Henry le Despenser
Henry le Despenser | |
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Edward le Despenser and Anne Ferrers | |
Alma mater | University of Oxford |
Henry le Despenser (c. 1341 – 23 August 1406) was an English nobleman and Bishop of Norwich whose reputation as the 'Fighting Bishop' was gained for his part in suppressing the Peasants' Revolt in East Anglia and in defeating the peasants at the Battle of North Walsham in the summer of 1381.
As a young man he studied at the
Despenser was an energetic and able administrator who staunchly defended his diocese against
Birth and ancestry
Henry le Despenser was the youngest son of
The
Henry's great-grandfather
In 1375, Despenser's nephew
Early career
In 1353 (as an eleven-year-old boy) Henry 'de Exon' became the
In this same tyme was Ser Herry Spenser a grete werrioure in Ytaile, or the tyme that he was promoted.[2][9]
Bishop of Norwich
In 1370 Despenser, then the canon of Salisbury, was appointed as Bishop of Norwich by a papal bull dated 3 April 1370. He was consecrated in Rome on 20 April and returned to England. He received the spiritualities of his see from the Archbishop of Canterbury on 12 July 1370 and the temporalities from the king on 14 August.[2][10]
Involvement in the suppression of the Peasants' Revolt
During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, rebels from Kent and Essex marched to London and, once admitted to the city, managed to capture the Tower of London. Richard, who had promised to agree to all the demands of the peasants, met the rebels outside the city, where the leader of the peasants Wat Tyler was killed and the rebellion was ended. The king's promises were retracted.
The rebellion quickly spread to other parts of England, including the diocese of Norwich, where it lasted for less than a fortnight.[11] On 14 June a group of rebels reached Thetford and from there the insurrection spread over south-western Norfolk towards the Fens. At the same time the rebels, led by a local dyer, Geoffrey Litster, moved across the north-eastern part of the county, urging insurrection throughout the local area. Over the next few days, the rebels converged on Norwich, Lynn and Swaffham.[11] Norwich, then one of the largest and most important cities in the realm, was taken and occupied by Litster and his followers, who caused considerable damage to the property and possessions of their enemies once they managed to enter the city.[11] The Norwich rebels then travelled to Yarmouth, destroying legal records and landowners' possessions; other insurgents moving across north-east Norfolk destroyed court rolls and taxation documents; there were numerous incidents of pillage and extortion across the whole county.[11]
Despenser first heard news of the rising in his own diocese at a time when he was absent at his manor of Burley in Rutland, 100 miles (160 km) west of Norwich. Armed, he hastened back to Norfolk via Peterborough, Cambridge and Newmarket, with a company of only eight lances and a small body of bowmen. His followers increased on the way, and by the time he reached North Walsham, near the Norfolk coast, he had a considerable force under his command. There he found the rebels entrenched and defended by makeshift fortifications.
According to the English chronicler Thomas Walsingham,[2] in the Battle of North Walsham, Henry le Despenser himself led the assault and overpowered his enemies in hand-to-hand fighting. Many of the peasants were slain or captured, including the rebels' leader, who was hanged, drawn and quartered soon afterwards. Despenser personally superintended Litster's execution. In the following months he proceeded to deal with other rebels in his diocese. But the rigour with which he put down the rebellion made him highly unpopular in Norfolk and in the following year a plot was organised to murder him. The scheme was betrayed in time by one of the conspirators, and the plotters were dealt with by the authorities.[2][12]
Following his successful crushing of the rebellion, Despenser may have commissioned the
The Norwich Crusade of 1383
Soon after
In the autumn and winter of 1382,
Both the commons and King Richard II were enthusiastic about the launch of a crusade to Flanders, for political and economic reasons: revenues from the English wool
On 6 December 1382, Richard ordered the crusade to be published throughout England.
The bishop issued mandates for the publication of the bulls
The inhabitants of Ypres were well prepared for a siege by the time the English and their allies arrived and attacked the city on 8 June 1383. Dwellings in the outlying suburbs had been abandoned; the timber from them was used to strengthen the earth ramparts and the stone gates of the city. A mission had been dispatched to Paris to replace artillery powder stocks. The city was well organised under the command of the Castellan of Ypres, John d'Oultre, and had been divided into different defensive sectors. Although the ramparts were low, they were well protected with a double wet ditch, a high thorny hedge reinforced with stakes and a wooden stockade and fire-step.[23]
The English attacked the Temple Gate on the first day but were beaten off. Over the next three days the city gates were attacked simultaneously, without success. Before the end of the first week of the siege, reinforcements arrived to completely encircle the city walls and the outer ditch was breached using soil. On the eighth day (15 June) Despenser attacked the defences with artillery, firing on the Messines Gate and damaging it, but not enough to cause the city defences to be breached. Over the following days of the siege, sustained artillery attacks had little overall effect and the assaults of Despenser's troops were all beaten off.[24] An attempt to drain the ditches seriously threatened the Yprois, but the attempt was unsuccessful and the besieged managed to communicate with the Duke of Burgundy through Louis le Mâle, who was able to raise a large French army to come to the aid of the city.[25] On 8 August, after eight weeks of effort, Despenser abruptly decided to abandon the siege, leaving his allies to continue on their own.
