ROBERT WALDBY OF YORK

Augustinian opponent of Wyclif, archbishop; b. Yorkshire; d. Jan. 6, 1398. His elder brother or cousin was the celebrated Augustinian john of waldby. Robert was ordained at York in 1362. Studying first at the Oxford Convent, he earned his doctorate in theology at Toulouse, perhaps in the early 1370s. He had a long connection with Aquitaine; he was there probably with the Black Prince between 1363 and 1367, and was duchy chancellor in 1386 and bishop of Aire (1386–90). Prominent in the sermon and pamphlet war against John wyclif, he attended both the 1382 Black Friars synod of Archbishop William courtenay at London, and the 1392 council at Stamford that tried Henry crumpe and condemned Wyclif's teachings. Waldby is said to have written a work Contra Wiclevistas. As archbishop of Dublin (1390) he was a loyal supporter of King richard ii, holding the post of Irish chancellor in 1392. Richard obtained his translation to Chichester (1395) and, reputedly against the wishes of the monks, to the archbishopric of York (1396). The king had Robert's body buried in Westminster Abbey. He is reputed to have studied medicine as well as theology and to have been physician to Richard II.

Bibliography: j. tait, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900, 63 v. (London 1885–l900) 20:469–470. a. o. gwynn, The English Austin Friars in the Time of Wyclif (London 1940) 115–116, 270–272. a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to a.d. 1500, 3 v. (Oxford 1957–59) 3:1958.

[f. d. blackley]