A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



The bishop who followed Godfrey was Peter des Roches, a Poitevin, 

 sometimes termed Peter de Rupibus. To Winchester diocese belongs the 

 disgrace of having the only bishop who abetted the king in his evil 

 ways, and who as a foreigner counselled John to resist the national will. 

 But Peter of Winchester, though the king's justiciar, proved no match 

 for Stephen of Canterbury ; and John, finding himself at last in Odiham 

 castle with a miserable following of only seven knights, was compelled 

 to give a reluctant assent to the Great Charter. 



On the death of John there was a miserable beginning to the reign 

 of his successor. Henry III. (usually termed Henry of Winchester 

 from the place of his birth), a lad of nine, was crowned at Gloucester 

 in October, 1216, by Bishop Peter des Roches. Archbishop Langton 

 was at Rome, whilst London and Winchester were both in the hands 

 of the French. The Bishop of Winchester proved as evil a councillor 

 to the youthful Henry as to his father, and was alternately in favour or 

 disgrace. He died at Farnham Castle in 1238. 



It is pleasant to be able to add that Bishop Peter's gross neglect of 

 his spiritual obligations brought upon him, even in those lax days, not 

 only the stern rebuke of his metropolitan, but a singularly severe censure 

 from the Roman pontiff. A bull of Innocent III. upbraids the Bishop 

 of Winchester in such vehement terms of rebuke that it seems best to 

 give its exact terms, particularly as it has hitherto escaped attention : 



Innocencius papa III. Episcopo Wintoniensi. Si uera sunt que de te nobis 

 nunciantur non est timor del ante oculos tuos set abiecisti cum illo proprie forme 

 curam pariter et Salutis. Nostramque de te fiduciam et expectacionem penitus 

 fefellisti. Expectauimus enim vt ad regimen assumptus feruenti studio ecclesie sua 

 uira et ecclesiasticam non solum impenderes verum eciam defenderes libertatem debito 

 ad id pontificalis officii inductus nostre quoque gracie beneficio intitulatus. Tu autem 

 ut dicitur conuersus es in artum prauum et in sensum reprobum datus, earn crudelitate 

 tirannica opprimis et affligio ac in pessimam conaris reducere seruitutem eandem liber- 

 tantem (sic) conculcando : casque suscitando questiones consuetudinum contra ipsam 

 que non modum sopite verum eciam sicut dignum erat prorsus abolite sperabantur. 

 Ac uelud in corde tuo dixeris non est deus eo quod circa ecclesiam euis presumis 

 attemptare que ipsi quoque laici detestantur, et pro quibus euertendis ab ea deberes si 

 opus esset uitam tuam exponere : machinaris inducere super earn deo displicere non 

 metuens dum valeas homini complacere sicut ad nos certa relacoine pervenit et cedula 

 presentibus inclusa poterit edocere. Quam idcerco tibi duximus transmittendam vt hoc 

 speculo considerans uultum tuum de tue mentis tribunal! indices te ipsum. Paruis tibi 

 profecto est labor noster quam toleratum tot annis pro libertate et statu anglicane 

 ecclesie tu evacuare moliris tarn facile tamque cito efficere, ut in pace tot desiderata 

 suspiriis totque procurata laboribus amaritudinem suam amarrissimam conqueratur. 

 Hies igitur tacti doloribus cordis intrinsecus et circa tue presumptionis audaciam non 

 iniuste commoti et obtentu gracie immo sub pena indignacionis nostre et precipiendo 

 mandamus et mandando precipimus quatinus et excessus in present! cedula comprehensos 

 quantum que ualuens studeas emendare et attemptare similes decetero non presumas 

 pro certo sciturus quod nisi a talibus omnino duxeris desistendum nos tue temeritatis 

 insolenciam taliter curabimus castigare. Quod pena tua erit aliis in exemplum. 1 



Though neglecting so much the spiritual affairs of his diocese, the 

 memory of Bishop Peter is associated with the momentous introduction 

 of the friars into his diocese. He was the founder of a house of 



1 British Museum Add. MS. 34254, f. 

 14 



