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siastical censure.

by eccle- ad condignam satisfactionem canonicam justitiam exercere. Salvo in omnibus jure episcopi, et ejus potestate. Nec liceat archidiaconis, decanis, vel aliis officialibus Lincolniensis episcopatus, excommunicatos aut interdictos a vobis absolvere, citra mandatum episcopi vel vestri. Præcipimus autem ut sententia, quæ a vobis lata fuerit, per archidiaconos vel decanos, seu alios episcopatus officiales, executioni mandetur.

William

de Blois,

Consimilem literam concessit episcopus Willielmus,1 successor Hugonis prælibati.

Dicto autem Hugone mortuo mundaliter, sed vivente bishop, cum Deo perenniter, succesit ei magister Willielmus de 1203-1206. Bleynis,2 Lincolniensis ecclesiæ præcentor; vir literatus

His continence under

3

et benignus, cujus memoria in benedictione, ut pie traditur a nonnullis. Nam circiter centum annis a corporis sui humatione effluxis, cum corpus suum a loco in quo jacebat humatum amotum fuisset, prætextu pulchrioris fabricæ in ecclesia faciendæ, inventum fuit integrum; et vinum in calice, cum quo humatum fuerat, recens, ut videbatur, et purum.

Refertur de eo quod, cum Parisiis statum teneret in artibus magistralem, domina quædam Parisiensis temptation. abundans, videns eum corpore elegantem, concupivit speciem carnis suæ. Et quadam vice, in vesperis, ip

1 This letter, again, is in the Reg. Antiquiss. f. 185.

2 Bleynis] So in Brown Willis's
extracts; "Bleynes" in Matthew
Hutton's; the only authorities who
give the name from J. de Schalby.
Both, no doubt, are corrupt.

William de Blois was consecrated
August 24, 1203, and died May 10,
1206. He had been precentor of
Lincoln since 1196.

3 This would be about 1306.
The only work in hand at the
fabric, anywhere near this time, of

which we have any record, was the building of the upper portion of the central tower. Still, as Schalby is here speaking of an event in his days at Lincoln, there was no doubt some other work in hand about this time, of which we have no record, which made the removal of William de Blois's body necessary. Moreover, there are remains in the choir of work of about this date, the Easter Sepulchre for instance, which may well have been the work here mentioned by Schalby.

sum de campo quo causa spatiandi adierat venientem in hospicium suum callide introduxit; et cœna splendida sibi facta, cum tantam moram ibi fecisset quod illa hora noctis hospicium proprium adire periculum sibi foret, per totam noctem cogitur commorari. Assignataque sibi camera certa, et lecto sibi parato in ea, cum lectum fuisset ingressus, et commisisset se quieti, accessit ad eum dicta domina secrete, et lectum ipsius ingressa ipsum modis quibus potuit ad carnalem copulam provocavit. Sed cum ipse nollet ipsius libidini consentire, appropinquante aurora, mulier, verso dorso ad parietem, eum a lecto pedibus expulit impudenter. Qui se induens pannos suos, adivit scholas suas, et lectionem suam legit sicut potuit illa vice. Finita autem lectione eo scholas egresso, dicta domina, vestibus preciosis induta, in luto cecidit flexis genibus ante eum, petens ab eo veniam de commisso. Qua optenta, eadem domina, quæ antea vixerat dissolute, ex tunc vixit toto vitæ suæ tempore continenter.

Defuncto Willielmo prædicto, successit ei Hugo de Hugh de Wells, regis Angliæ cancellarius. Qui, anno Domini bishop,

1 cancellarius] This seems a mistake for "clericus." His name occurs frequently, in the rolls of John's reign, the Charter rolls more especially, from 1200 to 1209; but only as the king's clerk. Wendover however (iii. 228) calls him archdeacon of Wells and the king's chancellor, when elected to Lincoln, and moreover says (231), that when John heard of his consecration by Langton, he seized into his hands the bishopric of Lincoln, and appointed Walter de Gray his chancellor.

This is certainly wrong; for Walter de Gray became chancellor

in October 1205, and held the office
until July 1214.

