A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



contemporaries gave him is to be trusted, not too much belief must be given 

 to his occasional complaints of his necessities. 



Pandulf found Geoffrey de Burgh archdeacon of* Norwich, and such 

 he remained till 1225, when he became bishop of Ely. Pandulfs repre- 

 sentative as administrator or official of the diocese was Ranulph de Warham, 

 prior of Norwich.^ In 1218 he became bishop of Chichester, to which 

 see he was consecrated in January, 121 8. As for the diocese of Norwich, it 

 seems to have been utterly neglected. Pandulf is credited with having 

 contributed to the repair of the cathedral, and to have left to the priory a 

 chest of relics of which Thomas of Monmouth a century before had said 

 it stood very much in need. Pandulf left England in July, 1221, never to 

 return, and in the following May he was at last consecrated bishop of 

 Norwich at Rome. He lived five years after this, and died at Viterbo 

 15 September, 1226. Where he died there they buried him. That he 

 should ever have been carried for sepulture to Norwich is, on the face of it, 

 highly improbable.' 



No time was lost by the king in choosing a successor. The priory was 

 again utilized to elect the king's nominee and they chose Thomas de Blunville, 

 who, having received the king's assent on 5 November, was consecrated at 

 Westminster by Archbishop Langton on 20 December, 1226.' Bishop 

 Thomas had been a clerk in the Exchequer, and was a nephew of Hubert 

 de Burgh, through whose influence it is said that he obtained his preferment, 

 but he had already been custodian of the bishopric since October, 1224.* 

 His episcopate is a mere blank except for the memorable fact that in his time 

 the great Franciscan movement began, and the friars established themselves 

 firmly in Norfolk. He died 16 August, 1236, and thereupon ensued another 

 contested election, when it came to the choice of his successor. 



The prior of Norwich at this time was a certain Thomas of Elmham, 

 who had made up his mind to become bishop, but he had a competitor in a 

 certain John de Ferentino, archdeacon of Norwich, and chamberlain to 

 Pope Gregory IX. The monks elected their prior while the king lent his 

 support to the archdeacon, John de Ferentino had apparently some strong 

 friends at Rome, and sent in to the papal court some very good reasons 

 against the prior. It was alleged that the prior had a daughter, and so had 

 been leading an immoral life, and that he had been party to the reception 

 of monks into the Norwich priory for money paid down.' Be it as it may, 

 the election of Thomas of Elmham was quashed, and in his room, after some 

 delay, William de Raleigh was consecrated bishop at St. Paul's, London, on 

 25 September, 1239.* The only intimation that this bishop had ever been 



' Blomefield falls into some confusion about him : Hist, of Norf. iii, 600. Obviously Blomefield's 

 Nos. 5 and 1 1 are the same man. 



' Anthony Bek's Book (Lincoln MS.) ' Pandulfus, gcner Romanus, officio legatus. Anno pontificatus sui 

 quinto XV Kal. Octobr apud Witerbiam obiit ut dicitur et ibidem sepelitur.' Bartholomew Cotton is the 

 only authority for the hitherto general belief that he was buried at Norwich. 



' Le Neve, Faiti and Reg. Sacr. Angl. It looks as if he had been ' provided ' with the bishopric 

 previously by Honorius III. 



* Le Neve, op. cit. 1 1, 460, m. 63. ' Ibid, ii, 478 ; Cal. of Papal Letten, i, 162. 



•On II July, 1238, he was elected bishop of Winchester, but the king refused to acknowledge the 

 validity of the choice. On 23 February, 1239, he was chosen by the canons of Lichfield to succeed as 

 bishop there. On 10 April he was elected by the Norwich monks to the bishopric. 'The elect to three 

 bishoprics had to declare which he preferred. The king would not have him at Winchester ; between the 

 other two he did not hesitate long.' 



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