Walter Mauclerk

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Walter Mauclerk
Bishop of Carlisle
See Diocese of Carlisle
Elected 22 August 1223
Term ended resigned 26 June 1246
Predecessor Hugh of Beaulieu
Successor Silvester de Everdon
Other posts Canon of Carlisle Cathedral
Orders
Consecration winter 1223-1224
Personal details
Died circa 28 October 1248
Oxford
Denomination Catholic
Walter Mauclerk
7th Lord High Treasurer
In office
13 Nov 1228  1233
Monarch Henry III
Preceded by Eustace of Fauconberg
Succeeded by Peter des Rivaux
Personal details
Died circa 28 October 1248
Oxford
Religion Christian:Catholic

Walter Mauclerk (or Walter Mauclerc; died 1248) was a medieval Bishop of Carlisle and Lord High Treasurer of England.

Life

Mauclerk's origins are unknown, although he had a brother who was prior of Reading Abbey. Another kinsman, possibly a nephew, Robert Barri was named prior of Carlisle Cathedral while Walter was bishop. He is first recorded as a financial clerk in Normandy in 1202, and then later that same year as holding a church in Falaise. With the loss of Normandy, he returned to England and the king's court,[1] and received a prebend in Exeter in 1203. In 1204 and 1205 he helped administer Lincolnshire, collecting tallage other taxes.[2] He served King John of England in Rome as an envoy to Pope Innocent III in 1214 where he was expected to neutralize any baronial agents that might be sent. At the time, he was still a royal clerk.[3] In 1215, he was sent to Ireland, although only for a short time.[2] He served as a royal justice in the Midlands in 1218,[1] and as a royal justice in Nottingham in 1219, and in 1221 appointed as a forest justice in York, but was instead sent to Cumberland.[2] He served as Sheriff of Cumberland from 1222 to 1233.[4] He was a canon of Carlisle Cathedral[5] before he was elected to the see of Carlisle about 22 August 1223 and was consecrated that winter.[6]

Mauclerk continued to serve King Henry III of England, going to Cologne in 1225 as part of a diplomatic mission attempting to arrange a marriage between the king and a daughter of the duke of Austria. In 1227 he was in Poitou on the king's business.[1] He was Treasurer from 1228 to 1233,[7] when he was expelled from office even though he had been granted the office for life. This was a side effect of the fall from power of Hubert de Burgh during King Henry III's reign.[8] However, with the fall from power of Peter des Roches Walter returned to royal service. In 1235 he was once more in charge of an embassy attempting to find a bride for King Henry, this time to Flanders for a daughter of the count of Ponthieu.[1]

Mauclerk resigned the see on 26 June 1246 and died about 28 October 1248[6] at Oxford.[1] He resigned the bishopric to become a Dominican at Oxford.[5] During his time as bishop, he set the financial affairs of his diocese on a firm footing, and left most of his property to the diocese or to the Dominicans at Oxford.[1]

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Vincent "Mauclerk, Walter (d. 1248)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pegues "Clericus in Legal Administration" English Historical Review pp. 534–535
  3. Jones King John and Magna Carta p. 50
  4. Carpenter "Decline of the Curial Sheriff" English Historical Review p. 11
  5. 5.0 5.1 British History Online Bishops of Carlisle
  6. 6.0 6.1 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 235
  7. Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 103
  8. Powell and Wallis House of Lords p. 154

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Eustace of Fauconberg
Lord High Treasurer
1228–1233
Succeeded by
Peter des Rivaux
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Hugh of Beaulieu
Bishop of Carlisle
1223–1246
Succeeded by
Silvester de Everdon
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