William de Cornhill (or William of Cornhill; died 1223) was a medieval

Bishop of Coventry The Bishop of Coventry is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichfield. The presen ...

. Some sources say William was the son of Henry de Cornhill, who was sheriff of London from 1187 to 1189 and was a brother to

Reginald de Cornhill Reginald de Cornhill (occasionally Reynold de Cornhill) was an English administrator under King John. Reginald de Cornhill's father, Gervase, had also been High Sheriff of Kent in 1170-74 and his brother Henry de CornhillPowell "Administration o ...

, one of John's chief administrators.Joliffe ''Angevin Kingship'' p. 290 Other sources say that William was either Reginald's son or nephew.Franklin "Cornhill, William of" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' William served King

John of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Emp ...

as a financial administrator, and in 1206 he the custodian of

Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution of the monasteri ...

and the

see of Winchester The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Founded in 676, it is one of the older dioceses in England. It once covered Wessex, many times its present size which is today most of the historic enla ...

and the

see of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Lei ...

.Joliffe ''Angevin Kingship'' p. 285 He was

archdeacon of Huntingdon The Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Wisbech is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Ely. The archdeacon is responsible for some clergy discipline and pastoral care in the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon and Wisbech. History The Archdeaconry ...

by 1209, when he was serving as a royal justice.Stenton ''English Justice'' p. 102 footnote 58 In 1212 he once more served as a

royal justice Royal justices were an innovation in the law reforms of the Angevin kings of England The Angevins (; "from Anjou") were a royal house of French origin that ruled England in the 12th and early 13th centuries; its monarchs were Henry II, Richa ...

.Stenton ''English Justice'' p. 109 footnote 98 He was elected bishop about 9 July 1214, and consecrated on 25 January 1215.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 253 His election involved the monks of Coventry refusing to allow the canons of Lichfield participate in the election, and then the monks rejected a number of candidates before finally settling on William.Richardson and Sayles ''Governance of Mediaeval England'' p. 351 The monks objected most to the fact that the papal legate,

Niccolò de Romanis Niccolò de Romanis (died 1218) was an Italian cardinal and Papal legate. He was Bishop of Frascati from either 1204 or 1205 and Grand penitentiary. He was closely associated with Pope Honorius III as administrator and diplomat. Dean of the Colle ...

cardinal bishop of Tusculum The Diocese of Frascati (Lat.: ''Tusculana'') is a suburbicarian see of the Holy Roman Church and a diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy, based at Frascati, near Rome. The bishop of Frascati is a Cardinal Bishop; from the Latin name of the are ...

, repeatedly urged them to elect the abbot of Beaulieu, who was the choice of King John. Eventually, the monks were allowed to elect another royal clerk, William.Richardson and Sayles ''Governance of Mediaeval England'' p. 356 He was consecrated at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, England by

Stephen Langton Stephen Langton (c. 1150 – 9 July 1228) was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and his death in 1228. The dispute between King John of England and Pope Innocent III over his ...

, the Archbishop of Canterbury. William was present at

Runnymede Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining ...

and was one of the advisors to John about Magna Carta. He also attended the

Third Lateran Council The Third Council of the Lateran met in Rome in March 1179. Pope Alexander III presided and 302 bishops attended. The Catholic Church regards it as the eleventh ecumenical council. By agreement reached at the Peace of Venice in 1177 the bitter ...

in 1215 and was present at the first coronation of King

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...

in 1216. He may have resigned before his death on 19 August or 20 August 1223, as he had suffered a stroke in 1221 and lost the power of speech. He was buried in

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medie ...

Citations

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornhill, William de 13th-century English Roman Catholic bishops Bishops of Lichfield William de Cornhill Year of birth unknown