Walter de Cantilupe

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Walter de Cantilupe
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Worcester
Title Bishop of Worcester
Period in office 1236–1266
Predecessor William de Blois, Bishop of Worcester
Successor Nicholas of Ely
Personal
Date of death February 12, 1266

Walter de Cantilupe (d. 1265) was a medieval Bishop of Worcester.

Contents

[edit] Life

He came of a family which had risen by devoted service to the crown. His father, William de Cantilupe,[1] and his elder brother are named by Roger of Wendover among the evil counsellors of King John of England, apparently for no better reason than that they were consistently loyal to an unpopular master.

[edit] Early Career

Walter at first followed in his father's footsteps, entering the service of the Exchequer and acting as an itinerant Justice in the early years of Henry III.[1]

But he also took minor holy orders, and, in 1236, although not yet a deacon, received the see of Worcester. He was elected on August 30, 1236 and was consecrated on May 3, 1237.[2] He was ordained a deacon on April 4, 1237 and a priest on April 18, 1237.[1]

[edit] Bishop of Worcester

As Bishop, he identified himself with the party of ecclesiastical reform, which was then led by Edmund Rich and Robert Grosseteste. Like his leaders he was sorely divided between his theoretical belief in the papacy as a divine institution and his instinctive condemnation of the policy which Pope Gregory IX and Pope Innocent IV pursued in their dealings with the English church. At first a court favorite, the Bishop came at length to the belief that the evils of the time arose from the unprincipled alliance of Crown and Papacy.

He raised his voice against Papal demands for money, and after the death of Grosseteste in 1253 was the chief spokesman of the nationalist clergy. At the parliament of Oxford in 1258 he was elected by the popular party as one of their representatives on the committee of twenty-four which undertook to reform the administration; from that time until the outbreak of civil war he was a man of mark in the councils of the baronial party. During the war he sided with Montfort and, through his nephew, Thomas de Cantilupe, who was then Chancellor of Oxford University, brought over the university to the popular side.

[edit] The Barons Wars

He was present at the Battle of Lewes and blessed the Montfortians before they joined battle with the army of the King; he entertained Simon de Montfort on the night before the final rout and defeat of the Battle of Evesham.

During Simon's dictatorship, the Bishop appeared only as a mediating influence; in the triumvirate of Electors who controlled the administration, the clergy were represented by the Bishop of Chichester.

[edit] Death

Walter de Cantilupe died in the year after Evesham on February 12, 1266.[2] He was respected by all parties, and, though far inferior in versatility and force of will to Grosseteste, fully merits the admiration which his moral character inspired. He is one of the few constitutionalists of his day whom it is impossible to accuse of interested motives.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c British History Online Bishops of Worcester accessed on November 3, 2007
  2. ^ a b Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 261

[edit] References

Religious titles
Preceded by
William de Blois, Bishop of Worcester		 Bishop of Worcester
1236–1265		 Succeeded by
Nicholas of Ely
Persondata
NAME Cantilupe, Walter de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Worcester
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1265
PLACE OF DEATH