William Longchamp

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William Longchamp

Ely Cathedral
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Ely
Title Bishop of Ely
Period in office 1189–1197
Predecessor Geoffrey Ridel
Successor Eustace
Personal
Date of death January 1197
Place of death Poitiers
William Longchamp
In office
December 1189 – 1191
Monarch Richard
Preceded by Hugh de Puiset (co-chief Justiciar until June 1190)
Succeeded by Walter de Coutances
Constituency South of the Humber River (March-June 1190)
Chancellor of England
In office
1189 – 1197
Monarch Richard
Preceded by Geoffrey
Succeeded by Eustace
Monarch Richard, Duke of Aquitaine
Nationality Norman
Relations Brothers: Osbert, Stephen, Henry, Robert; sisters: Melisend, Richeut
Occupation Bishop
Profession clergy

William Longchamp (sometimes William de Longchamp or William de Longchamps) (died 1197), was a medieval chancellor of England, Chief Jusiticar and bishop of Ely. He was born in Normandy, and some of the later difficulties he had governing England for King Richard I of England may have been due to his differing views of government from the English. His family was humble, and he owed his advancement to royal favour. When Richard took the throne in 1189, Longchamp paid 3000 pounds for the office of Chancellor, and was soon named to the see, or bishopric, of Ely. He was also named papal legate by the pope.

While Richard was on the Third Crusade, Longchamp governed England, but his rule was contested by Richard's brother, John of England. Longchamp also had disputes with Richard and John's illegitimate brother Geoffrey, Archbishop of York. Eventually the conflicts led to Longchamp being driven from power and England, and he went to Germany to help secure the release of Richard from the German Emperor's custody. Although he retained the office of Chancellor after Richard's return from captivity, Longchamp never regained power in England, although he retained Richard's trust and was employed by the king until the bishop's death in 1197.

Contents

[edit] Early life

William was born in Normandy,[1] near Argenton. His father was Hugh de Longchamp, who held land in England also. Hugh Nonant, who was an opponent of Longchamp's, declared that the elder Longchamp was the son of a peasant, but this is unlikely.[2] The medieval writer William of Newburgh claimed that Longchamp was "an obscure foreigner of unproven ability and loyalty".[3] His family was originally of humble background, but had risen through service to King Henry II of England.[4] He had a sister, Richeut, who married the castellan of Dover Castle.[5][2] Among his brothers was Osbert, who remained a layman and owed much of his advancement to his brother.[6] Other brothers were Stephen, who served King Richard I of England on crusade; Henry, another layman who became a sheriff along with Osbert; and Robert who became a monk. Another sister, Melisend, came to England with him, but otherwise is unknown.[2]

Longchamp entered public life at the close of Henry II's reign as official to the king's illegitimate son Geoffrey. He soon left Geoffrey for another of Henry's sons, Richard, duke of Aquitaine; who made him chancellor of the Duchy of Aquitaine.[7] He served in Henry II's chancery before he started serving Richard.[8] He first distinguished himself at Paris, as Richard's envoy, when in 1189 he countered Henry's envoy, William Marshall, to Philip Augustus. Longchamp was already one of Richard's trusted advisors at this point.[9]

[edit] Chancellor and Justiciar

On Richard's accession in 1189 Longchamp became chancellor of the kingdom.[10] Longchamp paid 3000 pounds for the office of chancellor, and the increase in the price of having chancery documents sealed may have been expected to help Longchamp recoup the cost of office. At the council held at Pipewell on September 15, 1189, the king raised Longchamp to the see of Ely.[2] Richard named three other bishops at the same time: Godfrey de Lucy to Winchester, Richard FitzNigel to London, and Hubert Walter to Salisbury.[11] Richard of Devizes, the medieval chronicler, wrote that the four new bishops were "men of no little virtue and fame".[12] He was consecrated on December 31, 1189[13] and enthroned at Ely on January 6, 1190.[14]

When Richard left England in December 1189, he put the tower of London in Longchamp's hands and chose him to share with Hugh de Puiset, the bishop of Durham, the office of chief justiciar.[8] The two bishops did not get along, and in March 1190 Richard gave authority north of the Humber River to Hugh, and authority south of that river to Longchamp. By June, Longchamp had eased Hugh out of power and office.[8] In June 1190 he received a commission as a papal legate from Pope Clement III.[14] Supposedly this cost Richard 1500 marks to secure this for Longchamp from the papacy.[15]

