Robert Stillington

Infobox bishopbiog
name =Robert Stillington


religion =Catholic
See =Diocese of Bath and Wells
Title = Bishop of Bath and Wells
Period = 1465–1491
Predecessor = Thomas Beckington
Successor =Richard Foxe
ordination =
bishops =
post =
date of birth = 1420
place of birth =
date of death =May 1491
place of death =

Robert Stillington (1420-1491) was Bishop of Bath and Wells and Lord Chancellor of England. It is alleged by some that it was he who presented evidence that the marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville was invalid due to Edward's earlier betrothal to Lady Eleanor Talbot.

Life

He was Archdeacon of Wells when he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal from 1460 to 1467.Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 95]

He was selected as Bishop of Bath and Wells on 30 October 1465, and was consecrated on 16 March 1466.Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 228] He was appointed Lord Chancellor on 20 June 1467 and held the office until 29 September 1470. He then was restored to office when Edward IV returned to the throne and held it until 18 June 1473.Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 87]

In 1478 he spent some weeks in prison, apparently as a result of some association with the disgraced George, Duke of Clarence. He was imprisoned again in 1485, shortly after Henry VII's victory at Bosworth. Some say this was due to Stillington's involvement in the matter of Edward IV's bigamy, for the new king needed to reverse the bigamy charges that made his future queen, Elizabeth of York, illegitimate.

Some years after his second release, Stillington became involved in the plot to place the impostor Lambert Simnel on the throne in 1487. He was imprisoned a third time, and died in prison, in May of 1491.

Notes

References

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Persondata
NAME= Stillington, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Bishop of Bath and Wells; Lord Privy Seal; Lord Chancellor
DATE OF BIRTH=1420
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=May 1491
PLACE OF DEATH=