Editing Simon Langham

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 1366 to 1368}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox cardinal
| type = cardinal
| name = Simon Langham
| honorific-suffix = [[Benedictines|O.S.B.]]
| title = [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]<br />[[Primate (bishop)|Primate of All England]]
| image = 
| imagesize = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| appointed = 24 July 1366
| enthroned = unknown
| ended = 28 November 1368
| predecessor = [[William Edington]]
| successor = [[William Whittlesey]]
| ordination = 
| consecration = 20 March 1362
| consecrated_by = [[William Edington]]
| cardinal = 22 September 1368
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Urban V]]
| rank = [[Cardinal-Bishop]]
| other_post = [[Cardinal-Bishop]] of [[Diocese of Sabina|Sabina]]<br>[[Bishop of Ely]]
| birth_date = 1310
| birth_place = [[Langham, Rutland|Langham]], [[Rutland]], [[Kingdom of England|England]]
| death_date = 22 July 1376
| death_place = [[Avignon]], [[Kingdom of France|France]]
| buried = [[Westminster Abbey]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
}}
'''Simon Langham''' (1310&nbsp;– 22 July 1376) was an English clergyman who was [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and a [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]].

==Life==
Langham was born at [[Langham, Rutland|Langham]] in [[Rutland]]. The manor of Langham was a property of [[Westminster Abbey]], and he had become a [[monk]] in the [[Benedictine]] Abbey of St Peter at Westminster by 1346, and later prior and then abbot of this house.<ref name=Handbook105>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 105</ref> He was the son of Thomas Langham who was buried in the abbey.<ref name="S&TL"/>

===Treasurer of England===
In November 1360, Langham was made [[Lord High Treasurer|Treasurer of England]]<ref name=Handbook104>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 104</ref> and on 10 January 1362 he became [[Bishop of Ely]] and was consecrated on 20 March 1362.<ref name=Handbook244>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 244</ref> During his time as Bishop of Ely he was a major benefactor of [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]], giving them the rectory of [[Cherry Hinton]].<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=lYQCAAAAYAAJ&q=simon+langham Lyson's Magna Britanica Vol II]" ''The Monthly Review'' January–April 1812 p. 21</ref> He resigned the treasurership before 20 February 1363,<ref name=Handbook104/> and was appointed [[Chancellor of England]] on 21 February 1363.<ref name=Handbook86>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 86</ref>

===Archbishop of Canterbury===
He was chosen Archbishop of Canterbury on 24 July 1366.<ref name=Handbook233>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 233</ref>

Perhaps the most interesting incident in Langham's primacy was when he drove the [[secular clergy]] from [[Canterbury College, Oxford]] and filled their places with monks or friars in 1366. The expelled head of the seculars was a certain John de Wiclif, who has been identified with the reformer [[John Wycliffe]]. In 1371 Wycliffe's appeal to Rome was decided and was unfavourable to him. The incident was typical of the ongoing rivalry between monks and secular clergy at Oxford University at this time.<ref name="Estep">{{ cite book |last=Estep |first=William Roscoe |year= 1986 |title=Renaissance and Reformation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUENoh0ey4QC&q=john+wycliffe&pg=PA59 |access-date=26 October 2019 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0802800503 |via=Google Books }}</ref>

Notwithstanding the part Langham as Chancellor had taken in the anti-papal measures of 1365 and 1366, he was made cardinal of [[San Sisto Vecchio]] by [[Pope Urban V]] in 1368. This lost him the favour of [[Edward III of England|Edward III]]; two months later, he resigned his archbishopric and went to [[Avignon]].<ref name=Handbook233/> He had already resigned the chancellorship on 18 July 1367.<ref name=Handbook86/> He was soon allowed to hold other although less exalted positions in England.

==Death==
[[File:Tomb of Simon Langham, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Simon Langham in Westminster Abbey]]
In 1374, he was elected Archbishop of Canterbury for the second time, but he withdrew his claim and died at Avignon on 22 July 1376. He was buried in Avignon but his body was moved to Westminster Abbey in 1379.<ref name="S&TL"/> Langham's tomb, in the chapel of St Benedict, is the work of [[Henry Yevele]] and Stephen Lote, and dates from 1389-1395.<ref name="S&TL">{{cite web |title=Simon & Thomas Langham |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/simon-thomas-langham/ |website=westminster-abbey.org.uk |publisher=Westminster Abbey |access-date=10 October 2024}}</ref> It is the oldest monument to an ecclesiastic in the Abbey.

Langham left the residue of his large estate and his library to [[Westminster Abbey]], and has been called its second founder. His bequest paid for the building of the western section of the nave. The books he gave are listed in ''The Manuscripts of Westminster Abbey'' (1909) by J. A. Robinson and [[M. R. James]].<ref name="S&TL"/>

==References==
{{reflist|40em}}
---------------------
{{DNB Poster|Langham, Simon}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Langham, Simon|volume=16|page=174}}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef | before = [[John Sheppey]]}}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[Lord High Treasurer]] | years=1360–1363}}
{{s-aft | after  = [[John Barnet]] }}
{{s-bef | before = [[William Edington]]}}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[Lord Chancellor]]  | years=1363–1367}}
{{s-aft | after  = [[William of Wykeham]] }}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Thomas de Lisle]]}}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[Bishop of Ely]] | years=1362–1366}}
{{s-aft | after  = [[John Barnet]] }}
{{s-bef | before = [[William Edington]] }}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] | years=1366–1368}}
{{s-aft | after  = [[William Whittlesey]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{House of Plantagenet Lord High Treasurers}}
{{House of Plantagenet Lord Chancellors}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Bishops of Ely}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langham, Simon}}
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina]]
[[Category:Lord chancellors of England]]
[[Category:Bishops of Ely]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Abbots of Westminster]]
[[Category:14th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops]]
[[Category:People from Rutland]]
[[Category:1310 births]]
[[Category:1376 deaths]]
[[Category:Lord high treasurers of England]]
[[Category:English Benedictines]]
[[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey]]
[[Category:14th-century English cardinals]]
[[Category:14th-century Christian abbots]]