William de Raley was a medieval judge, administrator and bishop.

Life

In 1212 Raley was presented with the church of Bratton Fleming

Bratton Fleming

Bratton Fleming is a large village near Barnstaple, in Devon, England. The population in 2001 was 942.The village runs along one street which climbs steadily up the foothills of Exmoor. The Flemings had their seat at Chimwell, now a farmhouse called Chumhill, which Risdon said was "one of the...

, with his occupation being described as "clerk". He is known to have served as a clerk of the bench in 1214, and again from 1219 to 1229. From 1225 to 1229 he was the personal clerk of Martin of Pattishall

Martin of Pattishall

Martin of Pattishall was a British judge who took his name from the village of Pattishall in Yorkshire. He was the clerk of Simon of Pattishall, although they were apparently unrelated. By 1201 he was already respected enough to be collecting the Plea rolls from the clerks of other judges on Eyre...

, with whom he travelled the Eyre

Eyre (legal term)

An Eyre or Iter was the name of a circuit traveled by an itinerant justice in medieval England, or the circuit court he presided over , or the right of the king to visit and inspect the holdings of any vassal...

 in the north between 1226 and 1227, where he acted as a commissioner for the assessment of Tallage

Tallage

Tallage or talliage may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon cities, boroughs, and royal domains...

. He became justice of the bench in 1229 following Pattishall's retirement, with Roger of Thirkleby

Roger of Thirkleby

Roger of Thirkleby was a British judge. The first record of his work in the judicial system is in 1230, when he was appointed a clerk of the bench. By the end of 1231 he was a clerk for William de Raley. He remained a clerk until 1242, when he was promoted to justice...

 being appointed as his clerk in 1231.

Raley took part in an Eyre in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

 in 1229, and seven more Eyres elsewhere between 1232 and 1233. In 1233 he was made Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

The Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, was the second highest common law court in the English legal system until 1880, when it was dissolved. As such, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the Lord...

, a position he held until 1234 when he was appointed to the more senior position of Chief Justice of the King's Bench, becoming the most senior of the King's judges after the title of Justiciar

Justiciar

In medieval England and Ireland the Chief Justiciar was roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister as the monarch's chief minister. Similar positions existed on the Continent, particularly in Norman Italy. The term is the English form of the medieval Latin justiciarius or justitiarius In...

, which was allowed to lapse.

Raley was a trusted royal councillor as well as a judge, and between 1236 and 1239 was one of the King's chief advisors, being responsible for part of the Statute of Merton

Statute of Merton

The Statute of Merton or Provisions of Merton , sometimes also known as the Ancient Statute of Merton, is considered to be the first English statute, and is printed as the first statute in The Statutes of the Realm.The statute's terms were agreed at Merton between Henry III and the barons of...

 in 1236, as well as other legal reforms. In February 1239 he was elected Bishop of Coventry

Bishop of Coventry

The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary of the England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichfield....

 and Bishop of Lichfield

Bishop of Lichfield

The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...

, which he declined. He was elected to the see of Norwich on 10 April, which he then accepted.

Raley was translated to the see of Winchester on 1 September 1242, but King Henry III of England

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

 objected and appealed to Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...

, who rejected the appeal.

Raley died shortly before 1 September 1250, the date he was buried.