Walter de la Wyle

Walter de la Wyle († uncertain: January 4, 1271 ) was an English clergyman. From 1263 he was Bishop of Salisbury .

Grave of Walter de la Wyle in Salisbury Cathedral

Origin and promotion to bishop

Walter got his name from Wyld Court at Hampstead Norreys in Berkshire . He was a younger son of a yeoman . After the probably childless death of his older brother, he inherited two Carucata in Wyld , where he built a chapel, and two Carucata in neighboring Basildon . As a younger son, Walter became a clergyman and before February 1232 became chaplain and confidante to Robert of Bingham , Bishop of Salisbury. Before 1239 he became a canon of the cathedral chapter of Salisbury and before March 1248 he became a succentor . On January 22, 1263 he was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Salisbury . Since Archbishop Boniface of Canterbury was in exile in France, Walter traveled to France, where the Archbishop confirmed his election on March 5. Then Walter returned to England. On May 27, he was ordained a bishop in Canterbury with Henry of Sandwich , the elected Bishop of London, by John Gervase , Bishop of Winchester on behalf of Archbishop Boniface and in the presence of four other bishops . Henry of Sandwich was able to celebrate the consecration of the Archbishop's Palace, while Walter the next day for dinner in the refectory of the Cathedral of Canterbury invited.

Bishop of Salisbury

Role during the Second War of the Barons

In contrast to most of the previous Bishops of Salisbury, Walter had not been a scholar or honored official of the king, but had only had a relatively minor position within the cathedral chapter. Towards the end of the turmoil of the Second Barons' War , he became politically active, but most of the time he spent in his diocese instead of at the royal court. Although he was in the conflict between the aristocratic opposition under Simon de Montfort and King Heinrich III. had initially taken a moderate position, he supported the majority of the bishops from 1264, who resolutely supported the aristocratic opposition. In January 1265 he took part in De Montfort's Parliament in Westminster . Together with seven other bishops, he was now considered an opponent of the crown. After the victory of the king's supporters in the Battle of Evesham , he and these other bishops had to answer before the royal court on December 4, 1265 for offenses against peace and against the king. Wyle promised to pay a fine of £ 200 in January 1266. With that he seemed to have regained the king's goodwill. In August 1266 he attended the Parliamentary Assembly at Kenilworth , and in May 1270 the King granted him the right to hold a fair in Salisbury.

The former collegiate church of St Edmund in Salisbury, founded by Walter de la Wyle

Act as a bishop

As a bishop, Walter was demonstrably a good administrator of his diocese. He had a good relationship with his cathedral chapter. His first documented official act as bishop was on June 15, 1263, the donation of a small property near Salisbury Cathedral to the cathedral chapter, so that the cloister could be expanded. As a result of this donation, the largest cloister in England was created. On February 17, 1269 he founded the collegiate church of St Edmund in Salisbury , named after the recently canonized Edmund of Abingdon , the former treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral and Archbishop of Canterbury. Walter de la Wyle was buried in St Edmund's Chapel in Salisbury Cathedral. His grave monument was later badly damaged.

Web links

• BR Kemp: Wyle, Walter de la (d. 1271). 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. ^ Salisbury Arts Center: About us. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 1, 2016 ; Retrieved November 20, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

predecessor	Office	successor
Giles of Bridport	Bishop of Salisbury 1263–1271	Robert of Wickhampton