John of Tours

Infobox bishopbiog
name =John of Tours


religion =Catholic
See =Diocese of Bath and Wells
Title = Bishop of Bath and Wells
Period = 1088-1122
Predecessor = Gisa
Successor =Godfrey
ordination =
bishops =
post =royal chaplain
date of birth =
place of birth =Tours
date of death = December 1122
place of death =

John of Tours (or John de Villula) (d. 1122) was a Norman Bishop of Wells who moved the diocese seat to Bath.

Life

A native of Tours,Cantor "Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture" p. 36] he was a Norman-French physicianSmith "John of Tours" "Downside Review" p. 132-133] to King William I of England, being present at his deathbed in 1087. [Barlow, Frank, "William Rufus" p.45.] William of Malmesbury called him "a very skilled doctor, not in theoretical knowledge, but in practice."quoted in Bartlett "England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings" p. 589] He had been a priest of Tours before becoming doctor to King William.Ramsey "Tours, John of (d. 1122)" "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14846 Online Edition] accessed 15 November 2007]

He was appointed Bishop of Wells in 1088 by William Rufus, and consecrated in July.Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 227] Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury consecrated him at Canterbury. There he bought Bath Abbey's grounds, from the king, [Barlow "William Rufus" p.182.] as well as the city of Bath itself. Whether John paid Rufus for the town or whether he was given the town as alms by the king is unclear. The abbey had recently lost its abbot Alfsige, and was according to Domesday Book the owner of large estates in and near the town. It would have been the wealth of the abbey that attracted John to take over the monastery. Smith "John of Tours" "Downside Review" p. 134-135] In 1090 he transferred the bishopric to Bath abbey,Huscroft "Ruling England" p. 128] and proceeded to build and reform in his diocese. He also developed Bath as a spa, [ [http://uk.holidaysguide.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-70056-bath_history-i Bath History] accessed on 22 August 2007] and founded a hospital for lepers. [ [http://www.building-history.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Bath/Medieval/Outcast.htm Bath Past: Caring for the Outcast] accessed on 22 August 2007] In 1102, John secured from King Henry the right to hold fairs at Bath on the feast day of the cathedral's patron saint, Saint Peter. William of Malmesbury portrays the moving of the episcopal seat as motivated by a desire for the lands of the abbey, but it was part of a pattern at the time of moving cathedral seats from small villages to larger towns.

John rebuilt the monastic church at Bath, which had been damaged during one of Robert de Mowbray's rebellions. As rebuilt, it was only surpassed in size by the cathedrals at Ely, Norwich and Winchester. The present Bath Cathedral is not the building that John built, and occupies only a fraction of the space that John's building encompassed.Smith "John of Tours" "Downside Review" p. 136-137] He also reformed the administration of his diocese, setting up archdeacons and organizing a court for hearing court cases.Smith "John of Tours" "Downside Review" p. 138-139] In 1092 he helped with the consecration of Salisbury Cathedral, and in 1094 performed the same service for Battle Abbey.Smith "John of Tours" "Downside Review" p. 140-141]

He was one of the bishops that sided with William Rufus against Anselm of Canterbury at the king's Whitsun council in 1097.Vaughn "Anselm of Bec and Rober of Meulan" p. 201] John attended Anselm's reforming Council of London in 1102, which debated and passed decrees to reform the clergy. During the reign of King Henry I at the height of the Investiture crisis with Anselm, John along with Robert Bloet Bishop of Lincoln consecrated abbots who had been invested in office by the king.Vaughn "Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan" p. 248-249] John's canons of Wells disliked him because he reduced their income and destroyed some of their buildings as part of the movement to Bath. He gave much of the revenues of Wells to his brother Hildebert, who served as his steward.

He died in December of 1122 and was buried at Bath in the cathedral there. [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=34341 British History Online Bishops of Bath] accessed on 23 September 2007] The name "de Villula" first appears in 1691, and is not a contemporary name. It resulted from a misreading of John's name in his episcopal profession. Under John, the monks of Bath became known for their scholarship, although he himself was not particularly noted for learning. William of Malmsebury claimed he was generous and affable, although the chronicler acknowledged that the bishop treated the canons of Wells abominably. At first he treated the monks at Bath with contempt and confiscated much of the lands of the abbey for his own use, but later he came to esteem the monks and in 1106 he restored their lands to them.

Notes

References

* Barlow, Frank "William Rufus" Berkeley: University of California Press 1983 ISBN 0-520-04936-5
* Bartlett, Robert "England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075-1225" Oxford:Clarendon Press 2000 ISBN 0-19-822741-8
* [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=34341 British History Online Bishops of Bath] accessed on 23 September 2007
* Cantor, Norman F. "Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England 1089-1135" Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press 1958
*
* Huscroft, Richard "Ruling England 1042-1217" London: Pearson Longman 2005 ISBN 0-582-84882-2
* Ramsey, Frances "Tours, John of (d. 1122)" "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14846 Online Edition] accessed 15 November 2007
* Smith, R. A. L. "John of Tours, Bishop of Bath 1088-1122" "Downside Review" vol. 70 1942 p. 132-141
* Vaughn, Sally N. "Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan" Berkeley:University of California Press 1987 ISBN 0-520-05674-4

External links

* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=34341 British History Online: Bishops of Bath and Wells]

Persondata
NAME=John of Tours
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=John de Villula
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=1122
PLACE OF DEATH=