After the débâcle at Ypres, the bishop's forces divided, some going back to England, some remaining with the bishop and others under Sir Thomas Trivet and Sir
Career after 1383
Soon after returning from Flanders, the bishop was
Despenser's fall from grace did not last long. Following Scottish incursions into England, it was decided that the 18-year-old King Richard should lead an army into Scotland, marking the start of his military career.[34] In 1385 every magnate of consequence, including Despenser, joined the immense host that advanced north with the king,[35]
finding a country totally waste, where there was nothing to plunder, and little that could even be destroyed, excepting here and there a tower, whose massive walls defied all means of destruction then known, or a cluster of miserable huts.... (Sir Walter Scott, Scotland, vol. 1).[36]
The English army reached Edinburgh, which was sacked, but then retreated back to England, despite John of Gaunt's wish to go on to Fife.[35] The Scottish campaign was one of the last times that Despenser marched with an army.
Henry le Despenser continued to be controversial after his fighting career was over, mainly because of the vigorous methods he used to maintain control over the laity in his diocese and his own cathedral church. He defended the orthodoxy of the church against Lollardy as passionately as he defended his episcopal rights and privileges.
For over a decade Despenser was involved in disputes with the chapter of Norwich Cathedral and with other religious communities in his diocese, mainly concerning the bishop's right to intervene in their internal affairs. In 1394 the monks appealed successfully to Pope Boniface IX against Despenser, but in 1395 matters were still not resolved, for that year the pope ordered William Courtenay the Archbishop of Canterbury to assist in mediating between the parties. On Richard II's instruction, the bishop and the convent instead appeared before Archbishop Courtenay and a royal council, but Courtenay's death in July 1396 prevented a resolution of the dispute from being finalised until 1398, when a royal commission decided in favour of Despenser. Pope Boniface annulled the decisions of the commission in 1401, after the convent appealed to him, but the papal sentences were ignored by Despenser. Eventually the monks came to terms with the bishop and accepted a loss of their autonomy.[37]
Fighting Lollardy
Since 1381, there had been a growing fear of
Despenser took active steps to maintain orthodoxy in his own diocese. Walsingham praised Henry's actions against the Lollards and contrasted him with his fellow bishops:
He swore, moreover, and did not repent of what he said, that if anyone belonging to that perverse sect should presume to preach in his diocese, they should be taken to the fire or beheaded. Consequently, having understood this, no one belonging to that tendency had any desire to embrace martyrdom, with the result that, up to now, the faith and true religion have remained unaffected within the bounds of his episcopal authority. (Walsingham, Historia Anglicana).[39]
Henry however appears not to have dealt too savagely in dealing with heretics. On 1 May 1399,
Final years
Upon the death of
Henry was implicated in the abortive Epiphany Rising of January 1400, during which his nephew Thomas, Earl of Gloucester played a key part and was subsequently executed. Thomas had been created Earl of Gloucester by Richard II, but in 1399 was accused of being involved in the death of the son of the Duke of Gloucester and as a result lost his earldom. He joined in the conspiracy of the earls of Rutland, Kent and Huntingdon and was with their army at Cirencester, when they were attacked by the townsmen, who burnt Thomas le Despenser's lodgings. Thomas fled, boarding a ship, but the captain forced him to Bristol, where on 13 January[46] he was released to the mob and beheaded at the high cross.[47]
In the aftermath of the rebellion Henry le Despenser appointed John Derlington, the archdeacon of Norwich, as his vicar-general on 5 February 1400 and then submitted himself to the custody of Archbishop Arundel who accompanied him to Parliament on 20 January 1401.[48] There his enemy Sir Thomas Erpingham falsely accused him of being involved in the plot. He was finally reconciled to Henry IV when the king granted him a pardon in 1401.[49]
Despenser died on 23 August 1406,[50] and was buried in Norwich Cathedral before the high altar. A brass inscription dedicated to him was placed there, but has since been destroyed.[51]
Ancestry
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Notes
- ^ a b c d DNB
- ^ a b c d e f g DNB (1900)
- ^ Burke, B. (1814–1892), A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire (1869) p.670 online version
- ^ Allington-Smith 2003, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Allington-Smith 2003, p. 1.
