William of Bitton (died 1274) was a medieval

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

Life

William was a son of Sir Adam of Bitton in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

and the brother of Thomas Bitton who was precentor, archdeacon of WellsGreenway
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 7: Bath and Wells: Bishops
' and Dean of Wells and

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

.Shaw "Button, William" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' His uncle was William of Bitton I,

. He was rector of Buckland from 1257 and rector of Congresbury in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

from 1252.Greenway
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 7: Bath and Wells: Unidentified Prebendaries
' Before 13 December 1262 he was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of Bath and Wells, and was

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

of Wells as well as rector of Middlezoy in Somerset by 20 April 1263.Greenway
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 7: Bath and Wells: Archdeacons: Wells
' William was elected as bishop on 10 February 1267 and consecrated after 17 April 1267.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 228 He was not active in political or governmental events, although he did go to a council in 1269 that objected to ecclesiastical taxation. He, like his uncle, mainly worked in his diocese, and regulated the liturgical life of his cathedral and endowed the cathedral with some property. William died 4 December 1274 and was buried in Bath Cathedral. Some veneration was given to him after his death, but no formal canonization ever occurred. He should not be confused with his uncle the first William of Bitton who was also Bishop of Bath and Wells, but who died in 1264.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:William of Bitton (nephew) Bishops of Bath and Wells Archdeacons of Wells 1274 deaths Year of birth unknown People from Bitton 13th-century English Roman Catholic bishops