Pandulf Verraccio

Pandulf Verraccio
Bishop of Norwich
"King John Absolved by Pandulph" 1797 line engraving by William Blake after Henry Fuseli
Appointed	1215
Term ended	16 September 1226
Predecessor	John de Gray
Successor	Thomas Blunville
Other posts	sometime papal legate
Orders
Consecration	29 May 1222
Personal details
Born	Rome, Papal States
Died	16 September 1226(1226-09-16) Rome, Papal States
Buried	Norwich, England
Denomination	Roman Catholic

Pandulf Verraccio (died 16 September 1226), whose first name may also be spelled Pandolph or Pandulph (Pandolfo in Italian), was a Roman ecclesiastical politician, papal legate to England and bishop of Norwich.

Historical career

Pandulf was born in Rome, and first came to England in 1211, when he was commissioned by Innocent III to negotiate with King John. He is often erroneously called Cardinal Pandulph or Pandulph Masca due to being confused with Cardinal Pandolfo da Lucca,^[1] who himself was confused with Cardinal Pandulf of Pisa and erroneously given the Pisan family name Masca. His authentic surname may be rendered Verraccio, Verracchio or Verracclo.

Obtaining no satisfactory concessions, Pandulf is said to have produced the papal sentence of excommunication in the very presence of the king. In May 1213 he again visited England to receive the king's submission. The ceremony took place at the Templar church at Dover, and on the following day John, of his own motion, formally surrendered England to the representative of Rome to receive it again as a papal fief.

Pandulf repaid this act of humility by using every means to avert the threatened French invasion of England. For nearly a year he was superseded by the cardinal-legate Nicholas of Tusculum; but returning in 1215 was present at the conference of Runnymede, when the Magna Carta was sealed. He rendered valuable aid to John who rewarded him with the see of Norwich, England in 1215, however he was not consecrated for a number of years.^[2]^[3] The arrival of the cardinal-legate Gualo in 1216 relegated Pandulf to a secondary position; but after Gualo's departure in 1218 he came forward once more, after having been appointed papal legate again on 1 September 1218.^[3]

As representing the pope Pandulf claimed a control over Hubert de Burgh and the other ministers of the young Henry III; and his correspondence shows that he interfered in every department of the administration. His arrogance was tolerated while the regency was still in need of papal assistance; but in 1221 Hubert de Burgh and the primate Stephen Langton successfully moved the pope to recall Pandulf and to send no other legate a latere (of the highest rank) in his place. His legatine commission was terminated by the summer of 1221.^[3] He was finally consecrated bishop on 29 May 1222.^[2]

Pandulf retained the see of Norwich, but from this time drops out of English politics. He died in Rome on 16 September 1226,^[2] but his body was taken to Norwich for burial.

In literature

Pandulf's role in King John's reign made him a character in later literary and dramatic works that deal with the monarch, like Shakespeare's King John and Robert Davenport's King John and Matilda.

Citations

↑ "Pandulph". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
1 2 3 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 261
1 2 3 British History Online Bishops of Norwich accessed on 29 October 2007

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. Source
British History Online Bishops of Norwich accessed on 29 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.
Vincent, Nicholas (1995). "The Election of Pandulph Verracclo as Bishop of Norwich (1215)". Historical Research 68: 143–63.
Vincent, Nicholas (2004). "Pandulf (d. 1226)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 December 2015.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by John de Gray	Bishop of Norwich 1215–1226	Succeeded by Thomas Blunville

Bishops of Norwich

High Medieval	Herbert de Losinga Everard of Calne William de Turbeville John of Oxford John de Gray Pandulf Verraccio Thomas Blunville Simon of Elmham William de Raley Walter Suffield Simon Walton Roger Skerning William Middleton Ralph Walpole

Late Medieval	John Salmon Robert Baldock William Ayermin Thomas Hemenhale Antony Bek William Bateman Thomas Percy Henry le Despenser Alexander Tottington Richard Courtenay John Wakering William Alnwick Thomas Brunce Walter Hart James Goldwell Thomas Jane

Early modern	Richard Nykke William Rugg Thomas Thirlby John Hopton John Parkhurst Edmund Freke Edmund Scambler William Redman John Jegon John Overall Samuel Harsnett Francis White Richard Corbet Matthew Wren Richard Montagu Joseph Hall Edward Reynolds Anthony Sparrow William Lloyd John Moore Charles Trimnell Thomas Green John Leng William Baker Robert Butts Thomas Gooch Samuel Lisle Thomas Hayter Philip Yonge Lewis Bagot George Horne Charles Manners-Sutton

Late modern	Henry Bathurst Edward Stanley Samuel Hinds John Pelham John Sheepshanks Bertram Pollock Percy Herbert Launcelot Fleming Maurice Wood Peter Nott Graham James

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