James Berkeley (died 1327) was Bishop of Exeter for a period of three months in 1327, a term of office cut short by his death.

Origins

Berkeley was a younger son of

Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (c. 1245– 23 July 1321), ''The Wise'', feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer, soldier and diplomat. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head ...

(1245-1321), ''The Wise'', feudal baron of Berkeley of

Berkeley Castle Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, and it has been desi ...

in Gloucestershire, by his wife Joan de Ferrers, a daughter of

William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby William III de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby (c. 1193 – 28 March 1254) of Chartley Castle in Staffordshire, was an English nobleman and major landowner, unable through illness to take much part in national affairs. From his two marriages, he left ...

by his wife Margaret de Quincy, a daughter of

Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester (c. 1195 – 25 April 1264), (Roger de Quincy is a subarticle in his father's article.) His dates are given as 1195?-1265 at the beginning of the subarticle, but his death date is given as 25 April 12 ...

Career

Berkeley was elected bishop on 5 December 1326 and was consecrated on 22 March 1327.

Death

Berkeley died on 24 June 1327,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 246 having been murdered and having suffered the destruction and despoliation of his manors, according to the account by his successor John de Grandisson.

Burial

Bishop JamesBerkeley Died1327 ExeterCathedral

Berkeley was buried in Exeter Cathedral, against the north wall of the south

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

, where survives his

chest tomb Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

. It is devoid of the monumental brass which originally adorned the Purbeck marbleErskine, p.104

ledger stone A ledger stone or ledgerstone is an inscribed stone slab usually laid into the floor of a church to commemorate or mark the place of the burial of an important deceased person. The term "ledger" derives from the Middle English words ''lygger'', ' ...

top, in the form of a demi-effigy of a bishop wearing a

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

, the indent of which is still visible. Following the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

the brass was stripped away in 1561 on the orders of the Cathedral authorities. The antiquarian John Leland (c.1503-1552) saw the monument complete and recorded in his writings that it bore inscribed Latin verse of which one line was: ''In Barkley natus, jacet hic Jacobus tumulatus'' ("In Berkeley (Castle) he was born, here lies James covered"). This is similar to the eight-line

leonine verse Leonine verse is a type of versification based on internal rhyme, and commonly used in Latin verse of the European Middle Ages. The invention of such conscious rhymes, foreign to Classical Latin poetry, is traditionally attributed to a probably ap ...

(or "jingling verse") on the ledger stone of Sir

Peter Courtenay Peter Courtenay ( – 23 September 1492) was Bishop of Exeter (1478–87) and Bishop of Winchester (1487-92), and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses. Origins Courtenay was the third so ...

(1346–1405), KG, situated a few feet away from the bishop's tomb on the floor of the south ambulatory (but originally part of the Courtenay

chantry chapel A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...

in the nave) which commences: ''Devoniae natus, comitis (comes) Petrusque vocatus'' ("Born of the Earl of Devon, called Peter"). The bishop's monument although now very plain, is of interest as it was constructed whilst the Norman nave was being demolished and rebuilt in the Gothic style, and it was made from some of the stones from the Norman building, alternate squares of pink and cream coloured stone, of which some similar survive in the south aisle of the nave marking the responds of the Norman arcade.Erskine, Audrey; Hope, Vyvyan & Lloyd, John, ''Exeter Cathedral: A Short History and Description'', Exeter, 1988, p.36

Citations

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, John Bishops of Exeter 1327 deaths 14th-century English Roman Catholic bishops 14th-century English people

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

Younger sons of barons Year of birth unknown