Simon de Langham (1310 – 22 July 1376) was an English clergyman who was

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

and a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Life

Langham was born at Langham in

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

. The manor of Langham was a property of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, and he had become a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

in the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

Abbey of St Peter at Westminster by 1346, and later prior and then abbot of this house.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 105

Treasurer of England

In November 1360, Langham was made

Treasurer of England The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in ...

Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 104 and on 10 January 1362 he became

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...

and was consecrated on 20 March 1362.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 244 During his time as Bishop of Ely he was a major benefactor of

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, giving them the rectory of

Cherry Hinton Cherry Hinton is a suburban area of the city of Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire, England. It is around southeast of Cambridge city centre. History The rectangular parish of Cherry Hinton occupies the western corner of Flendish hundred on the so ...

.Lyson's Magna Britanica Vol II
''The Monthly Review'' January–April 1812 p. 21 He resigned the Treasurership before 20 February 1363, and was appointed

Chancellor of England The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

on 21 February 1363.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 86

Archbishop of Canterbury

He was chosen Archbishop of Canterbury on 24 July 1366.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 233 Perhaps the most interesting incident in Langham's primacy was when he drove the

secular clergy In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogra ...

from their college of Canterbury Hall, Oxford, and filled their places with monks. The expelled head of the seculars was a certain John de Wiclif, who has been identified with the great reformer Wycliffe. Notwithstanding the part Langham as Chancellor had taken in the anti-papal measures of 1365 and 1366, he was made cardinal of

San Sisto Vecchio The Basilica of San Sisto Vecchio (in Via Appia) is one of the over sixty minor basilicas among the churches of Rome, and a titular church since 600 AD. As such, it is connected to the title of a Cardinal priest, currently Antoine Kambanda. Basi ...

by Pope

Urban V Pope Urban V ( la, Urbanus V; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was the head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the on ...

in 1368. This step lost him the favour of

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

; two months later, he resigned his archbishopric and went to

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. He had already resigned the chancellorship on 18 July 1367. He was soon allowed to hold other although less exalted positions in England.

Death

In 1374, he was elected Archbishop of Canterbury for the second time, but he withdrew his claim and died at Avignon on 22 July 1376. Langham left the residue of his large estate and his library to

, and has been called its second founder. His bequest paid for the building of the western section of the nave. Langham's tomb, the work of

Henry Yevele Henry Yevele (''c''. 1320 – 1400) was the most prolific and successful master mason active in late medieval England. The first document relating to him is dated 3 December 1353, when he purchased the Freedom of the City of London#Freedom of the C ...

, is the oldest monument to an ecclesiastic in the Abbey.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Langham, Simon Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina Lord chancellors of England Bishops of Ely Archbishops of Canterbury Abbots of Westminster 14th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops People from Rutland 1310 births 1376 deaths Lord High Treasurers of England English Benedictines Burials at Westminster Abbey 14th-century English cardinals