A Bishop and his Diocese: politics, government, and careers in Hereford and Winchester dioceses, 1282-1317

The present study explores two late thirteenth-century bishops’ registers, one from Hereford diocese, the other from Winchester, in order to shed light on the act of registration during this period. In doing so, the thesis aims to further current understanding of registers and develop new methodologies for their use in historical research. Where previous studies only focus on one particular type of record in a register, such as charters, each chapter of this thesis examines a different type of record, meaning a far greater range of each register is explored. The thesis also considers what light the two registers can shed on episcopacy in Hereford and Winchester dioceses in the late thirteenth century. While most studies of this period focus on archbishops or royal government officials, this thesis turns to two workaday bishops in order to consider how those men who played a less prominent role in English political and ecclesiastical life practised episcopacy. Each chapter concerns a particular episcopal activity: the safeguarding of ecclesiastical benefices, the construction of episcopal households, ecclesiastical reform, episcopal visitations and, more broadly, the pursuit of a career, affording a broad investigation into each bishop’s activities.
Using the two registers, this study argues that it is essential to consider episcopacy as something distinct to each individual, shaped by a range of motives, agendas, and relationships. It emphasizes the role of human beings and their interactions in diocesan administration and in producing registers, leading to diverse approaches to episcopacy and the record of episcopal acts. It also draws connections between registration and episcopal activity, developing new ways of reading the material based on a greater understanding of the content and production of registers and their contexts.