Richard Barre
Encyclopedia
Richard Barre was a medieval English justice, clergyman, and scholar. He was educated at the law school of Bologna, and entered royal service under King Henry II of England
, later working for Henry's son and successor Richard I
. He was also briefly in the household of Henry's son Henry the Young King
. Barre served the elder Henry as a diplomat, and was involved in a minor way with the king's quarrel with Thomas Becket
, which earned Barre a condemnation from Becket. After King Henry's death, Barre became a royal justice during Richard's reign, and was one of the main judges in the period from 1194 to 1199. During the reign of King John
, Barre was no longer employed as a judge owing to earlier disagreements with John. Barre was the author of a work of Biblical
extracts dedicated to one of his patrons, William Longchamp
, the Bishop of Ely
and Chancellor of England.
, near Bernay
, in the present-day department of Eure
. He was likely born around 1130. Barre was related to the Sifrewast family, knights in Berkshire
, and had a relative, Hugh Barre, who was Archdeacon of Leicester in the 1150s. Barre studied law at Bologna
in Italy before 1150, and was a student there with Stephen of Tournai
, who became Bishop of Tournai in 1192. Another fellow student wrote a short verse addressed to Barre: "Pontificum causas regumque negocia tractes, Qui tibi divicias deliciasque parant" which translates to "May you manage the causes of bishops and the affairs of kings, Who provide riches and delights for you." After finishing his schooling, Barre seems to have worked for either Robert de Chesney
, the Bishop of Lincoln
, or Nicholas, Archdeacon of Huntingdon; the main evidence for this is that Barre witnessed charters for both men from 1160 to 1164. By 1165, Barre had joined the household of King Henry II of England.
, who had gone into exile in 1164 over the dispute about the limits of royal authority over the English Church. Because of Barre's close ties to King Henry, Becket considered him one of the king's "evil counselors", and Barre was the subject of denunciations by the archbishop. In late August 1169, Barre was in Normandy with Henry, where Barre was part of a group of ecclesiastics advising the king on how to resolve the Becket dispute
. In September 1169, Barre was sent along with two other clerks to Rome to complain about the behaviour of papal envoys during negotiations with Becket held at the beginning of September. The papal negotiators at first agreed to a compromise, but the next day claimed that the proposal was unacceptable. With the failure of the negotiations, Becket restored the sentences of excommunication on a number of royal officials, but Barre was not included among those specifically named even though many of his colleagues were. The historian Frank Barlow
argues that Barre was not specifically named in the restoration of excommunications, as Becket considered him already excommunicated because of his association with those under the church's ban.
During January and February 1170 the king sent Barre on a diplomatic mission to the pope in Rome, on a matter related to the king's dispute with Becket. The mission attempted to secure the rescinding of the excommunication of those whom Becket had placed under clerical ban, but it was unsuccessful; rumours circulated that the mission sought and secured papal permission for the coronation of King Henry's eldest living son by someone other than Becket. When Becket protested to Pope Alexander III
over this usurpation of the right of the archbishop to crown English kings, Alexander not only stated that no such permission had been granted but threatened to suspend or depose any bishop who crowned Henry's heir. Barlow thinks it possible that Barre received a verbal agreement from the pope in January to allow the coronation, but there is no written evidence that Alexander agreed to allow the coronation in 1170.
After Becket's murder in December 1170 King Henry sent Barre to Rome, accompanied by the Archbishop of Rouen, the bishops of Évreux and Worcester, and other royal clerks, to plead the royal case with the papacy. The mission's objective was to make it clear to Alexander that Henry had had nothing to do with Becket's murder and that the king was horrified that it had taken place. Barre was at first refused a meeting with Alexander, but eventually the envoys were allowed to meet with the pope. Although the mission was not a complete success, the royal commission did manage to persuade the papacy not to impose an interdict, or ban on clerical rites, on England or to excommunicate the king. Shortly afterwards Barre was granted the office of Archdeacon of Lisieux, probably as a reward for his efforts in Rome in 1171. In September he was named a royal justice. He was named chancellor
to King Henry's eldest living son Henry
for a brief period in 1172 and 1173, but when the younger Henry rebelled against his father and sought refuge at the French royal court, Barre refused to join him in exile and returned to the king's service. Barre took with him the younger Henry's seal.
