Richard Fleming ( c. 1385 – 25 or 26 January 1431),

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and N ...

and founder of

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, t ...

, was born at Crofton in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

Biography

Fleming was descended from a gentry family. His aunt, Cecily Fleming had married

Robert Waterton Robert Waterton (c. 1360 – 17 January 1425) was a trusted servant of the House of Lancaster under three monarchs, Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. As Constable of Pontefract Castle, he had custody of Richard II after that king was deposed. F ...

, ' Henry IV's esquire and right-hand man'. His nephew,

Robert Flemming Robert Flemming (died 1456), was dean of Lincoln. Background Robert Flemming, born in the diocese of York, was likely an illegitimate son of Robert Flemming, esquire, of Wath, near Ripon (d.1459). His aunt, Cecily Fleming, married, in 1407, Ro ...

, was likely an illegitimate son of Robert Flemming, esquire, of Wath, near

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the cit ...

(d.1459). Fleming was educated at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. Having taken his degrees, he was made prebendary of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

in 1406, and the next year was junior proctor of the university. In 1409 he was appointed to the committee of twelve censors who were commissioned to examine the writings of

John Wyclif John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of ...

and determine the heretical ideas they contained. Later that year he was accused of supporting some of Wyclif's errors in a public disputation, for which he incurred the censure of Archbishop Arundel. Fleming must have either been exonerated or renounced his supposed heresy because he was still a member of the committee of censors when its list of Wycliffe's errors was published in 1411 (Nighman, 2003, pp.208-10). Before 1415 Fleming was instituted to the rectory of Boston in Lincolnshire. He attended the

Council of Constance The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...

from late 1416 to early 1418 where he delivered a number of sermons which survive, all of which reveal a strong concern for clerical reform (Nighman, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2008a, 2008b). He was nominated to the see of Lincoln by papal provision on 20 November 1419 and on 28 April 1420 he was consecrated as bishop of Lincoln by Martin V in Florence. He attended the Council of Pavia and Siena in 1428–1429 and, in the presence of the pope, reportedly made an eloquent speech in vindication of the rights of the English "nation" and in support of papal authority against the more radical proponents of

conciliarism Conciliarism was a reform movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response ...

; this sermon apparently does not survive. It was probably on this occasion that he was named chamberlain to the pope. In February 1424 the see of York being vacant, the pope conferred it on Fleming; but the regency council of the young king Henry VI refused to confirm the appointment, and Fleming resigned the appointment in July 1425. In 1427, Fleming obtained a royal licence empowering him to found a college at Oxford for the special purpose of training theologians to combat Wyclif's

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

. To Bishop Fleming was entrusted the execution of the decree of the Council of Constance for the exhumation and burning of Wycliffe's remains, though Fleming delayed fulfilling this duty for over a decade. He died at

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the n ...

, Lincolnshire, in January 1431. Although his foundation of Lincoln College, Oxford, was incomplete at the time of his death, the college's future was eventually secured and Fleming's manuscript books became the core collection of the collegiate library (de la Mare, 1962–3).

Citations

References

* * * * de la Mare, Albinia (1962-3). "Vespasiano da Bisticci and the Florentine MSS. of Robert Flemmyng in Lincoln College," ''Lincoln College Record'': 7–16. * * Nighman, Chris L. (1997). “Another look at the English staging of an Epiphany play at the Council of Constance,” ''Records of Early English Drama'' 22.2: 11–18. * Nighman, Chris L. (2000). “‘Accipiant qui vocati sunt’: Richard Fleming's reform sermon at the Council of Constance,” ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 51.1: 1-36. (https://scholars.wlu.ca/hist_faculty/7/) * Nighman, Chris L. (2003). “Rhetorical self-construction and its political context in Richard Fleming’s reform sermon for Passion Sunday at the Council of Constance,” ''Annuarium historiae conciliorum'' 33.2: 405–25. (https://scholars.wlu.ca/hist_faculty/10/) * Nighman, Chris L. (2008a). “Prudencia, plague & the pulpit: Richard Fleming’s eulogy for Robert Hallum at the Council of Constance,” ''Annuarium historiae conciliorum'' 38.1: 183–98. (https://scholars.wlu.ca/hist_faculty/8/) * Nighman, Chris L. (2008b). “Citations of ‘noster’ John Pecham in Richard Fleming's Trinity Sunday sermon: Evidence for the political use of liturgical music at the Council of Constance,” ''Medieval Sermon Studies'' 52: 31–41. (https://scholars.wlu.ca/hist_faculty/17/) * *

Attribution

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Richard 1385 births 1431 deaths Alumni of University College, Oxford People from Crofton, West Yorkshire Bishops of Lincoln 15th-century English Roman Catholic bishops 1380s births People associated with Lincoln College, Oxford Founders of colleges of the University of Oxford