Thomas Langley ( – 20 November 1437) was an English

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who held high ecclesiastical and political offices in the early to mid-15th century. He was

Dean of York The Dean of York is the member of the clergy who is responsible for the running of the York Minster cathedral. As well as being the head of the cathedral church of the diocese and the metropolitical church of the province, the Dean of York holds ...

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

, twice

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

of England to three kings, and a

Pseudocardinal A pseudocardinal (also quasi-cardinal or anticardinal) is a cardinal created by an antipope, that is, one whose appointed is not recognized as canonical by the Catholic Church. Status Their state, like the state of the antipopes and the anti-b ...

. In turn Keeper of the King's signet and Keeper of the Privy Seal before becoming de facto England's first Foreign Secretary. He was the second longest serving Chancellor of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Life

Langley was born around 1363 in Middleton,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, the third son of Alice and William Langley. In 1375 he was sent to St Mary's Abbey, Thetford, a feeder for Corpus Christi in Cambridge. Langley attended this college until it was ransacked and destroyed by

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...

rioters on 15 June 1381. Langley returned to Middleton and in 1385 he was appointed rector of Radcliffe and collated as Archdeacon of Norfolk in 1399. In 1401 he was appointed

, but the appointment was blocked by

Pope Boniface IX Pope Boniface IX (; ; c. 1350 – 1 October 1404, born Pietro Tomacelli) was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death, in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope during the Western Schism.Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of t ...

because of Langley's part in the deposition of

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Joan, Countess of Kent. R ...

. In 1401 he was given custody of the privy seal, which office he held until 1405.Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 95 In October 1404, Langley was elected

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

but the new Pope,

Innocent VII Pope Innocent VII (; ; 1339 – 6 November 1406), born Cosimo de' Migliorati, was head of the Catholic Church from 17 October 1404 to his death, in November 1406. He was pope during the period of the Western Schism (1378–1417), and was opposed ...

, refused to allow his installation and on 2 March 1405 he was appointed Chancellor for the first time.Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 87 From then on until his semi-retirement in 1430, Langley spent 5,670 days in the service of the crown. He now lived in an inn in

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

in the

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. Within 20 days Richard Scrope,

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, rebelled; was captured and executed after a show trial. Langley was elected in August 1405 as Archbishop, which the Pope again disapproved of and

excommunicate Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the co ...

d Langley and King Henry IV. The election was quashed in May 1406.Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 282 The excommunication was lifted the following year and Langley was installed as Bishop of Durham in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

in 1406. In 1407 he resigned his Chancellorship. Langley was created a

pseudocardinal A pseudocardinal (also quasi-cardinal or anticardinal) is a cardinal created by an antipope, that is, one whose appointed is not recognized as canonical by the Catholic Church. Status Their state, like the state of the antipopes and the anti-b ...

in the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

of 6 June 1411 by

Antipope John XXIII Baldassarre Cossa (died 22 December 1419) was Pisan antipope as John XXIII (1410–1415) during the Western Schism. The Catholic Church today regards him as an antipope in opposition to Pope Gregory XII, whom it recognizes as the rightful succ ...

, an honour Langley refused. In 1412, in his first visit to his birthplace since 1385, he completed an early rebuilding of Middleton Parish Church, adding a new wooden tower and a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantry chapel, a b ...

for use as a school for local children, and reconsecrating and rededicated it to St Leonard, in 1412. The same year he also founded a school related to the church (later known as Middleton Grammar School and Queen Elizabeth's Senior High School). He also founded

Durham School Durham School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (UK), public school tradition located in Durham, England, Durham, North East England. Since 2021 it has been part of th ...

. In 1413, Henry IV died in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

, his

executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, is sometimes used. Executor of will An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker o ...

Langley at his side. During the reign of his successor

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...

, he spent three-quarters of his time in the service of the crown – a politician first and churchman second – and at

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on 28 September 1422, as Chancellor, he delivered up the gold seal of England in a purse of white leather to his infant sovereign Henry VI (

Thomas Rymer Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 14 December 1713) was an English poet, literary critic, antiquary and historiographer. His lasting contribution was to compile and publish under royal warrant the 17 volumes (the last two posthumously) of the fir ...

's ''Foedera'', vol. x. fol. 253). He returned to Middleton for the last time in 1424. From 1430 until his death Langley attended to his diocese, something he had, by his own admission, neglected, continuing with various diplomatic work when called upon by the government. He made major alterations to the west end of Durham Cathedral, blocking the Great West Door with an altar and his own tomb, thus necessitating the construction of the two later doors to north and south, and the great buttresses on the outside of the west walls, which prevent the building from slipping into the river (for

Hugh de Puiset Hugh de Puiset (Wiktionary:circa, c. 1125 – 3 March 1195) was a medieval Bishop of Durham and Chief Justiciar of England under King Richard I of England, Richard I. He was the nephew of King Stephen of England and Henry of Blois, who b ...

's architect could not be bothered with foundations and sank the base of his pillars hardly more than a foot or two below the ground).

Citations

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Langley, Thomas 1363 births 1437 deaths People from Middleton, Greater Manchester Lord chancellors of England 15th-century English cardinals Archdeacons of Norfolk Bishops of Durham Bishops of London Deans of York Lords Privy Seal Founders of English schools and colleges People excommunicated by the Catholic Church