14 June 1381 A.D. Simon of Sudbury, 57th Archbishop of Canterbury, Beheaded on Tower Hill, London

14 June 1381 A.D.  Simon of Sudbury, 57^th Archbishop of Canterbury, Beheaded on Tower Hill, London

Varied. “Simon of Sudbury.” Encyclopedia Brittanica. N.d. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/545235/Simon-Of-Sudbury. Accessed 3 May 2014.

Simon Of Sudbury, , original name Simon Tybald, or Thebaud, or Theobald (born Sudbury, Suffolk, Eng.—died June 14, 1381, London), archbishop of Canterbury from 1375 and chancellor of England from 1380 who lost his life in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

Simon served for 12 years as an auditor (judge) of the Rota at the papal Curia, and in 1359 Pope Innocent VI employed him in an attempt to persuade King Edward III of England to open peace negotiations with France. As a reward for his services, Simon was appointed bishop of London by Innocent VI in 1361. Sent to Canterbury in May 1375, Simon, in his role as primate, avoided conflict with the state but dealt firmly with his suffragans. John Wycliffe appeared before him in February 1378 to answer charges of heresy. Simon crowned King Richard II on July 16, 1377.

In January 1380 he was appointed chancellor. In the spring of 1381 Kentish rebels under Wat Tyler marched on London; they held Simon and the lord treasurer, Sir Robert Hales, responsible for the oppressive poll tax. When the Tower of London was surrendered to Tyler’s insurgents, Simon, Hales, and two other men were beheaded on Tower Hill.

14 June 1381 A.D.  Simon Sudbury Dies—57^th of 105 Archbishops of Canterbury; An Associated of the Avignon Papacy, He Met John Wycliffe

Simon Sudbury, also called Simon Theobald of Sudbury and Simon of Sudbury (born circa 1316;^[1] killed in the Peasants' Revolt 14 June 1381) was Bishop of London from 1361 to 1375, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1375 until his death, and in the last year of his life Lord Chancellor of England.

Contents 

• 1 Life
• 1.1 Death
• 2 Citations
• 3 References

Life

The son of Nigel Theobald, Sudbury (as he later became known) was born at Sudbury in Suffolk, studied at the University of Paris, and became one of the chaplains of Pope Innocent VI,^[2] one of the Avignon popes, who in 1356 sent him on a mission to Edward III of England.

In 1361 Sudbury was made Chancellor of Salisbury^[2] and in October that year the pope provided him to be Bishop of London, Sudbury's consecration occurring on 20 March 1362.^[3] He was soon serving Edward III as an ambassador and in other ways. On 4 May 1375 he succeeded William Whittlesey as archbishop of Canterbury,^[4] and during the rest of his life was a partisan of John of Gaunt.

In July 1377, following the death of Edward III in June, Sudbury crowned the new king, Richard II at Westminster Abbey, and in 1378 John Wycliffe appeared before him at Lambeth, but he only undertook proceedings against the reformer under great pressure.

In January 1380, Sudbury became Lord Chancellor of England,^[5] and the insurgent peasants regarded him as one of the principal authors of their woes. Having released John Ball from his prison at Maidstone, the Kentish insurgents attacked and damaged the archbishop's property at Canterbury and Lambeth; then, rushing into the Tower of London, they seized the archbishop himself. So unpopular was Sudbury with the rebellious peasants that guards simply allowed the rebels through the gates, the reason being his role in introducing the third poll tax.

Death

Sudbury was dragged to Tower Hill and, on 14 June 1381,^[4] was beheaded after eight blows to his neck. His body was afterwards buried in Canterbury Cathedral, though his head (after being taken down from London Bridge) is still kept at the church of St Gregory at Sudbury in Suffolk, which Sudbury had partly rebuilt.^[2] With his brother, John of Chertsey, he also founded a college in Sudbury; he also did some building at Canterbury. His father was Nigel Theobald, and he is sometimes called Simon Theobald or Tybald.

In March 2011 a CT scan of Sudbury's mummified skull was performed at the West Suffolk Hospital to make a facial reconstruction,^[6] which was completed in September 2011 by forensics expert Adrienne Barker at the University of Dundee.^[7]

Citations

1.       Jump up ^ Walker, Simon (2004). "Sudbury, Simon (c.1316–1381)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (revised 2008 ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 July 2012. 

2.       ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c} Neale, John Preston (1825). Views of the most interesting collegiate and parochial churches in Great Britain. Longman. pp. 35–36. 

3.       Jump up ^ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 258

4.       ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 233

5.       Jump up ^ Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 86

6.       Jump up ^ "Skull scan for Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Theobald". BBC Online. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2011. 

7.       Jump up ^ "Face of Simon of Sudbury revealed by forensic artist.". BBC Online. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011.  Page includes illustrations of face.

References

• 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. 

Political offices
Preceded by Richard Scrope	Lord Chancellor 1380–1381	Succeeded by Hugh Segrave
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Michael Northburgh	Bishop of London 1361–1375	Succeeded by William Courtenay
Preceded by William Whittlesey	Archbishop of Canterbury 1375–1381	Succeeded by William Courtenay