Robert Winchelsey

Robert Winchelsey
Archbishop of Canterbury
Elected	13 February 1293
Term ended	11 May 1313
Predecessor	John Peckham
Successor	Thomas Cobham
Orders
Consecration	September 1294 by Pope Celestine V
Personal details
Died	11 May 1313 Otford
Buried	Canterbury Cathedral

Robert Winchelsey (or Winchelsea; c. 1245–1313) was an English Catholic theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the universities of Paris and Oxford, and later taught at both. Influenced by Thomas Aquinas, he was a scholastic theologian.

Winchelsey held various benefices in England, and was the Chancellor of Oxford University before being elected to Canterbury in early 1293. Although he initially had the support of Edward I, Winchelsey later became a forceful opponent of the king. The archbishop was encouraged by the papacy to resist Edward's attempts to tax the clergy. Winchelsey was also an opponent of the king's treasurer Walter Langton as well as other clergy. On one occasion he rebuked an abbot so sternly that the abbot suffered a fatal heart attack.

Following the election of a former royal clerk as Pope Clement V in 1305, the king was able to secure the archbishop's exile that same year. Upon the succession of Edward's son, Edward II, Winchelsey was allowed to return to England after the new king petitioned the pope to allow his return. Winchelsey soon joined the king's enemies, however, and was the only bishop to object to the return of the king's favourite, Piers Gaveston. Winchelsey died in 1313. Although miracles were alleged to have happened at his tomb, an attempt to have him declared a saint was unsuccessful.

Early life

Medieval lecturer from a painting by Laurentius de Voltolina, second half of the 14th century. Robert would have taught much like this.

Winchelsey studied and taught at the universities of Paris and Oxford, and became the Rector of Paris, and Chancellor of Oxford. While in Paris, he read, and possibly met, Thomas Aquinas, and his own theology was thereafter purely scholastic.^[1]

In 1283, he was appointed canon of St. Paul's in London, but it is unclear exactly when he returned to England. He held the prebend of Oxgate in the diocese of London,^[2] and was made Archdeacon of Essex, also in the London diocese, in about 1288.^[3]

Archbishop

Election

John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, died in December 1292. On 13 February 1293, Winchelsey was elected as his successor.^[4] Unusually, neither the pope nor the king had a hand in his election.^[1] On 1 April, Winchelsey left England for Rome to get papal confirmation.^[1] He was not consecrated immediately because of a papal vacancy; Celestine V eventually performed the ceremony at Aquila on 12 September 1294.^[5]

Disputes with Edward I

Winchelsey was a fearless opponent of Edward I. When he swore his oath of fealty to Edward, he offended the king by adding a declaration that he was only swearing fealty for the temporalities, not the spiritualities. All through his term as archbishop he refused to allow Edward to tax the clergy beyond certain levels, and withstood severe pressure to change his mind. In August 1295, he offered the king a tenth of all ecclesiastical revenues, less than Edward had hoped to collect from the clergy. Winchelsey did concede though that if the war with France, which was what the money was requested to fund, continued into the following year, then the clergy would be amenable to making further contributions.^[6]

Following the issue of the papal bull Clericis laicos in 1296, forbidding the payment of taxes to a secular power, Winchelsey urged his clergy in 1297 to refuse payments to Edward. However, the clergy of the province of York paid a tax of a fifth of their revenues. Edward then declared clerics who refused to pay outlaws, and ordered their property to be seized. He conceded that the clergy could return to his protection if they paid a fine of a fifth of their revenues, exactly what the northern clergy had offered in the way of taxation. The royal clerks and many other clergy paid the fines, and in March, the southern clergy met again, and after a long debate, Winchelsey instructed each clerk to decide for himself whether or not to pay the fine. It appears that most chose to pay,^[7] but the archbishop still refused to make any contribution, and so Edward seized his lands. They were returned to him in July 1297, when the king and prelate were reconciled at Westminster.^[8] Winchelsey then tried to mediate between Edward and the earls, who also objected to Edward's tax demands.^[9]

