bitter theological dispute between Uthred Boldon († 1396) and William Jordan , two theologians at Oxford University, by writing 30 articles on the grace and salvation of unbelievers.

Cardinal of the Curia

Appointment as cardinal

However, his tenure as archbishop ended after just two years, when Urban V made him cardinal priest of San Sisto on September 22, 1368 . Langham accepted this office without first asking the king's permission. He probably hoped to serve the king as an influential cardinal at the papal court, but the king was angry and suspected that Langham's loyalty was no longer primarily to England, but rather to the Roman Church. Immediately he withdrew the archbishop's temporalities , whereby Langham was immediately without income, and delayed Langham's departure to Avignon until February 28, 1369 .

Service as a diplomat

Although he was no longer Archbishop, Langham was also referred to as the Cardinal of Canterbury in Avignon . In 1370 he took part in the conclave that Gregory XI. elected as the new Pope. Langham served this in several diplomatic missions to mediate in the war between France and England. The intransigence of the two kings made Langham's efforts unsuccessful. Langham was only able to mediate a peace between the English king and Count Ludwig II of Flanders in 1372. In addition, his diplomatic achievements were neither recognized in England nor at the papal court. In England he was considered too friendly to the pope even by his friends, while the majority of the French-dominated college of cardinals mistrusted him as an Englishman. This distrust was reinforced by the fact that Langham, as a cardinal, once drew his hat in defiance of the English king, contrary to custom. The Pope himself continued to trust Langham and appointed him Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina in 1373 , but despite this rank, Langham remained an outsider at the papal court. Although he still received income from his charities , including the archdeaconates of Wells and York and from canon positions in Lincoln and York, he had less income as a cardinal than as archbishop of Canterbury. Yet he remained a generous benefactor of Westminster Abbey and other monasteries until his death.

Resignation and death

In view of his weak position at the papal court, Langham hoped in 1374 to be re-elected Archbishop of Canterbury to succeed William Whittlesey . Although the cathedral chapter was not averse to a renewed election by him, but since apparently neither the Pope nor the King would approve this election, Simon Sudbury was elected as the new Archbishop instead. When it became clear that Pope Gregory wanted to relocate the papal court from Avignon to Rome in 1376, Langham received permission to retreat to England. Before he could leave, he died, possibly from a debilitating stroke . He was buried in the church of the Charterhouse of Bonpas at Caumont-sur-Durance near Avignon. Three years after his death, his bones were transferred to Westminster Abbey, where he was buried as the only Archbishop of Canterbury in a magnificent funerary memorial created by Henry Yevele and Stephen Lote . In Westminster he had established a canon for the salvation of himself and his family, to whom he gave properties with an annual income of 40 marks. In addition, he bequeathed property worth almost £ 1,000 to the abbey itself, its remarkable library, robes and silver dishes, as well as £ 400 for the further expansion of the abbey church.

Others

Langham is considered to be the author of three hymns written in honor of Catherine of Siena , with whom there was an exchange of letters.

literature

  • EO Blake: Langham, Simon . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , V, Sp. 1686
  • JA Robinson: Simon Langham, abbot of Westminster . In: Church Quarterly Review , 66 (1908), pp. 339-366
  • AC Wood: Registrum Simonis Langham, Cantuariensis archiepiscopi . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1956
  • Langham, Simon . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 16 : L - Lord Advocate . London 1911, p. 174 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links
predecessor Office successor
Raymond de Canillac Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina
1373-1376 		Office vacant
Nicolás Rosell Cardinal priest of San Sisto
1368–1373 		Luca Rodolfucci de Gentili
Simon Islip Archbishop of Canterbury
1366–1368 		William Whittlesey
William Edington Lord Chancellor of England
1363–1367 		William of Wykeham
John Sheppey Lord High Treasurer
1360-1363 		John Barnet
Thomas Lisle Bishop of Ely
1361-1366 		John Barnet
personal data
SURNAME Langham, Simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor, Cardinal
DATE OF BIRTH around 1315
PLACE OF BIRTH Langham (Rutland)
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1376
Place of death Avignon