Herbert Poore orPoor^[a][b] (died 1217) was a medieval English clergyman who held the post ofBishop of Salisbury during the reigns ofRichard I andJohn.^[1]

Poore was probably the son ofRichard of Ilchester, also known asRichard Toclive, who served asBishop of Winchester.^[2] He was the brother ofRichard Poore, who succeeded him as bishop.^[3] He may have served under his father in theexchequer but is first recorded as anarchdeacon of Canterbury in 1175.^[1][4] He was initially one of a trio in the office but, in 1180,Archbishop Richard reversed himself and left Herbert the sole archdeacon for the area. At some point, he also became a canon of Lincoln and Salisbury, entitling him to theirprebends.^[1]

In his capacity as archdeacon of Canterbury, Herbert enthronedWalter de Coutances asbishop ofLincoln on 11 December 1183. In July the next year, he was one of the men charged byHenry II to instruct the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, to elect his favoriteBishopBaldwin ofWorcester as Richard's successor.^[1] From 1185 to 1188, he directed the income of thevacant see ofSalisbury and, in May 1186, thechapter at Lincoln elected him to succeed Walter as their bishop. The king refused his consent. The chapter at Salisbury then elected him to succeedJoscelin as the Bishop of Salisbury. The king assented on 14 September 1186 but the minority appealed tothe pope owing to Herbert's birth to his father'sconcubine.^[1] (The position was ultimately taken up byHubert Walter.) On 29 September 1186 he officiated the enthronement ofHugh as bishop of Lincoln and, in May 1193, he appealed tothe pope against Hubert Walter's elevation as archbishop of Canterbury, asthe king was in captivity and the bishops had not been present at his election.^[1] Instead, Celestine presented Hubert with hispallium, the symbol of his new office, and he was enthroned at Canterbury on 7 November.^[5]

The canons of Salisbury unanimously elected Herbert as Hubert's successor around 5 May 1194,^[6] and the archbishop confirmed the result on 29 April. Herbert was only indeacon'sorders at the time; he wasordained as apriest on 4 June,^[2] the day before Hubertconsecrated him inSt Katherine's Chapel atWestminster. He wasenthroned atSalisbury on 13 June.^[1] In December 1197, Herbert joinedSt Hugh ofLincoln in denying theking 300knights for a year's service^[7] inhis French wars;^[8] when Archbishop Hubert made the same request at theCouncil of Oxford in February of the next year, they successfully resisted.^[1] By the king's orders, all of Herbert's English lands were then seized, until he left to visit Richard personally inNormandy.^[8] He was permitted to return to England with his lands and title in June^[1] upon payment of a large fine. It was Herbert's idea to move the see fromOld Sarum to theSalisbury Plain and he received permission from Richard to that effect, but the plan had to be abandoned afterKing John came to the throne.^[8] It was left to Herbert's brother and successor,Richard, to carry it out decades later, founding modernSalisbury in the process.

Bishop Herbert attendedKing John'scoronation on 27 May 1199. On 19 September 1200, he served as a papal delegate at the reconciliation ofArchbishopGeoffrey and the chapter ofYork atWestminster and, on 22 November, he was present whenthe king ofScotland paid homage to John atLincoln. He was summoned to John inNormandy on 14 December 1201. He received sixtuns of wine on 2 January 1205.

In 1207, the dispute over the appointment of the newarchbishop of Canterbury caused Herbert andBishopGilbert ofRochester to flee toScotland. By 27 May 1208, Herbert appears to have returned to Ramsbury but, the next year,PopeInnocent III wrote to him concerning John's failure to pay Richard's widowBerengaria her pension (21 January) and then directed him, along with Bishop Gilbert, to publish theinterdict against John.^[1] The king was thenexcommunicated and Herbert again fled to Scotland.^[2] In 1212, he and Bishop Gilbert were instructed to release them from their oaths of allegiance to John.^[1] In May 1213, John capitulated; Herbert's lands andrevenues were ordered restored to him on 18 July.^[2]

Herbert died in 1217. Sources variously place the date on 6 February or 9 May^[1] while it was commemorated at Salisbury on 7 January.^[2][6] He was not buried at thecathedral church but atWilton.^[1]

• British History Online Archdeacons of Canterbury accessed on 30 October 2007
• British History Online Bishops of Salisbury accessed on 30 October 2007
• British History Online Deans of Salisbury accessed on 30 October 2007
• 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.

• 12th-century births
• 1217 deaths
• Bishops of Salisbury
• 13th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
• 12th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
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