Thomas Langley
Thomas Langley | |
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Roman Catholic | |
| Parents | William and Alice Langley |
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Thomas Langley (c. 1363 – 20 November 1437) was an English
Life
Langley was born around 1363 in
Langley returned to Middleton and in 1385 he was appointed rector of Radcliffe and collated as Archdeacon of Norfolk in 1399. In 1401 he was appointed Dean of York, but the appointment was blocked by Pope Boniface IX because of Langley's part in the deposition of Richard II. In 1401 he was given custody of the privy seal, which office he held until 1405.[1]
In October 1404, Langley was elected
The excommunication was lifted the following year and Langley was installed as Bishop of Durham in St Paul's Cathedral in 1406. In 1407 he resigned his Chancellorship.[2]
Langley was created a
In 1413, Henry IV died in Westminster Abbey, his executor Langley at his side. During the reign of his successor Henry V, he spent three-quarters of his time in the service of the crown – a politician first and churchman second – and at Windsor on 28 September 1422, as Chancellor, he delivered up the gold seal of England in a purse of white leather to his infant sovereign Henry VI (Thomas Rymer's Foedera, vol. x. fol. 253). He returned to Middleton for the last time in 1424.
From 1430 until his death Langley attended to his diocese, something he had, by his own admission, neglected, continuing with various diplomatic work when called upon by the government. He made major alterations to the west end of Durham Cathedral, blocking the Great West Door with an altar and his own tomb, thus necessitating the construction of the two later doors to north and south, and the great buttresses on the outside of the west walls, which prevent the building from slipping into the river (for Hugh de Puiset's architect could not be bothered with foundations and sank the base of his pillars hardly more than a foot or two below the ground).
Citations
- ^ Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 95
- ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 87
- ^ Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 282
- ^ Miranda, Salvador. "Thomas Langley". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16027.required.)
...he also founded a chantry in the Galilee chapel of Durham Cathedral, his designated burial place, whose two chaplains were to teach grammar and song to poor children freely—the forerunner of Durham School.
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References
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
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