John Le Leche (or John Le Leck or John Le Leek also John The Leche) (died 1313) was a
canon of
Dunkeld
Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to ...
and prelate during the early 14th century. After the death of
Matthew de Crambeth
Matthew de Crambeth (died 1309) was a late 13th and early 14th century bishop of Dunkeld. He had been a dean of the bishopric of Aberdeen and was a canon of the diocese of Dunkeld when, following the death of Bishop William, he was elected to th ...
,
Bishop of Dunkeld, in 1309,
William Sinclair was elected by some of the
chapter to the bishopric. John le Leche, however, was elected soon afterwards, and had the support of King
Edward II of England
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to ...
. The
diocese of Dunkeld lay vacant for three years, while the issue was contested at the
Papal see.
Pope Clement V
Pope Clement V ( la, Clemens Quintus; c. 1264 – 20 April 1314), born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled ''de Guoth'' and ''de Goth''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his de ...
appointed James,
Cardinal Deacon of
St George in
Velabro, to judge the issue; but this was resolved when, on 22 May 1311, John de Leche was promoted to the
Archbishopric of Dublin
The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Ireland ...
. He held the latter for two years. He obtained a charter for the earliest
University in Dublin in 1311 but his sudden death in 1313 greatly hampered the establishment of the university, and it never flourished, due largely to a lack of sufficient funds. It had no connection with the present day
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, which was founded in 1592.
References
*
Dowden, John, ''The Bishops of Scotland'', ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
*
Watt, D. E. R., ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638'', 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)
External links
*
:de:Liste der Erzbischöfe von Dublin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leche, John de
13th-century births
1313 deaths
Archbishops of Dublin
14th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops
Bishops of Dunkeld (non consecrated, titular or doubtful)
14th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland