Henry le Despenser ( 1341 – 23 August 1406) was an English nobleman and Bishop of Norwich whose reputation as the 'Fighting Bishop' was gained for his part in suppressing the Peasants' Revolt in East Anglia and in defeating the peasants at the Battle of North Walsham in the summer of 1381.
As a young man he studied at the University of Oxford and held numerous positions in the English Church. He fought in Italy before being consecrated as a bishop in 1370. Parliament agreed to allow Despenser to lead a crusade to Flanders in 1383, which was directed against Louis II of Flanders, a supporter of the antipope Clement VII. The crusade was in defence of English economic and political interests. Although well funded, the expedition was poorly equipped and lacked proper military leadership. After initial successes, a disastrous attempt to besiege the city of Ypres forced Despenser to return to England. Upon his return he was impeached in parliament. His temporalities were confiscated by Richard II of England, but were returned in 1385, the year he accompanied the king northward to repel a potential French invasion of Scotland.
Despenser was an energetic and able administrator who staunchly defended his diocese against Lollardy. In 1399, he was among those who stood by Richard, following the landing of Henry Bolingbroke in Yorkshire towards the end of June. He was arrested for refusing to come to terms with Bolingbroke. The following year, he was implicated in the Epiphany Rising, but was pardoned.
Birth and ancestry Henry le Despenser was the youngest son of Edward le Despenser (1310–1342), by his wife Anne Ferrers (died 1367),DNB daughter of Sir Ralph Ferrers of Groby. Henry was born around 1342, the year that his father was killed at the siege of Vannes.DNB (1900) He and his three brothers all grew up to become soldiers. His eldest brother Edward Despenser, 1st Baron DespenserBurke, B. (1814–1892), A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire (1869) p.670 online version (1336–1375) was reputed to be one of the greatest knights of his age: he and Henry fought together for Pope Urban V in his war against Milan in 1369. Comparatively little is known of his other siblings: Hugh le Despenser fought abroad and died in Padua in March 1374, Thomas fought in France and died unmarried in 1381 and Gilbert le Despenser died in 1382. Their sister Joan was a nun at Shaftesbury Abbey until her death in 1384.
The le Despenser family originated from the lords of Gomiécourt in north-eastern France. Henry's grandmother Eleanor de Clare was a niece of Edward II of England. Henry's great-grandfather Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester (1262–1326) and grandfather Hugh Despenser the Younger (1286–1326), who was a favourite of Edward II, were both exiled and later executed after the rebellion of Queen Isabella and her lover Mortimer against Edward. Hugh le Despenser had become Edward II's adviser, holding power until the king's defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn, but he was later restored to favour. His son was appointed the king's chamberlain and enjoyed a still larger share of royal favour. The barons were hostile to the Despensers, due to their acquired wealth and perceived arrogance, and in 1321 they were banished. Their sentences were afterwards annulled and from 1322 they played an important role in the governing of the country, but in 1326 Isabella acted against them and both men were tried and executed.The Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 On-line version
In 1375, Despenser's nephew Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester succeeded his father Edward. Thomas was captured and killed following the attempt to restore Richard II in the Epiphany Rising.
Early career In 1353 (as an eleven-year-old boy) Henry 'de Exon' became the canon of Llandaff"Henry de Exon 1353-?, By exch. with Geoffrey de Cornasano for a canonry with reservn. of preb. in Lanchester college. ch., co. Dur., 12 March 1353 (CPL. 11 482; see above p. 32)." (from: 'Canons of Llandaff', Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: volume 11: The Welsh dioceses (Bangor, Llandaff, St Asaph, St Davids) (1965), pp. 32-34, compid=32454&strquery=llandaff On-line version Date accessed: 13 June 2010. and a year later he was secured a canonry of Salisbury Cathedral. By the age of nineteen he had become the rector of BosworthDNB and by February 1361 he was a master at the University of Oxford, studying civil law. He was ordained on 17 December 1362. By 20 April 1364 he was archdeacon of Llandaff. Of his early life Capgrave tells us that he spent some time in Italy fighting for Urban V in his war against Milan in 1369:
Bishop of Norwich In 1370 Despenser, then the canon of Salisbury, was appointed as Bishop of Norwich by a papal bull dated 3 April 1370. He was consecrated in Rome on 20 April and returned to England. He received the spiritualities of his see from the Archbishop of Canterbury on 12 July 1370 and the temporalities from the king on 14 August.Fasti ecclesiae Anglicanae, p.465
Involvement in the suppression of the Peasants' Revolt
During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, rebels from Kent and Essex marched to London and, once admitted to the city, managed to capture the Tower of London. Richard met the rebels outside the city and agreed to the demands of the peasants. After the leader of the peasants Wat Tyler was killed, the king gained the initiative and rebellion was ended. The king's promises were later retracted.
