Walter Suffield (died 19 May 1257) was a medieval

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Th ...

Life

Suffield was a

canonist Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

at Paris before his election to the

see of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Church of England, forming part of the Province of Canterbury in England. Its origins trace back to the early medieval bishopric of Elmham and Thetford, which were subsequently m ...

about 9 July 1244. He was consecrated on 26 February 1245.British History Online Bishops of Norwich
accessed on 29 October 2007 He was an eloquent preacher, and showed generosity to the poor (during one famine, even selling some of his own goods in order to provide them with food). Walter de Suffield plaque

In 1249, he founded St. Giles's Hospital in Norwich (which remains in use as the

Great Hospital The Great Hospital is a medieval hospital that has been serving the people of Norwich in Norfolk, UK, since the 13th century. It is situated on a site in a bend of the River Wensum to the north-east of Norwich Cathedral. Founded in 1249 by Bis ...

to this day) to provide care for the poor. He has been reported as visiting his

bishop's palace A bishop's palace is a form of ecclesiastical architecture constituting the official residence of a bishop.The term was not used in the British Isles until the Church of England was restructured following the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD. However, th ...

at South Elmham Hall where he enjoyed the

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

. He died on 19 May 1257,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 261 leaving bequests to both the poor and the hospital. Lewin, "A medieval occupational pension" (2017)

Citations

References

British History Online Bishops of Norwich
accessed on 29 October 2007 * * Bishops of Norwich 1257 deaths Year of birth unknown 13th-century English Roman Catholic bishops {{England-bishop-stub