As well as the Lisieux archdeaconry, Barre held the prebend of Hurstborne and Burbage in the Diocese of Salisbury
from 1177, and the prebend of Moreton and Whaddon in the Diocese of Hereford
from 1180 through 1184. He continued to hold the archdeaconry at Lisieux until 1188, and was at Lisieux for most of the late 1170s and 1180s. In 1187 King Henry sent Barre on a diplomatic mission to the continent, with letters to the German Emperor, the King of Hungary, and the Emperor at Constantinople, seeking assistance for his projected crusade, but Henry died in 1189, before the crusade could set off.
during Richard's absence on the Third Crusade
. Longchamp's exile meant that Barre did not serve as a royal justice again until King Richard I returned to England in 1194. Although Longchamp eventually returned to England, he did not return to his diocese, and much of the administration of Ely would have devolved on Barre during Longchamp's absence.
Barre was one of the main royal justices between 1194 and 1199. He also served as a lawyer for the new Bishop of Ely, Eustace, who was elected in August 1197. But Barre had incurred the hostility of the king's younger brother Prince John, and when John succeeded Richard as king in 1199, Barre ceased to be employed as a royal justice, instead returning to Ely and business in his clerical office. His last sure mention in the historical record is on 9 August 1202, when he was serving as a judge-delegate
for Pope Innocent III
, but he may have been alive as late as 1213, as he was part of a papal panel deciding a case that can only be securely dated to between 1198 and 1213. Barre maintained his friendship with Stephen of Tournai, who corresponded with him later in their lives.
es on Roman law
. It is still extant in two manuscript (MS) copies, MS British Library
Harley 3255, and Lambeth Palace
MS 105. The Harley manuscript is shorter than the Lambeth manuscript. Richard Sharpe, a modern historian who studied both works, stated that the Harley manuscript "provides [a] well structured and systematic (though not complete) coverage of the whole Bible." Because of the dedication to William Longchamp as "bishop, legate, and chancellor", it is likely that the work was composed between January 1190 and October 1191, as Longchamp only held those three offices together during that period. The prologue to the work describes it as something to be used privately, and thus Sharpe feels that it was not intended to be a publicly published work; instead Barre may have intended it for Longchamp's private use in preparing sermons.
A third copy of Barre's Compendium may have existed at Leicester Abbey
, where a late 15th-century library catalogue records a work by Barre on the Bible that the catalogue titles "Compendium Ricardi Barre super utroque testamento". The title and contents make this manuscript likely to be a copy of the Compendium. The same catalogue also records five books once owned by Barre – copies of Gratian
's Decretum
, Justinian's Codex
, glossed copies of the Psalter
and some of the Epistles
of Paul, as well as Peter Lombard
's Sentences
. Also, another Leicester Abbey manuscript records some satirical verses that were said to have been written by Barre.
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...
, later working for Henry's son and successor Richard I
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
. He was also briefly in the household of Henry's son Henry the Young King
Henry the Young King
Henry, known as the Young King was the second of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine but the first to survive infancy. He was officially King of England; Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine.-Early life:Little is known of the young prince Henry before the events...
. Barre served the elder Henry as a diplomat, and was involved in a minor way with the king's quarrel with Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
, which earned Barre a condemnation from Becket. After King Henry's death, Barre became a royal justice during Richard's reign, and was one of the main judges in the period from 1194 to 1199. During the reign of King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
, Barre was no longer employed as a judge owing to earlier disagreements with John. Barre was the author of a work of Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
extracts dedicated to one of his patrons, William Longchamp
William Longchamp
William Longchamp , sometimes known as William de Longchamp or William de Longchamps, was a medieval Lord Chancellor, Chief Justiciar, and Bishop of Ely in England. Born to a humble family in Normandy, he owed his advancement to royal favour. Although contemporary writers accused Longchamp's father...
, the Bishop of Ely
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
and Chancellor of England.
Early life
Whether Barre was a native of England or of Normandy is unknown, but his surname appears to derive from the Norman village of La BarreLa Barre-en-Ouche
La Barre-en-Ouche is a commune in the Eure department in Haute-Normandie in northern France.-Population:-References:*...
, near Bernay
Bernay, Eure
Bernay is a commune in the west of the Eure department about fifty km from Évreux in northern France. The city is in the Pays d'Ouche and the Lieuvin...
, in the present-day department of Eure
Eure
Eure is a department in the north of France named after the river Eure.- History :Eure is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
. He was likely born around 1130. Barre was related to the Sifrewast family, knights in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, and had a relative, Hugh Barre, who was Archdeacon of Leicester in the 1150s. Barre studied law at Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
in Italy before 1150, and was a student there with Stephen of Tournai
Stephen of Tournai
Stephen of Tournai, born in 1128 and died in 1203, was a Canon regular of Sainte-Geneviève , and Roman Catholic canonist who became bishop of Tournai in 1192.-Biography:He was born at Orléans in 1128; died at Tournai in September 1203...
