JOHN OF LANGTON

Bishop, chancellor of England; b. perhaps at Church Langton, Leicestershire; d. Chichester, July 19, 1337. Langton may have been from a landed family and the brother of bishop Walter Langton of Coventry and Lichfield (1296–1321). He obtained his Master of Arts probably at Oxford, to which he left a sum of money for poor students. Langton's early career was spent in the royal chancery where he was competent as an official, but not outstanding as an individual. He was keeper of the rolls before 1286, chancellor for edward i from 1292 to 1302 and for edward ii from 1307 to 1310. In 1298 he was the minority candidate for the See of Ely, but despite royal support, did not obtain the bishopric; in 1305, however, he was elected and became bishop of chichester. During the troubled reign of Edward II he was a moderate and a peacemaker, belonging to the Middle Party and helping to negotiate the Treaty of Leake in 1318. He did not take an active part in the overthrow of Edward II and retired from politics after the coronation of Edward III.

Bibliography: c. l. kingsford, The Dictionary of National Biography From the Earliest Times to 1900, 63 v. (London 1885–1900) 11:561–562. t. f. tout, Chapters in the Administrative History of Mediaeval England, 6 v. (New York 1920–33). k. edwards, "The Political Importance of the English Bishops During the Reign of Edward II," Englist Historical Review (London 1886—) 59 (1944) 311–347; "The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops During the Reign of Edward II," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th series 9 (1959) 51–79. a.b. emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 v. (Oxford 1957–59) 2:1099–1100.

[f. d. blackley]