While in office, the bishop granted to the citizens of London the right to elect their own sheriffs. They also acquired the right to collect and remit their monetary levy of 300 pounds direct to the Exchequer.[16] Longchamp's visitations to his diocese were accompanied with a large train of retainers and animals, and they became notorious throughout the country as a sign of his extravagance.[17] Under he legatine authority, the bishop held church councils at Gloucester and Westminster in 1190. He also acted to restore authority in York, which had suffered a breakdown in order with the massacre of Jews in March 1190. Also in 1190, he sent an army against Rhys ap Gruffydd, a Welsh prince who was attempting to throw off the control of the marcher lords that surrounded Wales.[2]

[edit] Disputes with John

Gate at Lincoln Castle, which Longchamp besieged in 1190.
Gate at Lincoln Castle, which Longchamp besieged in 1190.

Longchamp's relations with the English people were made more difficult because the bishop was a native of Normandy, and often insensitve to the differing customs in England.[4] Throughout 1190, Longchamp's relations with Richard's younger brother John had been difficult.[18] This led to Longchamp besieging Lincoln Castle because the castellan would not surrender the castle and allow himself to be replaced by Longchamp's nominee.[19] The castellan, Gerard de Camville, had also sworn homage to John and stated he would no longer recognize the chancellor's authority.[2] In response, John took the two castles of Tickhill and Northampton.[19] News of the disagreements reached Richard, who sent Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen back to England in late spring of 1191 with orders to try and negotiate a peace between John and Longchamp.[5] Eventually, Walter reached a compromise between the two where Gerard was confirmed as castellan and John relinquished the castles.[2] Longchamp also agreed to work to ensure John's succession to the throne if Richard died.[18]

Longchamp's legatine commission had expired in the spring of 1191 with the death of Pope Clement III,[14] which removed one of Longchamp's power bases.[18] By the middle of summer in 1191, Clement's successor Celestine III had renewed the legation.[2] But in September 1191 Henry II's son Geoffrey, now Archbishop of York, was arrested by Longchamp's subordinates when he landed at Dover.[18] The leader of the subordinates was the castellan of Dover Castle, Longchamp's brother-in-law.[5] Their orders had been to arrest the archbishop of York, but Geoffrey had warning of their plans, and fled to sanctuary in St. Martin's Priory. Longchamp's men laid siege to the Priory, and after four days forcibly removed Geoffrey from the priory. The violence of the attack against Geoffrey reminded the public of Thomas Becket's martyrdom, and public opinon turned against the bishop.[18] An intense propaganda campaign led by partisans of John, then ensued.[18] A leader of the campaign against Longchamp was Hugh Nonant, Bishop of Coventry, who along with other magnates convened a trial on October 5, 1191 at Lodden Bridge near London. Longchamp did not attend the trial, which declared Longchamp deposed. The bishops excommunicated him, and after trying to hold the Tower of London,[5] Longchamp was forced to surrender due to lack of support from the citizens of London. The council then declared his offices forfeit, and ordered the surrender of the castles in his custody.[2] The main charge against Longchamp appears to have been his autocratic behavior.[5]

Longchamp then went to Dover to seek transport to the continent. While there, he attempted to leave England in disguise, but was unsuccessful. Various stories were told of his disguises, which varied from a monk's habit to women's clothes. Hugh Nonant wrote that Longchamp attempted to hide in prostitute's garb, which led to the bishop being assaulted by a fisherman who mistook him for a whore. Eventually, Longchamp managed to leave England on October 29.[2]

[edit] Exile and return

Longchamp journeyed to the court of the Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who was holding King Richard I captive at Trifels. The bishop arranged with the emperor for Richard to held at the imperial court, and also worked out a payment plan for the ransom, which totaled 100,000 marks. The emperor agreed to release Richard once 70,000 marks of the ransom had been paid and hostages for the payment of the rest had been received.[20] When the emperor in January 1194 called a meeting of the imperial magnates to debate King Philip II of France's offer to pay the emperor to keep Richard captive, Longchamp attended along with Walter of Coutances and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard's mother. After further diplomatic wrangling, Richard was freed on February 4, 1194.[21]