, who became Bishop of Tournai in 1192. Another fellow student wrote a short verse addressed to Barre: "Pontificum causas regumque negocia tractes, Qui tibi divicias deliciasque parant" which translates to "May you manage the causes of bishops and the affairs of kings, Who provide riches and delights for you." After finishing his schooling, Barre seems to have worked for either Robert de Chesney
Robert de Chesney
Robert de Chesney was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln. He was the brother of an important royal official, William de Chesney, and the uncle of Gilbert Foliot, later successively Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London...
, the Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
, or Nicholas, Archdeacon of Huntingdon; the main evidence for this is that Barre witnessed charters for both men from 1160 to 1164. By 1165, Barre had joined the household of King Henry II of England.
Service to King Henry
Barre served King Henry during the king's quarrel with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop 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...
, who had gone into exile in 1164 over the dispute about the limits of royal authority over the English Church. Because of Barre's close ties to King Henry, Becket considered him one of the king's "evil counselors", and Barre was the subject of denunciations by the archbishop. In late August 1169, Barre was in Normandy with Henry, where Barre was part of a group of ecclesiastics advising the king on how to resolve the Becket dispute
Becket controversy
The Becket controversy or Becket dispute was the quarrel between Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and King Henry II of England, from 1163 to 1173...
. In September 1169, Barre was sent along with two other clerks to Rome to complain about the behaviour of papal envoys during negotiations with Becket held at the beginning of September. The papal negotiators at first agreed to a compromise, but the next day claimed that the proposal was unacceptable. With the failure of the negotiations, Becket restored the sentences of excommunication on a number of royal officials, but Barre was not included among those specifically named even though many of his colleagues were. The historian Frank Barlow
Frank Barlow (historian)
Frank Barlow CBE FBA FRSL was a British historian, known particularly for biographies of medieval figures.Barlow studied at St John's College, Oxford. He was Professor of History at the University of Exeter from 1953 until he retired in 1976 and became Emeritus Professor...
argues that Barre was not specifically named in the restoration of excommunications, as Becket considered him already excommunicated because of his association with those under the church's ban.
During January and February 1170 the king sent Barre on a diplomatic mission to the pope in Rome, on a matter related to the king's dispute with Becket. The mission attempted to secure the rescinding of the excommunication of those whom Becket had placed under clerical ban, but it was unsuccessful; rumours circulated that the mission sought and secured papal permission for the coronation of King Henry's eldest living son by someone other than Becket. When Becket protested to Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...
over this usurpation of the right of the archbishop to crown English kings, Alexander not only stated that no such permission had been granted but threatened to suspend or depose any bishop who crowned Henry's heir. Barlow thinks it possible that Barre received a verbal agreement from the pope in January to allow the coronation, but there is no written evidence that Alexander agreed to allow the coronation in 1170.
After Becket's murder in December 1170 King Henry sent Barre to Rome, accompanied by the Archbishop of Rouen, the bishops of Évreux and Worcester, and other royal clerks, to plead the royal case with the papacy. The mission's objective was to make it clear to Alexander that Henry had had nothing to do with Becket's murder and that the king was horrified that it had taken place. Barre was at first refused a meeting with Alexander, but eventually the envoys were allowed to meet with the pope. Although the mission was not a complete success, the royal commission did manage to persuade the papacy not to impose an interdict, or ban on clerical rites, on England or to excommunicate the king. Shortly afterwards Barre was granted the office of Archdeacon of Lisieux, probably as a reward for his efforts in Rome in 1171. In September he was named a royal justice. He was named 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...
to King Henry's eldest living son Henry
Henry the Young King
Henry, known as the Young King was the second of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine but the first to survive infancy. He was officially King of England; Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine.-Early life:Little is known of the young prince Henry before the events...
for a brief period in 1172 and 1173, but when the younger Henry rebelled against his father and sought refuge at the French royal court, Barre refused to join him in exile and returned to the king's service. Barre took with him the younger Henry's seal.
As well as the Lisieux archdeaconry, Barre held the prebend of Hurstborne and Burbage in the Diocese of Salisbury
Diocese of Salisbury
The Diocese of Salisbury is a Church of England diocese in the south of England. The diocese covers Dorset and most of Wiltshire and is a constituent diocese of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Salisbury and the diocesan synod...
from 1177, and the prebend of Moreton and Whaddon in the Diocese of Hereford
Diocese of Hereford
The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England; and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales....
from 1180 through 1184. He continued to hold the archdeaconry at Lisieux until 1188, and was at Lisieux for most of the late 1170s and 1180s. In 1187 King Henry sent Barre on a diplomatic mission to the continent, with letters to the German Emperor, the King of Hungary, and the Emperor at Constantinople, seeking assistance for his projected crusade, but Henry died in 1189, before the crusade could set off.
