John Waltham
Bishop of Salisbury
1860 illustration of the monumental brass of John de Waltham
Appointed	3 April 1388
Term ended	17 September 1395
Predecessor	Ralph Ergham
Successor	Richard Mitford
Previous post(s)	Archdeacon of Richmond
Orders
Consecration	20 September 1388
Personal details
Born	Waltham, North East Lincolnshire
Died	17 September 1395
Denomination	Catholic

John Waltham (orJohn de Waltham) was apriest and high-ranking government official inEngland in the 14th century. He held a number of ecclesiastical and civic positions during the reigns ofKing Edward III andRichard II, eventually rising to becomeLord High Treasurer,Lord Privy Seal of England andBishop of Salisbury. He is buried inWestminster Abbey, London.

It is thought that Waltham was born inWaltham, Lincolnshire^[2] (although some sources identify his birthplace asWaltham in Essex^[3] – the historianThomas Fuller wrote in 1655,"Amongst the natives of Waltham for statesmen, de Waltham bears away the bell".^[4]). He was the son of John and Margaret Waltham, whose memorial brass still exists in the chancel of All Saints' Church in Waltham.^[5]

Waltham's great uncle wasJohn of Thoresby,Lord Chancellor of England andArchbishop of York.^[6] John de Waltham is not to be confused with contemporary relatives of the same name; according to records, there was an elder John Waltham who was the nephew of Thoresby and the uncle of the younger John Waltham. This elder Waltham, who died in 1384, became canon and sub-dean ofYork. Confusingly, his will refers to his brother, also called John, who is thought to be the father of the younger John Waltham.^[7]

As a priest, Waltham held a number of senior positions. He held the position ofprebendary ofDunham in theCathedral Church of Southwell, but resigned this post in 1361; 20 November of that year he was appointed prebendary ofLichfield Cathedral. He also held the post of prebendary atRampton, Nottinghamshire until 1383.^[8]

On 25 October 1368 Waltham was nominated prebendary ofSouth Newbald inYork Minster, an appointment which was ratified by theKing Edward III on 7 October 1370.

In 1378 Waltham held a brief position as rector at the Parish Church of St. Mary,South Kelsey in theDiocese of Lincoln, from February to May of that year, being presented to the church of in the king's gift. In the following year, Waltham was offered the post ofcanon at theCollegiate Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert,Chester-le-Street in theDiocese of Durham, but instead he took up a post at the church ofGrendon in the diocese of Lincoln on 17 June 1379. Three months later, on 18 September, Waltham was nominated to a canonry at St Andrew's Collegiate Church inBishop Auckland, County Durham.^[8] He was presented byKing Richard II as rector of theChurch of St Peter, Great Berkhamsted on 27 December 1379, a post which he held for under two years before he resigned on 22 April 1381.^[9] Waltham held the office ofArchdeacon of Richmond from 1385 to 1388.^[10]

Waltham served asMaster of the Rolls of theCourt of Chancery, thecourt of equity in England, from 1381 to 1386. During this appointment, he extend the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery. Waltham is credited as the inventor of thewrit of subpoena, having devised this court order to compel defendants to attend a trial.^[8][11]

In 1386, Waltham was appointed Lord Privy Seal, a post he held until 1389.^[12] He served as Lord Treasurer from 1391 until his death in 1395.^[13]

In May 1388 Waltham served as one of the commissioners at the trial ofAlexander Neville, Archbishop of York,Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and duke of Ireland,Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and others.

Pope Urban VI conferred theSee of Salisbury on Waltham on 3 April 1388,^[14] and he was consecratedBishop of Salisbury on 20 September 1388^[15] at a ceremony attended by King Richard II.^{[citation needed]} During his reign as bishop, Waltham challenged the authority of theArchbishop of Canterbury,William Courtenay, by refusing acanonical visitation in 1390; threatened with a sentence ofexcommunication by Courtenay, Waltham submitted. At this time, the teachings ofJohn Wycliffe and theLollards were gaining popularity, and to suppress this movement, Waltham compelled the mayor and city of Salisbury to submit to the episcopal court and to prohibitconventicle meetings.^[16]