- ^ McKisack 2004.
- ^ The Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 On-line version
- ^ "Henry de Exon 1353-?, By exch. with Geoffrey de Cornasano for a canonry with reservn. of preb. in Lanchester college. ch., co. Dur., 12 March 1353 (CPL. 11 482; see above p. 32)." (from: 'Canons of Llandaff', Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: volume 11: The Welsh dioceses (Bangor, Llandaff, St Asaph, St Davids) (1965), pp. 32-34, compid=32454&strquery=llandaff On-line version Date accessed: 13 June 2010.
- ^ Capgrave 1858, p. 158.
- ^ Fasti ecclesiae Anglicanae, p.465
- ^ a b c d Reid 1994, p. 86.
- ^ Knighton, Chronicle
- ISBN 978-1-13476-157-9.
- ^ "Norwich Cathedral, the Despenser Retable". Norwich360. 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
- ^ Allington-Smith 2003, chapter 4.
- ^ Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ii. 84
- ^ Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ii. 78 et seq.; Knighton, p. 2673 et seq.
- ^ Wilkins, Concil Magnæ Brit. iii. 176-8
- ^ Knighton. p. 2671
- ^ Westminster Chronicle On-line version Archived 29 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Knighton On-line version Archived 17 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Becke 1927, p. 553.
- ^ Becke 1927, pp. 550–51.
- ^ Becke 1927, pp. 553–54.
- ^ Becke 1927, p. 555.
- ^ Becke 1927, p. 562.
- ^ McKisack 2004, p. 432.
- ^ a b Allington-Smith 2003, pp. 69–70.
- ^ a b Saul 1999, p. 105.
- ^ a b Aston 1965, p. 146.
- ^ a b Aston 1965, p. 128.
- ^ Aston 1965, p. 131.
- ^ Allington-Smith 2003, pp. 73–78.
- ^ Oxford DNB 'Richard II'
- ^ a b McKisack 2004, pp. 439–40.
- ^ Scott 1845, p. 224.
- ^ Norwich Cathedral p.297
- ^ Saul 1999, chapter 13.
- ^ Allington-Smith 2003, p. 107.
- ^ History of England p.7
- ^ a b c Allington-Smith 2003, p. 123.
- ^ Chronique de la trahison et mort de Richart II, p.292
- ^ a b Allington-Smith 2003, p. 124.
- ^ Allington-Smith 2003, p. 99.
- ^ DNB (1900)
- ^ Chronicles of the revolution, 1397–1400: the reign of Richard II By Chris Given-Wilsonp.xv
- ^ DNB 1900
- ^ DNB
- ^ Stubbs 1896, pp. 26–27, 32.
- ^ Le Neve 1854, p. 465.
- ^ Blomefield 1806, chapter 38.
Sources
- Allington-Smith, R. (2003). Henry Despenser: the fighting bishop. Dereham: Larks Press. ISBN 978-1-904006-16-9.
- Aston, Margaret (November 1965). "The Impeachment of Bishop Despenser". Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. 38 (98): 127. .
- Becke, Major A.F., Late R.F.A. (January 1927). "Ypres: the story of a thousand years". Journal of the Royal Artillery. 53 (4): 549.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Norwich Cathedral: City, Church and Diocese, 1096–1996. London: Hambleton Press. 1996. ISBN 978-1-85285-134-7.
- Blomefield, Francis (1806). "An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 3: The History of the City and County of Norwich, part 1 (The city of Norwich, chapter 38: Of the Bishoprick)". British History Online. pp. 454–599.
- OCLC 01005280.
- Le Neve, J. (1854). Fasti ecclesiae Anglicanae. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. p. 465.
- ISBN 978-0-19-821712-1.
- Reid, A. (1994). An Historical Atlas of Norfolk. Norwich: Norfolk Museums Service. ISBN 978-0-903101-60-8.
- ISBN 978-0-300-07875-6.
- OCLC 977080471.
- OCLC 923437472.
Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Despenser, Henry, le". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Further reading
- British History Online. "Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: volume 11 – The Welsh dioceses (Bangor, Llandaff, St Asaph, St Davids)".
- Davies, R.G. "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (DNB): Henry Despenser".
- Miller, Carol (2002). "Despenser's Crusade (1382–83)". In Fritze, Ronald H.; Robison, William Baxter (eds.). Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272–1485. Greenwood Press. pp. 155–156. OCLC 1037410878.
- OCLC 861753209.
- Thompson, Sir Edward (1904). Chronicon Adae de Usk A.D. 1377–1421. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 871729931.
- OCLC 03028230.