William Freney (or William Fresney), an
Englishman
The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...
, was a
Dominican friar
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
and
archbishop of Edessa Early bishops
The following list is based on the records of the ''Chronicle of Edessa'' (to ''c''.540) and the ''Chronicle of Zuqnin''.
Jacobite (Syriac) bishops
These bishops belonged to the Syriac Orthodox Church. During the later period there ...
(1263 – ''c''.1290). His career was divided between England and the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
. He served as a diplomat and negotiator for both English kings and Popes.
In the East
In 1254, William was in Rome seeking the commutation of
King Henry III's
crusade
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
r vow.
On 1 August 1263,
Pope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV ( la, Urbanus IV; c. 1195 – 2 October 1264), born Jacques Pantaléon, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death. He was not a cardinal; only a few popes since his time ha ...
instructed the
Latin patriarch of Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
,
Opizo di Fieschi, to consecrate William to a diocese or archdiocese of his choosing in
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
,
Media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
or
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
. According to Urban's letter, William had already been raised to episcopal status and was planning a trip to the East. Opizo was prohibited from giving William an archdiocese subject to Antioch, but only one subject directly to Rome and so he consecrated him archbishop of Edessa. In Europe, the city of Edessa (modern
Urfa
Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features e ...
) was mistakenly identified with
Rages in Persia. It had had Latin archbishops in the early twelfth century, but had been under Muslim rule since 1144. William was to be the only thirteenth-century archbishop. His appointment may have been intended to facilitate missionary activity "in infidel lands" (''in partibus infidelium'').
William's good knowledge of several languages (which are unknown) made him valuable as a diplomat. In 1264, Urban sent William on an embassy to
Hethum I
Hethum I (Armenian: Հեթում Ա; 1213 – 21 October 1270) ruled the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (also known as "Little Armenia") from 1226 to 1270. He was the son of Constantine of Baberon (d. 1263) and Princess Alix Pahlavouni of Lampron (a ...
, king of Armenia. His mission was a success. Good relations between Armenia and the Papacy were restored and, probably influenced by William, Hethum expressed a desire to establish a Dominican monastery in his kingdom.
William's whereabouts between 1267 and 1273 are unknown, and he may have accompanied
Prince Edward on his
crusade to Syria in 1271–72.
In England
William spent 1265–67—the height of the
Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War (1264–1267) was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort against the royalist forces of King Henry III, led initially by the king himself and later by his son, the fut ...
—in England. On 12 February 1265, King Henry III assigned him the deanery of
Wimborne
Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poole ...
for his maintenance until either he returned to his diocese or obtained another title. In September, Henry revoked this grant and instead assigned William a yearly pension of 50
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members
* Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel '' ...
from the revenues of the manor of
Havering
The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, London ...
. In October, he granted William the manor itself for life. In February 1266, William was given the manor of
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
to be held at the king's pleasure. Later that year, the king received complaints about William's procurations (levies on the manors' tenants), and by May 1267 the manors had been bestowed on others.
At the
siege of Kenilworth
The siege of Kenilworth (21 June – December 1266), also known as the great siege of 1266, was a six-month siege of Kenilworth Castle and a battle of the Second Barons' War. The siege was a part of an English civil war fought from 1264 to 1267 ...
in 1266, William tried to negotiate with the rebellious garrison on behalf of the besieging royalist army, but he was refused entry into the castle. On 21 July 1266, the king charged him with escorting certain rebel representatives to court for peace negotiations, but these too failed. The chronicler
William Rishanger
William Rishanger (born 1250), nicknamed "Chronigraphus", was an English annalist and Benedictine monk of St. Albans.
Rishanger quite likely wrote the ''Opus Chronicorum'', a continuation from 1259 of Matthew Paris's ''Chronicle''. In effect it is ...
nonetheless recalls him as "a man of discretion and praiseworthy eloquence".