Chroniclers note that, as Bishop of Salisbury, Waltham occupied a lodging onFleet Street in London,Salisbury Court.^[17] There is an account of a riot taking place there in 1392 when ayeoman of the Bishops of Salisbury named Romayn stole a loaf ofhorsebread from baker's basket; the baker assaulted the yeoman with an axe, breaking his skull, and the yeoman fled to take sanctuary from arrest in the bishop's inn. During the riot that ensued, the Bishop of Salisbury's house was attacked. After the riot, a number of London civic dignitaries were imprisoned and the king intervened to replace the Mayor of London.^[18]

Waltham was amongst a group of men appointed by theWonderful Parliament of 1386 to reform government and to break the influence of Richard's inner circle of favourites^[19] There is some evidence that Waltham may initially have been sympathetic to theAppellant cause,^[20] but it is known that Waltham became a favourite and close friend of the king from about 1390. Richard's favour was evident when he appointed Waltham Lord Treasurer in 1391.^[21] The relationship between Waltham and the king has been a matter of speculation; it has been claimed that there was "scandalous talk of the king's affection for him",^[9] but Richard's reputation was widely maligned after his downfall by his detractors (Thomas Walsingham notably made revisions to his Chronicle in 1394 which made allegations about Richard's relationship withRobert de Vere)^[22]

After serving seven years as bishop, Waltham died on 17 September 1395.^[15] King Richard mourned Waltham's passing. The chroniclerJohn Weever noted in 1631,"King Richard II loved him intireiy, and greatly bewaled his death. In token whereof he commanded that he should be buried here among the kings."^[23]

Upon his death, Waltham had wished to be buried withinSalisbury Cathedral, but the king intervened and ordered that Waltham should be given a tomb inWestminster Abbey, London.^[24] He sentSir William Scrope to claim the body from Salisbury, and Waltham's remains were brought to London to be buried in the Chapel ofEdward the Confessor, the only person not of royal blood to be buried in the royal chapel.^[9] The decision to grant to a commoner a grave amongst the Kings of England caused controversy, and in an attempt to appease detractors, Richard made a gift to the Abbey of a large sum of money and twocopes.^[6] Saul notes that Richard had made similar interventions in the burial of other supporters and friends, including those ofJohn Hawkwood and Archbishop Courtenay, suggesting that his "finely honed sense of the theatrical possibilities of burial" was a strategy to project an image of power.^[25] After Richard's downfall and death, he was buried in All Saints,King's Langley in 1400, but later re-entombed in Edward the Confessor's Chapel in Westminster Abbey in 1413.

Waltham's grave is located in the north-west corner of the chapel, close to the tombs of Edward the Confessor and Richard II and Anne. A memorial brass (now severely damaged) in the chapel pavement depicts Waltham dressed in mass vestments, wearing an espicopalmitre and carrying a pastoralcrosier. Hischasuble is decorated with illustrations of theVirgin Mary and he is surrounded by an ornate gothic triple canopy with figures in the niches.^[2][6] A detailed description of the brass in 1825 byThomas Moule suggested that the niches contained the likenesses of saints named John to reflect Waltham's given name –Saint John the Evangelist,Saint John of Beverley,Saint John Elemosiner – andSaint Peter.^[26]

• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996).Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
• Jones, B.Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: volume 6: Northern province (York, Carlisle and Durham): Archdeacons: Richmond. Institute for Historical Research. Archived fromthe original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved16 August 2010.
• Oliver, Clementine (2010).Parliament and political pamphleteering in fourteenth-century England (1. publ. ed.). Woodbridge: York Medieval Press. pp. 75–76.ISBN 9781903153314.
• Saul, Nigel (1999).Richard II (1. publ. in pbk. ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN 9780300078756.
• Clark, James G., ed. (2005).The Chronica maiora of Thomas Walsingham, 1376–1422. Woodbridge: Boydell press. p. 266.ISBN 9781843831440. Retrieved6 September 2014.

Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900Dictionary of National Biography's article aboutWaltham, John de.

• Westminster Abbey official site

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