William Whittlesey (or Whittlesea) (died 5 June 1374) was a

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was foun ...

, then

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 ...

, then finally

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 ...

. He also served as Master 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 ...

Life

Whittlesey was probably born in the

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

village of Whittlesey, England. Whittlesey was educated at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and owing principally to the fact that he was a nephew of

Simon Islip Simon Islip (died 1366) was an English prelate. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury between 1349 and 1366. Early life Islip was the uncle of William Whittlesey. He was a cousin of Walter de Islip, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer:Ball, F. E ...

, archbishop of Canterbury, he received numerous ecclesiastical preferments; he held

prebend A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...

s at

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

, and livings at Ivychurch,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

and Cliffe. Whittlesey was briefly appointed Master of Peterhouse on 10 September 1349 and resigned from that post in 1351. Later he was appointed vicar-general, and then

dean of the court of arches The Dean of the Arches is the judge who presides in the provincial ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This court is called the Arches Court of Canterbury. It hears appeals from consistory courts and bishop's disciplinary tribun ...

by Islip. On 23 October 1360 he became Bishop of Rochester and was consecrated on 6 February 1362. Two years after his consecration he was transferred to the bishopric of Worcester on 6 March 1364. On 11 October 1368 Whittlesey was transferred to the archbishopric of Canterbury in succession to

Simon Langham Simon de Langham (1310 – 22 July 1376) was an English clergyman who was Archbishop of Canterbury and a cardinal. Life Langham was born at Langham in Rutland. The manor of Langham was a property of Westminster Abbey, and he had become a ...

, but his term of office was very uneventful, a circumstance due partly, but not wholly, to his feeble health. He died at

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

on the 5th or 6 June 1374.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whittlesey, William 1374 deaths People from Whittlesey Archbishops of Canterbury Bishops of Rochester Bishops of Worcester 14th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops Masters of Peterhouse, Cambridge Burials at Canterbury Cathedral Year of birth unknown