Winchelsey further irritated Edward with his opposition to the Bishop of Lichfield, Walter Langton, who was the king's treasurer.^[1] The king was not the only one to be upset by the archbishop; the abbot of Oseney, in 1297, was so affected by a rebuke from him that he suffered a fatal heart attack.^[10] In 1299, Winchelsey and the king briefly reconciled, and the archbishop presided at the king's second marriage, to Margaret of France, at Canterbury.^[11] Winchelsey vigorously asserted his authority over his suffragan, or subordinant bishops, quarrelled with Pope Boniface VIII over a Sussex living, and was excommunicated by one of the pope's clerks in 1301. He was absolved in 1302.^[5]

Exile and return

Winchelsey and the barons joined in demanding reforms from the king at the parliament of Lincoln in 1301, but Winchelsey's support of Boniface VIII's claim to be the protector of Scotland, broke the alliance. One of the reasons which led the archbishop to ally with the barons was his hostility to Edward's adviser, Walter Langton, Bishop of Lichfield. The king took no action against Winchelsey until the Gascon and former royal clerk Bertrand de Got was named Pope Clement V in 1305.^[12] Edward then sent two envoys – Langton and Henry Lacy – to the pope, to press his claim that Winchelsey was plotting against him. Clement suspended the archbishop on 12 February 1306.^[5] Winchelsey left England and went to the papal court at Bordeaux, where he stayed until Edward's death in July 1307. Only Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham supported the archbishop.^[1]

After the death of Edward I, the new king, Edward II, asked that Winchelsey be restored,^[13] which the pope agreed to on 22 January 1308.^[5] Soon after his return to England in early 1308 the archbishop joined the king's enemies.^[14] The archbishop, along with the Earl of Warwick, were the only people to object to the return of the new king's favourite Piers Gaveston to England in 1309.^[15] Winchelsey aided the barons in their prosecution of Edward II by sentencing their enemies to excommunication.^[16] He was appointed an Ordainer in 1310,^[17] and died at Otford on 11 May 1313.^[1]^[4]

Legacy

Winchelsey was a preacher of some note, and when preaching at St. Paul's he attracted large crowds to his sermons and lectures.^[18] Winchelsey's theological writings date primarily from his time at St. Paul's, where he delivered a number of quodibeta. The quaestiones disputatae from those sessions survive, and illustrate his highly orthodox trinitarian views and his scholastic method. Miracles were said to have been worked at his tomb in Canterbury cathedral, but efforts to have him declared a saint have been unsuccessful.^[1]

Citations

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Denton "Winchelsey, Robert" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
↑ Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 1: St. Paul's, London: Prebendaries: Oxgate
↑ Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 1: St. Paul's, London: Archdeacons: Essex
1 2 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 233
1 2 3 4 Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Canterbury: Archbishops
↑ Prestwich. Edward I p. 405
↑ Prestwich. Edward I pp. 415–17.
↑ Powell and Wallis House of Lords pp. 232–35
↑ Prestwich Edward I p. 420
↑ Prestwich Edward I pp. 412–413
↑ Prestwich Edward I p. 521
↑ Prestwich Edward I pp. 540–41
↑ Powell and Wallis. House of Lords, p. 266
↑ Weir. Queen Isabella p. 42
↑ Weir Queen Isabella p. 49
↑ Weir. Queen Isabella p. 55
↑ Powell and Wallis House of Lords pp. 275–276
↑ Moorman Church Life pp. 162–163

References

Denton, J.H. (2004). "Winchelsey, Robert (c. 1240–1313)" ((subscription or UK public library membership required)). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29713. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
Fryde, E.B.; Greenway, D.E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
Greenway, Diana E. (1971). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Canterbury: Archbishops. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
Greenway, Diana E. (1968). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 1: St. Paul's, London: Archdeacons: Essex. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
Greenway, Diana E. (1968). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 1: St. Paul's, London: Prebendaries: Oxgate. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
Moorman, John R.H. (1955). Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century (Revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 213820968.
Powell, J. Enoch; Wallis, Keith (1968). The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. OCLC 463626.
Prestwich, Michael (1997). Edward I. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07157-4.
Weir, Alison (2005). Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery and Murder in Medieval England. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-45319-0.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by John Peckham	Archbishop of Canterbury 1294–1313	Succeeded by Walter Reynolds (Thomas Cobham chosen but vetoed by the Pope)
Academic offices
Preceded by Hervey de Saham	Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1288–1289	Succeeded by William de Kingescote

