John of Tours

John of Tours or John de Villula (died 1122) was a medieval

A native of Tours,^[1] John was an Angevin-French physician^[2] to King William I of England, being present at the king's deathbed in 1087.^[3] William of Malmesbury, the medieval chronicler, called him "a very skilled doctor, not in theoretical knowledge, but in practice."^[4] He had been a priest of Tours before becoming doctor to King William.^[5] He seems to have learned his medical skills not in a school, but was considered a skilled doctor.^[6] The name "de Villula" first appears in 1691, and is not a contemporary name.^[7] It resulted from a misreading of John's name in his episcopal profession.^[5]

Bishop of Bath

John was appointed Bishop of Wells in 1088 by King William II "Rufus", the son and successor to William I. The bishop's consecration was in July,^[8] at Canterbury by Archbishop Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury.^[2] He probably owed his appointment to the king's desire to honour his father's physician.^[6]

Shortly after his consecration, John bought Bath Abbey's grounds from the king,

John rebuilt the monastic church at Bath, which had been damaged during one of Robert de Mowbray's rebellions. As rebuilt, it was only surpassed in size by the cathedrals at Ely, Norwich and Winchester. The present Bath Cathedral is not the building that John built, and occupies only a fraction of the space that John's building encompassed.^[15] He also reformed the administration of his diocese, setting up archdeacons and organising a court for hearing ecclesiastical cases.^[16] His efforts to reform his diocese led to his cathedral chapter's complaining of their treatment, which John seems to have ignored.^[17] At Wells, he was accused of destroying the community of canons there, which had been created by his predecessor.^[6]

In 1092, he helped with the consecration of Old Sarum Cathedral,^[5] although its roof was almost immediately damaged by a storm and required decades of repair. In 1094, he performed the same service for Battle Abbey.^[18] After the accession of King Henry I of England, John received a confirmation of the grant of the city of Bath, paying 500 pounds of silver for the verification.^[19] In 1102, John secured from King Henry the right to hold fairs at Bath on the feast day of the cathedral's patron saint, Saint Peter.^[10] He gave an extensive library to the cathedral at Bath, and eventually the monks there became reconciled to him. John, however, continued to hold most of the old abbey's manors himself, rather than using them for the support of the monks.^[6]

Investiture Controversy

John was one of the bishops that sided with King William against

John died in December 1122[8] and was buried in Bath Cathedral.^[7] He suffered a heart attack after dinner and died suddenly.^[22] Traditionally the date of his death is given as 29 December.^[19]

Under John, the monks of Bath became known for their scholarship, although he was not particularly noted for learning.^[5] William of Malmesbury claimed he was generous and affable, although the chronicler acknowledged that the bishop treated the canons of Wells abominably.^[15] William also recorded that John was a heavy drinker and not given to self-restraint, but that his health was good and he lived to be old.^[6] At first he treated the monks at Bath with contempt and confiscated much of the lands of the abbey for his own use, but in 1106 he restored their lands to them.^[15] John's canons of Wells disliked him because he reduced their income and destroyed some of their buildings as part of the movement of the see to Bath.^[5] A layman official of the diocese, Hildebert, was probably John's brother; and he held the offices of steward of the diocese and was also the provost of Wells, an inheritable office.^[23] John gave much of the revenues of Wells to Hildebert.^[5] Another relative, a nephew also named John, was named archdeacon in the diocese.^[24]

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