Robert de Limesey

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Robert de Limesey

Denomination	Catholic
Senior posting
See	Diocese of Chester Diocese of Coventry
Title	Bishop of Chester Bishop of Coventry
Period in office	1085–1117
Predecessor	Peter
Successor	Robert Peche
Personal
Date of death	September 1, 1117

Robert de Limesey (or Robert de Limesy, Robert de Limesi or Robert of Limesy) was a medieval Bishop of Chester. He moved the see from Chester to Coventry in 1102.^[1]

Robert was a chaplain to King William I of England before the king nominated Robert to the see of Chester on December 25, 1085.^[2] He may have come from a baronial family, as his surname derives from a territorial location.^[3] Robert was consecrated in 1086.^[1] At some point during the last years of Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, Robert took over the abbey of Coventry as the seat of his bishopric, and managed to establish himself there permanently after Lanfranc's death. Coventry was a wealthy abbey, richer than Chester, and by making Coventry the cathedral, Robert increased the revenue of his see by a large amount.^[4] In 1102, Robert was one of the bishops, along with Gerard, Archbishop of York and Herbert de Losinga bishop of Norwich, who returned from Rome and told King Henry I of England that Pope Paschal II had told them privately that Henry could invest bishops as in the past, provided they were good men. This was during the height of the Investiture Crisis, and the pope later denied the story.^[5] Robert had been part of a royal delegation to the papal curia to seek a resolution to the dispute between the king and archbishop Anselm of Canterbury over lay investiture. Robert also had business of his own at Rome, as he had sought permission from the pope to relocate his see from Chester to Coventry.^[6] Robert's effort to secure papal permission for the relocation of his see was successful.^[7] But, not only did the pope deny Robert's story, Pascal excommunicated all three bishops.^[8] Along with William Giffard bishop of Winchester, Samson bishop of Worcester, Ralph Luffa bishop of Chichester, Gerard archbishop of York, and Herbert de Losinga bishop of Norwich, Robert in 1106 wrote to Anselm, who was then in exile over the investiture crisis, asking the archbishop to return to England.^[9] In 1106, with the settlement between the pope and the king, the pope pardoned Robert and the other bishops.^[10]

Robert died on September 1, 1117.^[1]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Barlow, Frank The English Church 1066-1154 London:Longman 1979 ISBN 0-582-50236-5
• Barlow, Frank William Rufus Berkeley, CA: University of California Press 1983 ISBN 0-520-04936-5
• Cantor, Norman F. Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England 1089-1135 Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press 1958
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
• Hollister, C. Warren Henry I ed. by Amanda Clark Frost New Haven:Yale University Press 2001 ISBN 0-300-08858-2
• Knowles, Dom David The Monastic Order in England: From the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976 reprint ISBN 0-521-05479-6
• Vaughn, Sally N. Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan Berkeley:University of California Press 1987 ISBN 0-520-05674-4

Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Peter	Bishop of Chester 1085–1102	Succeeded by Robert Peche
Preceded by Peter	Bishop of Coventry 1102–1117	Succeeded by Robert Peche

Persondata
NAME	Limesey, Robert de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Bishop of Chester; Bishop of Coventry
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH	September 1, 1117
PLACE OF DEATH