Archdeacons of Essex and of West Ham
High Medieval	Theobald Walter Richard Ruffus Robert Banastre Richard de Hegham Theobald de Valognes Thomas de Fauconberg Hugh de Sancto Edmundo Stephen de Sandwic Richard of Gravesend Adam de Faversham Roger de La Legh Robert Winchelsey Laurence de Fuscis de Bera
Late Medieval	Aldebrand Riccardi de Militiis Hildebrand de Anibaldis Stephen de Segrave John de Elham William Vygerous Robert de Canterbury Hugh de Statherne John de Bouser William de Rothwell John Barnet John de Cantebrugg Roger de Freton Henry de Winterton Richard Prentys Edward Prentys John Shirborne Zanobius Mulakyn James Goldwell John Gunthorpe John Crall Edmund Audley Thomas Jane
Early modern	John de Lopez Francis de Busleiden Richard Rawson Edward Moylle Thomas Darbyshire Thomas Cole John Walker William Tabor Samuel Harsnett George Goldman Edward Layfield Thomas Turner Charles Alston Thomas Gooch Reuben Clerke William Gibson Thomas Rutherforth Stotherd Abdy James Waller
Late modern (Essex)	William Gretton Francis Wollaston Hugh Jones Carew St John-Mildmay James Carey Alfred Blomfield Henry Johnson Thomas Stevens, Bishop of Barking James Inskip, Bishop of Barking (became Archdeacon of West Ham)
West Ham	James Inskip (previously Archdeacon of Essex) Hugh Gough John Elvin Denis Wakeling James Adams John Taylor Peter Dawes Roger Sainsbury Tim Stevens Michael Fox Elwin Cockett

Archbishops of Canterbury
Pre-Conquest	Augustine Laurence Mellitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Wighard Theodore of Tarsus Berhtwald Tatwine Nothhelm Cuthbert Bregowine Jænberht Æthelhard Wulfred Feologild Ceolnoth Æthelred Plegmund Athelm Wulfhelm Oda Ælfsige Byrhthelm Dunstan Æthelgar Sigeric the Serious Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfheah Lyfing Æthelnoth Eadsige Robert of Jumièges Stigand
Conquest–Reformation	Lanfranc Anselm Ralph d'Escures William de Corbeil Theobald of Bec Thomas Becket Roger de Bailleul Richard of Dover Baldwin of Forde Reginald Fitz Jocelin Hubert Walter Reginald John de Gray Stephen Langton Walter d'Eynsham Richard le Grant Ralph Neville John of Sittingbourne John Blund Edmund of Abingdon Boniface William Chillenden Robert Kilwardby Robert Burnell John Peckham Robert Winchelsey Thomas Cobham Walter Reynolds Simon Mepeham John de Stratford John de Ufford Thomas Bradwardine Simon Islip William Edington Simon Langham William Whittlesey Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Thomas Arundel Roger Walden Thomas Arundel Henry Chichele John Stafford John Kemp Thomas Bourchier John Morton Thomas Langton Henry Deane William Warham Thomas Cranmer Reginald Pole
Post-Reformation	Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal John Whitgift Richard Bancroft George Abbot William Laud William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon William Sancroft John Tillotson Thomas Tenison William Wake John Potter Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Thomas Secker Frederick Cornwallis John Moore Charles Manners-Sutton William Howley John Bird Sumner Charles Longley Archibald Campbell Tait Edward White Benson Frederick Temple Randall Davidson Cosmo Lang William Temple Geoffrey Fisher Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Robert Runcie George Carey Rowan Williams Justin Welby
Italics indicate a person who was elected but not confirmed.

Chancellors of the University of Oxford

1224–1400

1400–1500

1500 onwards

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