Later years and death
After the death of King Henry, Barre joined the service of William Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely, who was justiciar and Lord Chancellor. Longchamp named Barre as Archdeacon of Ely, with the appointment occurring before 4 July 1190. Longchamp sent Barre as a royal justice to the counties near Ely in 1190. However, Longchamp was driven into exile in late 1191 owing to the hostility of the English nobility and Richard's brother Prince JohnJohn of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
during Richard's absence on the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
. Longchamp's exile meant that Barre did not serve as a royal justice again until King Richard I returned to England in 1194. Although Longchamp eventually returned to England, he did not return to his diocese, and much of the administration of Ely would have devolved on Barre during Longchamp's absence.
Barre was one of the main royal justices between 1194 and 1199. He also served as a lawyer for the new Bishop of Ely, Eustace, who was elected in August 1197. But Barre had incurred the hostility of the king's younger brother Prince John, and when John succeeded Richard as king in 1199, Barre ceased to be employed as a royal justice, instead returning to Ely and business in his clerical office. His last sure mention in the historical record is on 9 August 1202, when he was serving as a judge-delegate
Papal judge-delegate
A papal judge delegate was a type of judicial appointment created during the 12th century by the medieval papacy where the pope would designate a local judge, often an ecclesiastic, to decide a case that had been appealed to the papal court....
for Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
, but he may have been alive as late as 1213, as he was part of a papal panel deciding a case that can only be securely dated to between 1198 and 1213. Barre maintained his friendship with Stephen of Tournai, who corresponded with him later in their lives.
Literary work
Barre wrote a work on the Bible entitled Compendium de veteri et novo testamento, which he dedicated to William Longchamp. The work arranged passages from the Bible under topics, and then annotated the passages with marginal notations such as were done with glossGloss
A gloss is a brief notation of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader's language if that is different....
es on Roman law
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
. It is still extant in two manuscript (MS) copies, MS British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
Harley 3255, and Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. It is located in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames a short distance upstream of the Palace of Westminster on the opposite shore. It was acquired by the archbishopric around 1200...
MS 105. The Harley manuscript is shorter than the Lambeth manuscript. Richard Sharpe, a modern historian who studied both works, stated that the Harley manuscript "provides [a] well structured and systematic (though not complete) coverage of the whole Bible." Because of the dedication to William Longchamp as "bishop, legate, and chancellor", it is likely that the work was composed between January 1190 and October 1191, as Longchamp only held those three offices together during that period. The prologue to the work describes it as something to be used privately, and thus Sharpe feels that it was not intended to be a publicly published work; instead Barre may have intended it for Longchamp's private use in preparing sermons.
A third copy of Barre's Compendium may have existed at Leicester Abbey
Leicester Abbey
Leicester Abbey, the Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis , standing about a mile north of the city of Leicester in the riverside meadows on the west bank of the River Soar, was built under the patronage of Robert le Bossu, Earl of Leicester. It was founded as a community of Augustinian Canons, the...
, where a late 15th-century library catalogue records a work by Barre on the Bible that the catalogue titles "Compendium Ricardi Barre super utroque testamento". The title and contents make this manuscript likely to be a copy of the Compendium. The same catalogue also records five books once owned by Barre – copies of Gratian
Gratian (jurist)
Gratian, was a 12th century canon lawyer from Bologna. He is sometimes incorrectly referred to as Franciscus Gratianus, Johannes Gratianus, or Giovanni Graziano. The dates of his birth and death are unknown....
's Decretum
Decretum Gratiani
The Decretum Gratiani or Concordia discordantium canonum is a collection of Canon law compiled and written in the 12th century as a legal textbook by the jurist known as Gratian. It forms the first part of the collection of six legal texts, which together became known as the Corpus Juris Canonici...
, Justinian's Codex
Corpus Juris Civilis
The Corpus Juris Civilis is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Eastern Roman Emperor...
, glossed copies of the Psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
and some of the Epistles
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...
of Paul, as well as Peter Lombard
Peter Lombard
Peter Lombard was a scholastic theologian and bishop and author of Four Books of Sentences, which became the standard textbook of theology, for which he is also known as Magister Sententiarum-Biography:Peter Lombard was born in Lumellogno , in...
's Sentences
Sentences
The Four Books of Sentences is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the twelfth century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the sententiae or authoritative statements on biblical passages that it gathered together.-Origin and...
. Also, another Leicester Abbey manuscript records some satirical verses that were said to have been written by Barre.