William Cumin (bishop) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For other persons named William Comyn(s) see William Comyn
William Comyn
William Comyn can refer to:*William Comyn *William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan*William Comyns Beaumont, British journalist, author and lecturer*William Comyns silversmith late 19th century....

William Cumin (died c.
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...

1159) was a medieval Bishop of Durham elect.

Life

Cumin probably was related to a clerical family from near Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

in Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

. Several of Cumin's were clerks in the chanceries of King Henry I of England

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

and King Henry II of England

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

, as well as in the dioceses of Rouen

Archbishop of Rouen

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the ecclesiastical province of the archdiocese comprises the majority of Normandy....

and Bayeux. A John Cumin, who became Archbishop of Dublin

Archbishop of Dublin (Roman Catholic)

The Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the Archdiocese of Dublin. The Church of Ireland has a similar role, heading the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. In both cases, the Archbishop is also Primate of Ireland...

in 1182 may also have been a relative. William Cumin was Archdeacon of Worcester by March of 1125 and the chancellor

Chancellor

Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...

of King David I of Scotland

David I of Scotland

David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...

before 1136. David was the uncle of the Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...

. Cumin was educated by Geoffrey Rufus

Geoffrey Rufus

Geoffrey Rufus was a medieval Bishop of Durham and Lord Chancellor of England.-Life:Rufus' parentage and upbringing is unknown. The circumstances around his acquisition of the nickname "Rufus" have not been discovered either. He was a royal clerk before being named the tenth Lord Chancellor and...

, who had been chancellor to King Henry I of England

Henry I of England

and Bishop of Durham. Cumin was captured at the Battle of the Standard

Battle of the Standard

The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, in which English forces repelled a Scottish army, took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire. The Scottish forces were led by King David I of Scotland...

in August of 1138, but was set free at the instigation of the papal legate, Alberic of Ostia

Alberic of Ostia

Alberic of Ostia was a Benedictine monk, and Cardinal Bishop of Ostia from 1138 to 1148.He was born at Beauvais in France. He entered the monastery of Cluny and became its sub-prior and, later, prior of St...

.

At the time of the death of Geoffrey Rufus

Geoffrey Rufus

, most of the diocese of Durham

Diocese of Durham

The Diocese of Durham is a Church of England diocese, based in Durham, and covering the historic County Durham . It was created in AD 1000 to replace the Diocese of Lindisfarne...

was under the control of King David. With the death of Geoffrey, David tried to gain control of the English diocese by installing his own candidate into Durham, this being his chancellor, Cumin. When David came south to meet with the Empress, he stopped in Durham, where he refused to allow the burial of the previous bishop until Cumin was allowed into the see. Cumin was intruded into the see of Durham about 11 May 1141, but was never consecrated. However, when the Empress was driven from London in June 1141, this deprived Cumin of some support. Cumin still had the support of one of Geoffrey's nephews and support in the cathedral chapter

Cathedral chapter

In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...

and castle. But he was opposed by the nephew of another previous Bishop, Ranulf nephew of Ranulf Flambard

Ranulf Flambard

Ranulf Flambard was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England...

who was an archdeacon at Durham, and by the papal legate to England. Another supporter was William of Aumale

William le Gros, 1st Earl of Albemarle

William le Gros was the Count of Aumale , Earl of York, and Lord of Holderness. He was the eldest son of Stephen, Count of Aumale, and his spouse, Hawise, daughter of Ralph de Mortimer of Wigmore....

, Earl of York

Earl of York

The title Earl of York or Yorkshire was created twice in the Kingdom of England before the title Duke of York was granted to Edmund of Langley, the fourth surviving son of King Edward III, in 1348....

, who attempted to marry one of his nieces to Cumin's nephew who held Northallerton

Northallerton

Northallerton is an affluent market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It has a population of 15,741 according to the 2001 census...

in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

By 1142, David had withdrawn his support, and Cumin resorted to using a forged letter of support from the papacy in an attempt to get consecrated. Eventually Cumin was deprived of his benefice

Benefice

A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

s by Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II , born Gregorio Papareschi, was pope from 1130 to 1143, and was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the antipope Clement III .-Early years:...

about 14 March 1143 as well as being excommunicated. Around this time his soldiers were described as 'incessantly making forages;whatever they could lay their hands on they plundered....wherever these men passed it became a wilderness. Their torments were of many and various kinds, difficult to describe and difficult to believe. Men were hung fromthe walls of their own howses....others...plunged into the bed of the river....everywhere throughout the town there were groanss and various kinds of deaths'. Simeon of Durham At the same time, the pope ordered a new election held at York Minster

York Minster

York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...

which selected the Dean of York

Dean of York

The Dean of York is the member of the clergy who is responsible for the running of the York Minster cathedral.-11th–12th centuries:* 1093–c.1135: Hugh* c.1138–1143: William of Sainte-Barbe...

, William of St. Barbara

William of St. Barbara

William of St. Barbara or William of Ste Barbe was a medieval Bishop of Durham.-Life:From William's name, it is presumed that he was a native of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge in Calvados in Normandy. He was a canon of York Minster in 1128. He was Dean of York by December of 1138.William was elected to the...

. Cumin, however, still had the support of two of the local magnates, Henry, Earl of Northumbria and Alan, Earl of Richmond

Alan de Bretagne, 1st Earl of Richmond

Alan of Penthièvre of Brittany, 1st Earl of Cornwall, 1st Earl of Richmond , Breton Alan Penteur, also known as "Alan the Black", was a Breton noble who fought for Stephen of England...

, and Cumin garrisoned the priory. In 1144, Cumin negotiated a settlement of the dispute, in which he relinquished his claims to Durham in exchange for lands to endow his nephew Richard. Cumin was imprisoned for a time, but eventually returned to the south of England where he had the support of Gilbert Foliot

Gilbert Foliot

Gilbert Foliot was a medieval English monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Gloucester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Born to an ecclesiastical family, he became a monk at Cluny Abbey in France at about the age of twenty...

, then Abbot of Gloucester

Abbot of Gloucester

Abbot of Gloucester was the title of the head of Gloucester Abbey in Gloucester, England. The following table lists some of the abbots, and is taken from Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 940 to 1216....

.

Theobald of Bec

Theobald of Bec

Theobald was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1139 to 1161. He was a Norman; his exact birth date is unknown. Some time in the late 11th or early 12th century Theobald became a monk at the Abbey of Bec, rising to the position of abbot in 1137. King Stephen of England chose him to be Archbishop of...

, Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

then took up Cumin's cause in about 1146, and Theobald lobbied the papacy for Cumin's absolution. Cumin was restored to some of his benefices by 1152, and was once more Archdeacon of Worcester by 1157. He died probably about 1158 or 1159.

Two of Cumin's nephews served as knights in Scotland. William is noted as a knight by the Durham chronicle, and Osbert served Henry, earl of Northumberland. Both died in the before 1144 during the conflicts in Durham. Another nephew, Richard Comyn

Richard Comyn

Richard Comyn was a Scottish noble, the nephew of William Comyn.Richard was probably born between 1115 and 1123. In 1144, William Comyn gave him Northallerton Castle, which he had built a few years earlier. Shortly after, he received the castle and honour of Richmond as part of his uncle's...

, received the honour of Richmond as part of his uncle's settlement at Durham. Richard was the ancestor of the Comyn family of Scotland.

Life

Further reading