In the Rolls he is first called
archdeacon of Wells on May 1,
1204; and so to March 29, 1209.
April 12, 1209, he is for the first
time called elect of Lincoln. He
had held other preferments besides
the archdeaconry of Wells; amongst
which the prebend of Louth in
Lincoln cathedral, to which he was
presented by the king in March
1203 (Rot. Lit. Pat. 27). He was
sometime rector of Aldefrith, Nor-
folk, where he seems to have built
a new church dedicated to St. Ni-
cholas (Rot. Lit. Claus. 159). Upon

Wells,

1209-1235.

Robert

M°CCIX. episcopatum adeptus, vii. Idus Februarii
M°CCXXXV., in Domino, ut traditur, obdormivit.

Hic aulam episcopalem, a sancto Hugone egregie inchoatam, ut præmittitur, et coquinam, sumptuoso opere consummavit. Et plura alia bona fecit.

Anno autem quo prædictus obiit Hugo, electus fuit Grostete, in episcopum Robertus dictus Grosteste, canonicus ecbishop, 1235-1253. clesiæ Lincolniensis, et a sancto Edmundo archiepiscopo Cantuariensi consecratus.1 Hic fuit eminenti præclarus scientia literarum, et doctor theologiæ famosus: cujus opiniones 2 . a theologia reputantur. Hic personaliter interfuit concilio Lugdunensi, sub Innocentio quarto pontifice celebrato; in quo depositus fuit ab imperio Fredericus. Hic missus prædicare,3 prædicatoris

At the council of Lyons in 1245.

his election to Lincoln in 1209, he
was sent by John into Normandy,
to be consecrated by the archbishop
of Rouen. Instead of this he went
to Langton, and was consecrated by
him at Melun, December 20 of that
year (Wendover, iii. 231). John,
of course, seized the bishoprick of
Lincoln into his hands; and Hugh
de Wells, of course, did not return
into England until after John had
succumbed.

He died, as our author says,
February 7, 1235. His will is pre-
served at Lincoln, dated June 1,
1233, which I give infra in Ap-
pendix G.

The invaluable Rolls and Registers of the bishops of Lincoln, -perfect, almost, henceforward up to about 1500, and far later for anything I can say to the contrary,— commence in January 1220, the 11th year of his pontificate.

1 Grostête was consecrated at Reading; but the day on which the consecration took place is vari

ously stated by such chroniclers as give it. The Winchester Annals say, 15 Kal. June, i.e. May 18; the Tewkesbury, June 15. Wendover and M. Paris say, June 3; Thos. Wikes, June 17; and the Lanercost chronicler, September 29. Of these days in 1235, all but June 3 and 17 must at once be dismissed as impossible, because not falling on a Sunday. Professor Stubbs, in his Episcopal Succession, has adopted Wikes's date, June 17. He no doubt had good reason for this; but Wendover's June 3, to ordinary comprehension, seems to rest on far better authority.

2 We have here only Brown Willis's very corrupt extracts. The gap is according to him.

9 Here again we have only Brown Willis. His reading looks more like "pedicone" than prædicare. Perhaps Schalby wrote "Huic com"missa prædicatione," or something like it. The gap after nedum is according to Brown Willis.

ing before the pope

of Rome. His suit

officium ad quem pertinuit delinquentes arguere sic His preachimplevit, quod nedum . . . . pontificem, sed et curiales super multis arguere non expavit: cujus prætextu in- and court dignationem incurrit non modicam eorundem. Hic litem contra capitulum suum Lincolniense, super jure with his chapter; visitandi idem capitulum, ac prebendas exteriores pre- and vicbendis interioribus annexas, ecclesias de communa, aliis- tory. que pluribus articulis, in Romana curia obtinebat1 et sententiam reportavit. Zelum ferventissimum habens His fervent ad procurandam salutem animarum in sua diocesi, et ruling his hoc in pontificis officii executione sollicita ostendere diocese. non cessavit; et sic, in dilectione libertatis ecclesiasticæ, murum pro domo Domini se opposuit, quod episcopi nomen recte sibi competere comprobavit. Cum his et aliis meritis pius episcopus hic fulguit, decidit in ægritudinem; qua ab hac luce subtractus, vi. idus Octobris His death. M°CCLIII., ad gaudia sanctorum transivit.

zeal in

afterwards.