The bishop returned to England with Richard, and was soon embroiled in the renewal of his disagreement with Arcbishop Geoffrey of York.[22] Richard rewarded Longchamp with custody of Eye, as well as appointment as sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire.[2] Richard continued to use Longchamp in diplomacy, for it was the bishop who arranged a truce with King Philip in 1194.[23] Longchamp was back at the emperor's court in 1195.[2] The king also retained Longchamp as chancellor, but the main power in England became Hubert Walter.[24] Longchamp did not return to England after he left with Richard in May 1194.[25]

[edit] Death and legacy

He died in January of 1197,[13] at Poitiers[24] while on a diplomatic mission to Rome for Richard.[26] He was buried at the abbey of Le Pin.[2] Longchamp was often described as short and ugly in his life, and the historian Austin Lane Poole says that Gerald of Wales described the bishop as more like an ape than a man.[6] Some of the attacks against him included claims that he was homosexual.[2] His brother Osbert was made sheriff of Yorkshire by his brother.[6] He promoted the careers of his brothers, with both Henry and Osbert becoming sheriffs in the 1190s.[2] His clerical brother Robert also benefited, as he became prior of the Ely cathedral chapter and later abbot of St. Mary's in York.[27]

Longchamp wrote a work on law entitled Practica legum et decretorum.[2] He was a cultured man, and well educated.[8] Nigel Wireker, a medieval poet, dedicated a satirical poem on the habits of students which was named Speculum Stultorum to the bishop.[28] One of Longchamp's innovations as chancellor was the replacement of the first person singular previously used to refer to the king with a first person plural.[2] However, it appears likely that Longchamp did not speak English, as during his attempted escape in late 1191, he was unable to answer the local people when they spoke to him in English.[29]

John Gillingham, the historian, wrote that Longchamp's "record of his life in politics and administration was a good one, spoiled only by his failure in 1191."[8] However, Gerald of Wales disliked him, and called him that "monster with many heads".[30] Much of the information on his career comes from people hostile to him, but he was supported by others, including Pope Clement III, who when he appointed Longchamp legate, wrote that he did so at the urging of the English bishops.[31] Some have seen in assembly that met to try Longchamp in 1191 a precursor to the gathering at Runnymede in 1215 that drew up Magna Carta.[32]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Spear "The Norman Empire and the Secular Clergy" Journal of British Studies p. 6
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Turner "Longchamp, William de (d. 1197)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ^ quoted in Gillingham Richard I p. 121
  4. ^ a b Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England p. 352-353
  5. ^ a b c d e Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England p. 373-376
  6. ^ a b c Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 352-353
  7. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 351 footnote 3
  8. ^ a b c d e Gillingham Richard I p. 121-122
  9. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 98
  10. ^ Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 84
  11. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 109
  12. ^ quoted in Gillingham Richard I p. 109
  13. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 244
  14. ^ a b c British History Online Bishops of Ely accessed on October 25, 2007
  15. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 130
  16. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 70
  17. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 223
  18. ^ a b c d e f Gillingham Richard I p. 227-229
  19. ^ a b Huscroft Ruling England p. 144
  20. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 239
  21. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 247-248
  22. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 272
  23. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 290
  24. ^ a b Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England p. 385-386
  25. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 368-369
  26. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 302 footnote 5
  27. ^ Knowles Heads of Religious Houses p. 46
  28. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 241
  29. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 488
  30. ^ quoted in Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England p. 353
  31. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 358
  32. ^ Powell The House of Lords p. 100

[edit] References

Political offices
Preceded by
Geoffrey		 Lord Chancellor
1189–1197		 Succeeded by
Eustace
(Keeper of the Great Seal)
Preceded by
Hugh de Puiset		 Chief Justiciar
1189		 Succeeded by
Walter de Coutances
Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Geoffrey Ridel		 Bishop of Ely
1189–1197		 Succeeded by
Eustace
Persondata
NAME Longchamp, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Longchamp, William de; Longchamps, William de
SHORT DESCRIPTION Lord Chancellor of England; Bishop of Ely; Chief Justiciar of England
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH January 1197
PLACE OF DEATH Poitiers