Hugh Nonant

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Hugh Nonant
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Coventry
Title Bishop of Coventry
Period in office 1185–1198
Predecessor Gerard la Pucelle
Successor Geofrey de Muschamp
Personal
Date of death March 27, 1198

Hugh Nonant was a medieval Bishop of Coventry.

Contents

[edit] Early life

He was a great-nephew of John bishop of Lisieux, who had been the chief deputy in Normandy of King Henry I of England,[1] and he was also a nephew of Arnulf of Lisieux.[2] He was a canon in his uncle's cathedral chapter[3] before serving as an archdeacon of the diocese of Lisieux from 1167 until 1184.[4] Hugh served in the household of Thomas Becket while Becket was archbishop of Canterbury,[5] and went into exile with Becket, although Hugh left Becket's service while the archbishop was in exile.[6] Hugh had been reconciled to King Henry II of England by 1170. In 1184, Hugh was sent by the king to the papal curia to petition Pope Lucius III on behalf of Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Henry II's son-in-law. Hugh's success on this mission probably was the reason he was elevated to the episcopate in 1185.[7]

[edit] Bishop of Coventry

He was elected bishop in 1185, probably in January, and consecrated on January 31, 1188.[8] The long delay between his election and his consecration was due to Hugh's continued diplomatic efforts on behalf of Henry II. In 1186, Hugh was sent to Rome to secure papal permission for the crowning of Prince John of England as king of Ireland. Hugh was briefly in England from December of 1186 until February of 1187, but then went with Henry to the continent and did not return to England until January of 1188. However, when Henry returned to France in July of 1188, Hugh accompanied the king and did not return until shortly before the coronation of King Richard I of England. Hugh also purchased the offices of sheriff in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire. Holding these offices was against canon law, and Hugh's tenure in these offices may have been the cause of Hugh's quarrel with Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury.[7]

It was after the coronation of Richard that Hugh had a dispute with the monks of his cathedral chapter which led to Hugh replacing the monks with secular clergy. He was said to have commented that "I call my clerks gods and the monks demons."[9] Hugh was very shrewd and eloquent, but he was also violent in his attempts to reform or expel his monastic clergy from Coventry. In October of 1189 he attempted to persuade his fellow bishops who had monastic cathedral chapters to expel the monks and replace them with secular clergy. He also attempted to get all the bishops to prosecute a joint case at Rome to expel the monastic cathedral chapters, but gave up that idea after the archbishop of Canterbury Baldwin of Exeter declined to go along. Hugh did, however, receive papal sanction for the replacement of monks at Coventry. By 1197, however, Pope Clement III issued instructions to Hubert Walter archbishop of Canterbury, Hugh of Lincoln bishop of Lincoln and Samson of Tottington Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, to restore the monks to the cathedral.[10]

After King Richard went to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade, Hugh was a partisan of Prince John, King Richard's brother. Hugh joined with John in trying to wrest control of the castles of Tickhill and Nottingham from William Longchamp bishop of Ely, who had been named justiciar and chancellor during Richard's absence. It was probably Hugh that was responsible for the meeting at Loddon Bridge on October 5, 1191 that ended in the deposition of Lonchamp from office.[2] Hugh stuck by John's side throughout the time that Richard was on Crusade and in captivity, and was tried with John after Richard's return to England in 1194. Hugh was only restored to royal favor in 1195 after the payment of a fine of five thousand marks.[11] Hugh lost his three sheriffdoms, and retired to Normandy.[12]

[edit] Death and legacy

He died on March 27, 1198.[8] Before his death he was clothed in the habit of a Benedictine monk by the monks of Bec Abbey[10] and he died at Bec.[7] The historian A. L. Poole described Hugh as a "dexterous and unprincipled politician who had inherited the diplomatic gifts of his uncle."[13] Hugh's brother was Robert Brito, who was captured by King Richard in 1194 and starved to death because Robert had earlier refused to be a hostage for the payment of Richard's ransom.[14] The constitutions of the cathedral chapter at Lichfield are often stated to have been his work, but this has been disproven.[7]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Barlow The Feudal Kingdom of England Fourth Edition p. 192
  2. ^ a b Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England Fourth Edition p. 373-376
  3. ^ Schriber The Dilemma of Arnulf of Lisieux p. 60
  4. ^ Schriber The Dilemma of Arnulf of Lisieux p. 58
  5. ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 78
  6. ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 131
  7. ^ a b c d Franklin "Nonant, Hugh de (d. 1198)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  8. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 253
  9. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 477
  10. ^ a b Knowles The Monastic Order in England p. 322-324
  11. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 270
  12. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 368
  13. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 357
  14. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 269 footnote 2

[edit] References

  • Barlow, Frank The Feudal Kingdom of England: 1042-1216 Fourth Edition New York: Longman 1988 ISBN 0-582-49504-0
  • Barlow, Frank Thomas Becket Berkeley, CA:University of California Press 1986 ISBN 0-520-07175-1
  • Bartlett, Robert England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075-1225 Oxford:Clarendon Press 2000 ISBN 0-19-822741-8
  • Franklin, M. J. "Nonant, Hugh de (d. 1198)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 Online Edition accessed January 14, 2008
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  • Gillingham, John Richard I New Haven:Yale University Press 1999 ISBN 0-300-07912-5
  • Knowles, Dom David The Monastic Order in England: From the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976 reprint ISBN 0-521-05479-6
  • Poole, A. L. Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087-1216 Second Edition Oxford:Clarendon Press reprint 1986 ISBN 0-19-821707-2
  • Schriber, Carolyn Poling The Delimma of Arnulf of Lisieux: New Ideas versus Old Ideals Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press 1990 ISBN 0-253-35097-2
Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Gerard la Pucelle		 Bishop of Coventry
1185–1198		 Succeeded by
Geofrey de Muschamp
Persondata
NAME Nonant, Hugh
ALTERNATIVE NAMES de Nonant, Hugh
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Coventry
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1198
PLACE OF DEATH