William of Louth

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seal of William of Louth

William of Louth (* around 1240; † March 25 or 27, 1298 ) was an English official and clergyman. From 1290 he was Bishop of Ely .

Origin and education

William of Louth was believed to have come from Louth in Lincolnshire . His parents are unknown. As a young clergyman, he held a few minor charities in the Diocese of Lincoln . Presumably he studied before he probably near the end of the reign of Henry III. entered the service of the crown.

Rise in the service of the king

In the spring of 1272 Louth traveled to Rome on behalf of the king. During this trip he apparently reported to lawyer Hugh Warwick . After Edward I took over the rule, Thomas Bek took over responsibility for the royal apartments as Keeper of the Wardrobe in 1274 . Bek came from a noble Lincolnshire family, and because of this ancestry, he may have promoted Louth, who was appointed Cofferer of the Wardrobe in October 1274 . During the reign of Edward I, not only was the royal private chamber called the wardrobe , but also the treasury. In this function, the wardrobe officials also took over the payments for the royal household and, in many cases, other payments for the king and his government. Louth became an officer of the Wardrobe at a time when it was growing in importance as a small and efficient agency with capable staff. The officials were in close contact with the king and soon also served as a second chancellery and a second treasury. They finally took on other administrative tasks, they had to take on diplomatic tasks and were drawn into the allocation of offices. Louth's duties as cofferer included raising and managing cash, negotiating and recording loans, and relaying confidential orders from the king. When the king built Rhuddlan Castle and the adjoining Borough Rhuddlan after the first campaign against Wales between 1278 and 1280 in the conquered Flintshire , Louth played a leading role in organizing the building and handling the payments. For this project, the construction site had to be measured, the fortifications planned, the work coordinated and material and supplies brought in on a large scale. In the spring of 1280, together with the Chief Justice of Cheshire , he was given responsibility for the settlement of the city with English. The king thanked his services by giving him benefices in Beverley and Lincoln in 1279 . Finally he succeeded Bek Keeper of the Wardrobe on November 20, 1280 . As administrator of the wardrobe, Louth took on most of the king's payments. In the spring of 1283 he had to take out loans from foreign merchants to finance the campaign to conquer Wales . This was done under such high time pressure that the King gave Louth prior sealed powers. While the Wardrobe under Bek had made payments of around £ 24,000 a year, under Louth this sum increased to up to £ 44,000 a year. The wardrobe under Louth made about twice as high payments as the actually responsible treasury. In the process, the Treasury lost control of the debts the Wardrobe made on behalf of the king.

Service as a diplomat

In the 1280s, Louth spent a lot of time abroad. In the autumn of 1284 he went abroad, the purpose of the trip being unknown, and in 1286 he traveled to France as an ambassador. When Edward I traveled to Gascony , which belonged to his kingdom, for a long time in 1286 , Louth accompanied him there. He put the duchy's finances in order and served as commandant of Bordeaux from 1287 to 1288 . In March 1289 he had to raise the money to buy back the high-ranking hostages that the king had placed under the treaty of Lanfranc . After the king's return from Gascony, Louth was a member of the investigative commission, along with Bishop John de Pontoise of Winchester, Chancellor Robert Burnell , the Earl of Lincoln , John de St John , William Latimer and William March , which was supposed to uncover maladministration and justice who had entered during the king's long absence from England.

St Etheldreda's Church in the Camden borough of London . The church was originally built as the palace chapel of Ely House, the London city residence of the bishops, probably during the tenure of William of Louth as bishop.

Advancement as a clergyman

In early 1283 the King made Louth Dean of the Collegiate Church of St Martin's-le-Grand in London, and soon after became Archdeacon of Durham . Because of his service to the crown, he was deputized in these offices, and Louth had not even been ordained a priest. Therefore he had to apply for a papal dispensation that allowed him to keep his benefices for up to five years without ordination. On May 12, 1290, Louth was finally elected bishop of the Diocese of Ely . In order to take up this office, he was now forced to be ordained a priest. On October 1, 1290, he was finally ordained and enthroned bishop .

Bishop of Ely

Even as bishop, Louth continued to serve the king, so that he had little time to take care of the administration of his diocese. His successor as Keeper of the Wardrobe was Walter Langton , but Louth was still working for the Wardrobe for several years. In 1291 the king commissioned him to resolve the conflict between the Earl of Gloucester and the Earl of Hereford over their possessions in the Welsh Marches , which ultimately led to the imprisonment of the two powerful magnates . Probably during his tenure as bishop, St Etheldreda's chapel was built in Ely Place , London, the last remaining remnant of Ely House , the London townhouse of the Bishops of Ely.

Louth was buried after his death in Ely Cathedral, where the canopy of his funerary memorial has been preserved. It closely resembles the grave monument of Edmund Crouchback , the king's brother, in Westminster Abbey . Probably Louth's funerary memorial was made by artists who were also in the king's service and was a final thank you from the king for Louth's loyal service. Louth's executors included Bishop Richard of Gravesend of London and Walter Langton. His nephew William Tuchet became his heir .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 140
  2. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 92
  3. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 244
  4. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 144
  5. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 325
  6. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 340
predecessor Office successor
John Kirkby Bishop of Ely
1290–1295 		Hugh of Balsham
personal data
SURNAME William of Louth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English official and clergyman, Bishop of Ely
DATE OF BIRTH around 1240
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1298 or March 27, 1298