Walter Reynolds (died 1327) was

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 ...

and then

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 Just ...

(1313–1327) as well as

Lord High Treasurer 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 ...

and

Lord Chancellor 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. Th ...

Early career

Reynolds was the son of a baker from

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...

, and became a clerk, or chaplain, in the service of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

. Reynolds held several livings and, owing perhaps to his acting skill, he became a prime favourite with the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

, afterwards

Edward II 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 ...

, whom he served as Keeper of the Great Wardrobe. Just after the prince became king, on 22 August 1307 Reynolds, was appointed

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 ...

. On 13 November 1307 Reynolds, who had the living of St Mary's Church, Wimbledon was elected Bishop of Worcester and consecrated on 13 October 1308. He was also on 6 July 1310 named Keeper of the Great Seal and

Lord 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 ...

. Amongst his duties as Bishop of Worcester was to act as the patron and appoint the headmaster of the school that later became the Royal Grammar School Worcester. Reynolds was one of the godfathers of the future

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 ...

when the prince was christened on 17 November 1312.

Episcopate

When Robert Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, died in May 1313 Edward II convinced 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 ...

to appoint his favourite to the vacant archbishopric, and Reynolds was enthroned at

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

in January 1314 as the 51st Archbishop. Although the private life of the new archbishop appears to have been the reverse of exemplary he attempted to carry out some very necessary reforms in his new official capacity; he also continued the struggle for precedence, which had been carried on for many years between the archbishops of Canterbury and of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. In this connection in 1317 he laid

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

under an interdict after William de Melton, the Archbishop of York, had passed through its streets with his cross borne erect before him. Reynolds remained in general loyal to Edward II until 1324, when with all his suffragans he opposed the king in defence of the

Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. The episcopal see is centred in the City of Hereford where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is in the Cathedral Church of Sa ...

Adam Orleton Adam Orleton (died 1345) was an English churchman and royal administrator. Life Orleton was born into a Herefordshire family, possibly in Orleton, possibly in Hereford. The lord of the manor was Roger Mortimer, to whose interests Orleton was lo ...

. He then fought with Edward II over liturgical issues, and sent sums of money to Queen Isabella in her rebellion against the King. Having fled for safety into

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

he returned to London and declared for Edward III, whom he crowned on 1 February 1327. He was appointed as a member of the

regency council A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

for Edward III that was formed in February 1327. In 1327 Reynolds popularised in England the political argument of ''

vox populi, vox Dei ''Vox Populi, Vox Dei'' is a Whig tract of 1709, titled after a Latin phrase meaning "the voice of the people is the voice of God". It was expanded in 1710 and later reprintings as ''The Judgment of whole Kingdoms and Nations: Concerning the Ri ...

'', contrary to

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...

's original warning to Charlemagne to resist such arguments, as the title of his sermon laying charges against Edward II. Canterburycathedralwalterreynoldstomb

Reynolds died at

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many cen ...

on 16 November 1327.

Citations

References

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External links

List of Keepers from Office of Constitutional Affairs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Walter Lord chancellors of England Archbishops of Canterbury Bishops of Worcester 14th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops People from Windsor, Berkshire 13th-century births 1327 deaths Lord High Treasurers of England Burials at Canterbury Cathedral