Antony Bek

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This article is about the Prince Bishop of Durham, for his kinsman and namesake, see Antony Bek, Bishop of Norwich.

Antony Bek(also spelled Beck)(d. March 3, 1311), bishop of Durham, belonged to a Lincolnshire family.

Having entered the church, he received several benefices and soon attracted the attention of Edward I, who secured his election as bishop of Durham in 1283. When, after the death of King Alexander III in 1286, Edward interfered in the affairs of Scotland, he employed Bek on this business, and in 1294 he sent him on a diplomatic errand to the German king Adolf of Nassau.

Taking part in Edward's campaigns in Scotland, the bishop received the surrender of king John I of Scotland at Brechin in 1296, and led one division of the English army at the battle of Falkirk in 1298.

Soon after his return to England he became involved in a quarrel with Richard de Hoton, prior of Durham. Deposed and excommunicated by Bek, the prior secured the kings support; but the bishop, against whom other complaints were preferred, refused to give way, and by his obstinacy incurred the lasting enmity of Edward.

In 1302, in obedience to the command of Pope Boniface VIII, he visited Rome on this matter, and during his absence the king seized and administered his lands, which, however, he recovered when he returned and submitted to Edward. He continued, however, to pursue Richard with unrelenting hostility, and was in his turn seriously harassed by the king. Having been restored to the royal favour by Edward II who made him lord of the Isle of Man, the bishop died at Eltham on the 3rd of March 1311.

A man of great courage and energy, chaste and generous, Bek was remarkable for his haughtiness and ostentation. Both as a bishop and as a private individual he was very wealthy, and his household and retinue were among the most magnificent in the land. He was a soldier and a hunter rather than a bishop, and built castles at Eltham, Somerton and elsewhere. He also built Durham Castle's Great Hall, which at the time was the UK's largest 'Great Hall'.

Bek's elder brother, Thomas Bek was bishop of St David's and a trusted servant of Edward I. Another related Thomas Bek was bishop of Lincoln from 1321 until his death.

[edit] References

• Robert of Graystane. Historia de statu ecclesiae Dunelmensis, edited by J Raine in his Historiae Dunelmensis scriptores. (London, 1839)
• Hutchinson, W. History of Durham. (Newcastle, 1785-1794).
• Low, J. L. Diocesan History of Durham (London, 1881)
• Mandell Creighton in the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. iv. (London, 1885).
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Preceded by unknown	Titular Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem 1306–1311	Succeeded by unknown
Preceded by Robert of Holy Island	Bishop of Durham 1284–1310	Succeeded by Richard Kellaw