Henry Bowet was both Bishop of Bath and Wells

Bishop of Bath and Wells

The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England.The present diocese covers the vast majority of the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in...

 and Archbishop of York

Archbishop of York

The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...

.

Life

Bowet was a royal clerk to King Richard II of England

Richard II of England

Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...

, and at one point carried letters of recommendation to Pope Urban VI

Pope Urban VI

Pope Urban VI , born Bartolomeo Prignano, was Pope from 1378 to 1389.-Biography:Born in Itri, he was a devout monk and learned casuist, trained at Avignon. On March 21, 1364, he was consecrated Archbishop of Acerenza in the Kingdom of Naples...

 from the king.

Bowet became Bishop of Bath & Wells on 19 August 1401, and succeeded to the Archbishopric of York on 7 October 1407, after it had been vacant for two and a half years.

The pope had already appointed Robert Hallam

Robert Hallam

Robert Hallam was an English churchman, Bishop of Salisbury and English representative at the Council of Constance. He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1403 to 1405.Hallam had been educated at Oxford...

 to the northern primacy, but, finding that Henry IV

Henry IV of England

Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...

 desired to see Bowet installed, he nominated Hallam to the See of Salisbury and gave the pallium

Pallium

The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...

 to Bowet.

In 1402 Bowet briefly served as Lord High Treasurer

Lord High Treasurer

The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...

, from February to October.

In 1417 the Scots invaded England and sat down before Berwick-on-Tweed. The Duke of Exeter

Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter

Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, KG was an English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, and briefly Chancellor of England. He was the third of four children; the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress Katherine Swynford...

 marched to the relief of the town and Archbishop Bowet, then very old and feeble, had himself carried into the camp where his addresses are said to have greatly encouraged the English soldiers.

The Scots decamped hastily in the night, leaving behind them their stores and baggage. Bowet died on 20 October 1423 at Cawood

Cawood

Cawood is a large village and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England that is notable as the finding-place of the Cawood sword....

Bishop's Palace and was buried in his cathedral of York Minster.