Nam post ipsius obitum, bonorum omnium Retri- Miracles butor Altissimus operari dignatus est pro eodem plurima miracula manifesta. Inter quæ, tumba marmorea ejusdem viri Dei oleum purissimum repetitis vicibus, plurimis in ecclesia præsentibus, emanavit. Et licet

1 The Dunstable Annals (p. 168, Luard) tell us that Grostête obtained this victory over the canons of Lincoln, in the council at Lyons in 1245.

2 There is great variety again, as of the day of his consecration, so of the day of his death, amongst the chroniclers who mention it. They all agree, however, as to the month and year. He died 4 Non. October (October 4), according to the Winchester Annals; Non. (October 7), Continuation of Flor. of Worc., and the Burton Annals; 8 Id. (October 8), the Peterborough Chronicle (Camden Society), and the Spalding

Chronicle (Chron. Angl. Petriburg.
of Sparke and Giles); 7 Id. (Oc-
tober 9), M. Paris; on St. Calix-
tus's day, October 14, the Dunstable
Annals.

The 6 Id. (October 10) of my text
is probably the true day. The autho-
rity for its having been the reading
of J. de Schalby, is a note in Rich-
ardson's Godwin: "Ita Martilogium
"penes Dec. et Cap. Linc." Brown
Willis, who alone gives us here the
text of Schalby, has "Idus" only.
Richardson's note is very far more
trustworthy. This day is adopted,
without hesitation, by Professor
Stubbs, in his Episcopal Succession.

efforts for

nization.

Ineffectual decanus et capitulum Lincolniense pro canonizatione his cano- ejusdem1 sedi apostolicæ scripserint vicibus repetitis, muniti literis regularibus, et procerum regni tam clericorum quam laicorum, miracula ad invocationem Dei ob merita dicti viri facta testificantibus, una cum vita et conversatione ejusdem, in nullo, ante confectionem præsentis tractatus, qua de causa Deus novit, proficere potuerunt.

Henry de Lexinton, bishop, 1253-1258.

Successit dicto Roberto Henricus de Lexington. Qui in crastino beati Thomæ martyris MCCLIIII.2 in epi

His

1 The great effort for his canonization seems to have been about 1307; see Godwin, and Richardson's note, and Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. 343. As to his beatitude, the Lincoln authorities settled the matter for themselves, notwithstanding the refusal of papal canonization. "tumba" had its regular custodians, its devotees, and its offerings. In 1314 bishop Dalderby,- himself afterwards in like manner a saint of Lincoln, though rejected as such at Rome,-granted an indulgence of forty days to worshippers at Grostête's tomb (Mem. Dalderby, MS. Linc., f. 278). In after times the "tumba" of bishops Grostête and Dalderby seem to have received almost as much veneration as the "feretrum" of St. Hugh. There are many mentions of them; I will give one instance in 1345, Galfrid Luterel, lord of Irnham, bequeaths in his will, "feretro S. Hu

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2 MCCLIIII.] i.e. reckoning the year as beginning with Christmas day. He was elected December 30, 1253, consecrated May 17, 1254, and enthroned at Lincoln June 29 (Dunstable Annals, p. 190, Luard). All authorities, I believe, who mention the day, place his death, with our author, on August 8, 1258.

Henry de Lexinton had been dean of Lincoln since 1245. He was one of several eminent brothers, of a family who took their name from Lexinton, now Laxton, Notts. One of these brothers, Robert de Lexinton,-past and present associations are my excuse for adding, -was a canon of Southwell, and a large benefactor there. Amongst other benefactions, he gave to Southwell the rectory of Barnburgh, which I now hold. None of these brothers left issue. On the death of the bishop of Lincoln in 1258, their large possessions came to Richard de Markham and William de Sutton, sons of sisters (Excerpt. e Rot. Fin., Record Commission, ii. 250, 287). For many genera

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