William may have left England around the time he lost his manors. If so, he had returned by August 1273, when Edward, who in the meantime had succeeded Henry as king, granted the archbishop a
tun
TUN or tun may refer to:
Biology
* Tun shells, large sea snails of the family ''Tonnidae''
* Tun, a tardigrade in its cryptobiotic state
* Tun or Toon, common name for trees of the genus '' Toona''
Places
* Tun, Sweden, a locality in Västra G ...
of wine. William seems to have remained mainly in England after that, strongly associating himself with
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
and assisting the English church where he could. In 1274, he granted the monks of
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
a forty-day
indulgence
In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The '' Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God o ...
for those visiting the prior's chapel to pray for the souls of past abbots and venerate the wooden bier on which Egelwin had brought the body of
Edmund the Martyr
Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia, died 20 November 869) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death.
Few historical facts about Edmund are known, as the kingdom of East Anglia was devastated by t ...
to Bury St Edmunds in 1014. On 28 December 1275, he consecrated the prior's chapel dedicated to Saints
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
and Edmund at Bury St Edmunds.
By 1276 William was acting as a suffragan bishop of the
diocese of Norwich
The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England that forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.
History
It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of the Bishop of the East A ...
under
Roger Skerning
Roger Skerning (or Roger de Skerning; died 22 January 1278) was a medieval Bishop of Norwich.
Life
Skerning was a monk of Norwich Cathedral before he was elected Prior of Norwich in 1257.[Carmelite
, image =
, caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites
, abbreviation = OCarm
, formation = Late 12th century
, founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel
, founding_location = Mount Car ...]
priory in Norwich and the high altar at
Bishop's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
. In November 1277, he was acting as a
Papal nuncio
An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...
when he wrote to
Godfrey Giffard
Godfrey Giffard ( 12351302) was Chancellor of the Exchequer of England, Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Worcester.
Early life
Giffard was a son of Hugh Giffard of Boyton in Wiltshire,[bishop of Worcester
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...]
, about collecting
Peter's pence
Peter's Pence (or ''Denarii Sancti Petri'' and "Alms of St Peter") are donations or payments made directly to the Holy See of the Catholic Church. The practice began under the Saxons in England and spread through Europe. Both before and after the ...
. That year Edward gave him two more tuns of wine. In November 1278, he assisted the new bishop,
William Middleton, in the consecration of
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites.
The cathedral ...
. In 1280, he was attended the translation of the remains of
Hugh of Lincoln
Hugh of Lincoln, O.Cart. ( – 16 November 1200), also known as Hugh of Avalon, was a French-born Benedictine and Carthusian monk, bishop of Lincoln in the Kingdom of England, and Catholic saint. His feast is observed by Catholics on 16 Novem ...
to Norwich.
In 1282, William received the manor of
Cringleford
Cringleford is a civil parish and village in the England, English county of Norfolk. The village sits on the River Yare and forms part of the outskirts of Norwich.
History
Cringleford's name is of mixed Vikings, Viking and Anglo-Saxon origin and ...
. His last appearance in the record is in 1286. There is no evidence that he went to the East after 1273, nor is there any indication of his date of death. He was presumably buried in a Dominican friary and his tombstone removed during the
dissolution
Dissolution may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books
* ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers
* ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music
* Dissolution, in mu ...
to St Mary's Church in
Rhuddlan
Rhuddlan () is a town, community, and electoral ward in the county of Denbighshire, Wales, in the historic county of Flintshire. Its associated urban zone is mainly on the right bank of the Clwyd; it is directly south of seafront town Rhyl. I ...
, where it resides today. It bears the effigy of a bishop with mitre and crozier. Its inscription, in
Norman French
Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to descri ...
, reads, "Pray for the soul of Friar William Freney, archbishop of Rages".
Notes
Sources
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{{refend
13th-century births
13th-century deaths
English Dominicans
Bishops of Edessa
Medieval English diplomats
13th-century diplomats
13th century in Armenia
People of the Barons' Wars