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Richard Barre
Archdeacon of Ely
Ely Cathedral
Church	Catholic
Other post(s)	Archdeacon of Lisieux
Personal details
Born	Richard Barre c. 1130
Died	c. 1202

Richard Barre (c. 1130 – c. 1202) 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. Besides his judicial duties, he was archdeacon of Ely and the author of a work of biblical extracts dedicated to one of his patrons, William Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely 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 Barre, near Bernay, in the present-day department of Eure. He was likely born around 1130, and 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.

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 John 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.

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 glosses 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 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.

Notes

1. The Sifrewast family was from Normandy, near the place called now Chiffrevast at Tamerville near Valognes.
2. The author Duncan Lunan, in an investigative article about the Green Children of Woolpit, argues that Barre married Agnes, one of the mysterious children, and had at least one child by her. No other reference mentions any marriage or children for Barre.

Citations

1. ^ Turner "Richard Barre and Michael Belet" Judges, Administrators and the Common Law pp. 182–185
2. ^ Rigg "Barre, Richard (b. c.1130, d. in or after 1202)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
3. Quoted and translated in Duggan "Roman, Canon, and Common Law in Twelfth-Century England" Historical Research p. 26
4. ^ Turner "Richard Barre and Michael Belet" Judges, Administrators and the Common Law pp. 188–189
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference ArchEly was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England pp. 373–376
7. ^ Sharpe "Richard Barre's Compendium" Journal of Medieval Latin p. 134
8. Lunan "Children from the Sky" Analog pp. 49–51
9. Turner "Richard Barre and Michael Belet" Judges, Administrators and the Common Law
10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sharpe129 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
11. Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 244
12. ^ Turner "Richard Barre and Michael Belet" Judges, Administrators and the Common Law p. 190
13. ^ Turner "Richard Barre and Michael Belet" Judges, Administrators and the Common Law p. 196
14. ^ Sharpe "Richard Barre's Compendium" Journal of Medieval Latin pp. 135–138

References

• Barlow, Frank (1988). The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042–1216 (Fourth ed.). New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-49504-0.
• Barlow, Frank (1986). Thomas Becket. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07175-1.
• Barrow, J. S. (2002). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 8: Hereford. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
• Bartlett, Robert C. (2000). England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075–1225. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822741-8.
• Coredon, Christopher (2007). A Dictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrases (Reprint ed.). Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-138-8.
• Duggan, Anne J. (2010). "Roman, Canon, and Common Law in Twelfth-Century England: The Council of Northampton (1164) Re-examined". Historical Research. 83 (221): 370–408. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.2009.00502.x. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Fryde, E. B. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Greenway, Diana E. (1971). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces). Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
• Greenway, Diana E. (1991). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 4: Salisbury. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
• Huscroft, Richard (2005). Ruling England 1042–1217. London: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-84882-2.
• Lunan, Duncan (1996). "Children from the Sky". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. CXVI (11): 38–53. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Rigg, J. M. (2004). "Barre, Richard (b. c.1130, d. in or after 1202)" ((subscription or UK public library membership required)). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (May 2007 revised ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1510. Retrieved 14 November 2009. {{cite encyclopedia}}: External link in |format= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sharpe, Richard (2004). "Richard Barre's Compendium Veteris et Noui Testamenti". Journal of Medieval Latin. 14: 128–146. doi:10.1484/J.JML.2.304218.
• Spear, David S. (2006). The Personnel of the Norman Cathedrals during the Ducal Period, 911–1204. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae. London: Institute of Historical Research. ISBN 1-871348-95-1.
• Turner, Ralph V. (1994). "Richard Barre and Michael Belet: Two Angevin Civil Servants". Judges, Administrators and the Common Law in Angevin England. London: Hambledon Press. pp. 181–198. ISBN 1-85285-104-x. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Warren, W. L. (1973). Henry II. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03494-5.

Further reading

• Smith, R. J. (2001). "Henry II's Heir: The Acta and Seal of Henry the Young King, 1170–83". The English Historical Review (cxvi).

External links

• British Library catalogue entry for MS Harley 3255
• Lambeth Palace Library catalog entry for MS 105

Template:Persondata

• 1130s births
• 1200s deaths
• 12th-century Latin writers
• Anglo-Normans
• Archdeacons of Ely