Honorius of Kent (sometimes known as Honorius Magister;
[Boyle "Beginnings of Legal Studies" ''Viator'' p. 107] died after 1210) was a medieval English
Archdeacon of Richmond and
canon law
Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...
yer.
Early career
Honorius was given the title of ''magister'', signifying that he had a university education.
[ A native of Kent, he was a student at Paris sometime between 1185 and 1192.][Brundage ''Medieval Canon Law'' p. 213] By 1192, he was teaching at Oxford, and in that year, he pleaded a case before the papal legates John of Cornwall and Robert of Melun
Robert of Melun ( c. 1100 – 27 February 1167) was an English scholastic Christian theologian who taught in France, and later became Bishop of Hereford in England. He studied under Peter Abelard in Paris before teaching there and at Melun ...
at Oxford. Honorius, along with John of Tynemouth and Simon of Southwell, and perhaps Nicholas de Aquila, are the first known teachers of canon law at Oxford.[Boyle "Beginnings of Legal Studies" ''Viator'' pp. 110–111]
Service to Geoffrey and Hubert Walter
Honorius was a clerk for Geoffrey, the Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
, serving Geoffrey from 1195, and held an unidentified prebend in the diocese of York
The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The diocese is headed by the ...
.[Greenway ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Dignitaries whose prebends cannot be identified''] In 1198, Honorius was appointed Archdeacon of Richmond by Geoffrey, but King Richard I of England
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
appointed Roger de Sancto Edmundo instead. Honorius was then expelled from office, but appealed to the papacy, and eventually secured recognition of his tenure of office in 1202.[ While still involved in proving his case for holding the archdeaconry, he left Geoffrey's service and by 1202 at the latest was serving Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who gave him two ]benefices
A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
. While in Walter's service, he was often associated with John of Tynemouth and Simon of Southwell. Honorius accompanied John in 1203 when both men attempted to mediate between Walter and Gerald of Wales
Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taugh ...
. He was also employed by Walter at Rome, where he served as the archbishop's proctor at the Curia
Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they came ...
in a case involving the abbot of Thorney Abbey
Thorney Abbey, now the Church of St Mary and St Botolph, was a medieval monastic house established on the island of Thorney in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, England.
History
The earliest documentary sources refer to a mid-7th century hermita ...
.[Cheney ''Hubert Walter'' pp. 164–165]
Royal service and death
After Walter's death in 1205, Honorius was employed by King John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
as one of the king's proctors at Rome during the controversy over the election to succeed Walter at Canterbury.[ Later, though, in 1208, Honorius opposed the king and was again deprived of office, with his last mention in official records being in the Pipe Roll for 1208–1209.][Greenway ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Archdeacons of Richmond''] He died sometime after 1210.[Sharpe ''Handlist'' p. 179]
Writings
As a canonist, he was the author of a treatise entitled ''Summa decretalium quaestionum'', which exists in six[ or seven manuscripts. The ''Summa'' was written between 1186 and 1190.][ The work is divided into three parts covering procedures, laws relating to consecration and church offices, and marriage. Honorius wrote as part of an Anglo-Norman school of decretalists, and his ''Summa'' was the most commonly used work of that school. His arrangement of his work influenced many later decretalists.][Weigand "Transmontane Decretists" ''History of Medieval Canon Law'' pp. 197–199] He also did glosses
A gloss is a brief notation, especially a marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text or in the reader's language if that is different.
A collection of glosses is a ''g ...
on Gratian
Gratian (; la, Gratianus; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and w ...
's '' Decretum''. He is also credited with another work, ''De iure canonico tractaturus'', but this attribution is not secure. This last work survives in only one manuscript copy.[ The medieval chronicler ]Thomas of Marlborough
Thomas of Marlborough (died 1236) (sometimes Thomas de Marleberge)Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 333 was a medieval English monk and writer. He became abbot of Evesham Abbey in 1230.
Biography
Thomas studied civil and canon law at Paris where he st ...
called Honorius one of his teachers, along with Simon and John.[Young ''Hubert Walter'' pp. 56–58]
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Honorius of Kent
13th-century English Roman Catholic priests
Archdeacons of Richmond
Canon law jurists
Year of birth unknown
13th-century English lawyers