Robert de Limesey

Infobox bishopbiog
name =Robert de Limesey


religion =Catholic
See =Diocese of Chester
Diocese of Coventry
Title = Bishop of Chester
Bishop of Coventry
Period = 1085–1117
Predecessor = Peter
Successor =Robert Peche
ordination =
bishops =
post =
date of birth =
place of birth =
date of death =1 September 1117
place of death =

Robert de Limesey (or Robert de Limesy, Robert de Limesi or Robert of Limesy) was a medieval Bishop of Chester. He moved the see from Chester to Coventry in 1102.Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 253]

Robert was a chaplain to King William I of England before the king nominated Robert to the see of Chester on 25 December 1085.Barlow "The English Church 1066-1154" p. 64] He may have come from a baronial family, as his surname derives from a territorial location.Barlow "William Rufus" p. 178-179] Robert was consecrated in 1086. At some point during the last years of Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, Robert took over the abbey of Coventry as the seat of his bishopric, and managed to establish himself there permanently after Lanfranc's death. Coventry was a wealthy abbey, richer than Chester, and by making Coventry the cathedral, Robert increased the revenue of his see by a large amount.Knowles "The Monastic Order in England" p. 132] In 1102, Robert was one of the bishops, along with Gerard, Archbishop of York and Herbert de Losinga bishop of Norwich, who returned from Rome and told King Henry I of England that Pope Paschal II had told them privately that Henry could invest bishops as in the past, provided they were good men. This was during the height of the Investiture Crisis, and the pope later denied the story.Barlow "The English Church 1066-1154" p. 299-300] Robert had been part of a royal delegation to the papal curia to seek a resolution to the dispute between the king and archbishop Anselm of Canterbury over lay investiture. Robert also had business of his own at Rome, as he had sought permission from the pope to relocate his see from Chester to Coventry.Hollister "Henry I" p. 150] Robert's effort to secure papal permission for the relocation of his see was successful.Vaughn "Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan" p. 241] But, not only did the pope deny Robert's story, Pascal excommunicated all three bishops.Vaughn "Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan" p. 244] Along with William Giffard bishop of Winchester, Samson bishop of Worcester, Ralph Luffa bishop of Chichester, Gerard archbishop of York, and Herbert de Losinga bishop of Norwich, Robert in 1106 wrote to Anselm, who was then in exile over the investiture crisis, asking the archbishop to return to England.Cantor "Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England 1089-1135" p. 255-256 and footnote 134] In 1106, with the settlement between the pope and the king, the pope pardoned Robert and the other bishops.Barlow "The English Church 1066-1154" p. 301]

Robert died on 1 September 1117.

Notes

References

* Barlow, Frank "The English Church 1066-1154" London:Longman 1979 ISBN 0-582-50236-5
* Barlow, Frank "William Rufus" Berkeley, CA: University of California Press 1983 ISBN 0-520-04936-5
* Cantor, Norman F. "Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England 1089-1135" Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press 1958
*
* Hollister, C. Warren "Henry I" ed. by Amanda Clark Frost New Haven:Yale University Press 2001 ISBN 0-300-08858-2
* Knowles, Dom David "The Monastic Order in England: From the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council" Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976 reprint ISBN 0-521-05479-6
* Vaughn, Sally N. "Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan" Berkeley:University of California Press 1987 ISBN 0-520-05674-4

Persondata
NAME=Limesey, Robert de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Bishop of Chester; Bishop of Coventry
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=1 September 1117
PLACE OF DEATH=