The rebellion quickly spread to other parts of England, including the diocese of Norwich, where it lasted for less than a fortnight. On 14 June a group of rebels reached Thetford and from there the insurrection spread over south-western Norfolk towards the Fens. At the same time the rebels, led by a local dyer, Geoffrey Litster, moved across the northeastern part of the county, urging insurrection throughout the local area. Over the next few days, the rebels converged on Norwich, Lynn and Swaffham. Norwich, then one of the largest and most important cities in the realm, was taken and occupied by Litster and his followers, who caused considerable damage to the property and possessions of their enemies once they managed to enter the city. The Norwich rebels then travelled to Yarmouth, destroying legal records and landowners' possessions; other insurgents moving across north-east Norfolk destroyed court rolls and taxation documents; there were numerous incidents of pillage and extortion across the whole county.
Despenser first heard news of the rising in his own diocese at a time when he was absent at his family's manor of Burley in Rutland, west of Norwich. He hastened back to Norfolk via Peterborough, Cambridge and Newmarket, with a retinue of eight lances and a small body of bowmen. His followers increased on the way, and by the time he reached North Walsham, near the Norfolk coast, he had a considerable force under his command. There he found the rebels entrenched and defended by makeshift fortifications.
According to the English chronicler Thomas Walsingham, in the Battle of North Walsham, Henry le Despenser himself led the assault and overpowered his enemies in hand-to-hand fighting. Many of the peasants were slain or captured, including the rebels' leader, who was hanged, drawn and quartered soon afterwards. Despenser personally superintended Litster's execution. In the following months he proceeded to deal with other rebels in his diocese. But the rigour with which he put down the rebellion made him highly unpopular in Norfolk and in the following year a plot was organised to murder him. The scheme was betrayed in time by one of the conspirators, and the plotters were dealt with by the authorities.Knighton, Chronicle
Following his successful crushing of the rebellion, Despenser may have commissioned the Despenser Reredos in Norwich Cathedral. The reredos, which has survived, illustrates scenes from Christ's final days. Despenser's intention may have been to remind the peasantry to accept their lot in life, as Christ had done. The artwork is on public display in the cathedral's St Luke's Chapel.
The Norwich Crusade of 1383
Soon after Urban VI had been elected pope in 1378, Robert of Geneva was elected as a rival pope, taking the name Pope Clement VII and removing himself to Avignon. The so-called Western Schism subsequently caused a great crisis in the Church and created rivalry and conflict throughout Christian Europe. It was eventually resolved as a result of the Council of Constance (1414–1418).
In the autumn and winter of 1382, Flanders had been invaded by Charles VI of France. Philip Van Artevelde had fallen at the Battle of Roosebeke and the country had been compelled to submit to the French king, who obliged all the conquered towns to recognise Clement VII. In response to events in Flanders, Pope Urban issued bulls for the proclamation of a crusade, choosing Bishop Despenser to lead a campaign against the followers of Clement VII in Flanders. He granted Despenser extraordinary powers for the fulfillment of his mission and plenary indulgence to those who should take part in or contribute support to it.
On 6 December 1382, Richard ordered the crusade to be published throughout England. Later that month the bishop and his men took the cross at St. Paul's Cathedral. In February 1383 Parliament, after hesitating in entrusting the mission to a churchman, ultimately assigned to him the subsidy which it had granted the king in the previous October for carrying on the war in Flanders.Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ii. 84 The king's only stipulation was that the crusaders should await the arrival of William Beauchamp before launching offensive operations against the French and their allies.
The bishop issued mandates for the publication of the bullsWalsingham, Hist. Angl. ii. 78 et seq.; Knighton, p. 2673 et seq. and the archbishop did the same.Wilkins, Concil Magnæ Brit. iii. 176-8 The enterprise was ardently seconded by the friars and contributions of immense value were made from all quarters, but especially, according to Henry Knighton,Knighton. p. 2671 from "the rich ladies of England". The English landed at Calais in May 1383 and proceeded to attack Gravelines, which was in the hands of the French. Gravelines, Dunkirk and the neighbouring country (including the towns of Bourbourg, Bergues, Poperinghe and Nieuport) soon fell. On 25 May, the Crusaders put to flight a Franco-Flemish army, under the command of the Count of Flanders, in a pitched battle fought near Dunkirk.Westminster Chronicle On-line version Knighton On-line version Despenser was then persuaded by his followers to attempt to besiege Ypres, which was to prove to be the turning point of the crusade. He was unwilling to attack the city but his Gantois allies and some of his officers insisted that Ypres should be taken.
The inhabitants of Ypres were well prepared for a siege by the time the English and their allies arrived and attacked the city on 8 June 1383. Dwellings in the outlying suburbs had been abandoned; the timber from them was used to strengthen the earth ramparts and the stone gates of the city. A mission had been dispatched to Paris to replace artillery powder stocks. The city was well organised under the command of the Castellan of Ypres, John d'Oultre, and had been divided into different defensive sectors. Although the ramparts were low, they were well protected with a double wet ditch, a high thorny hedge reinforced with stakes and a wooden stockade and fire-step.