Walter de Coventre (died 1371 or 1372) was a 14th-century Scottish ecclesiastic. There is no direct evidence of his birthdate, his family, or his family's origin, although he may have come from the region around Abernethy (in modern-day Perth and Kinross), where a family with the name de Coventre is known to have lived. Walter appeared in the records for the first time in the 1330s, as a student at the University of Paris. From there he went on to the University of Orléans, initially as a student before becoming a lecturer there. He studied the arts, civil law and canon law, and was awarded many university degrees, including two doctorates. His studies were paid for, at least partially, by his benefices in Scotland. Despite holding perhaps more than five benefices at one stage, he did not return to Scotland until the late 1350s.
Following his return to Scotland, Walter soon became Dean of Aberdeen Cathedral. From there he became engaged in high-level ecclesiastical affairs with the Scottish church and political affairs with the Earl of Mar. Sometime before June 1361, the cathedral chapter of Dunblane elected him Bishop of Dunblane. He went to France to secure confirmation from the Pope at Avignon, who authorised his consecration. Walter was bishop for 10 years after returning home to Scotland. Records of his episcopate are thin, but there are enough to allow a modest reconstruction of his activities: he presided over legal disputes, issued a dispensation for an important irregular marriage, attended parliaments, and acted as an envoy of the Scottish crown in England. He died in either 1371 or 1372.
Background
Walter de Coventre was typical of a new class of men in 14th-century Scotland, the university-educated career cleric from the lower nobility.Grant, Independence and Nationhood, pp. 96–7. Such men often acquired university education through their family resources, through the patronage of more substantial nobles, or through church influence, particularly support from the pope and his court.Brown, Black Douglases, p. 195. Patronage gave access to the resources needed to finance the considerable expense of a 14th-century university education, particularly through the presentation of benefices, gifts of land or income made by the church.Barrell, "Papal Provisions", p. 218; Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, pp. 104–5; Grant, Independence and Nationhood, p. 97.
Scotland had no universities in de Coventre's time, requiring travel either to England or Continental Europe to acquire a university education. Continental Europe, particularly France, was the favoured destination, partly because of bad relations between Scotland and England.Brown & Boardman, "Survival and Revival", p. 91. After their university education, some Scottish graduates chose to remain abroad and teach at a foreign university or to serve the papacy; most returned to Scotland and offered their services to the king, a magnate, or an ecclesiastical institution.See Watt, Dictionary, passim, for details and individual examples. The ultimate reward for such services was a bishopric, which brought wealth, prestige, and a "job for life".A detailed survey, although regarding 12th- and 13th-century England, but still relevant, can be found in Bartlett, England under the Norman and Angevin Kings, pp. 377–412.
Walter de Coventre's life is not well documented. There are no biographies, and no histories or chronicles devote any space to him. His activities can be traced only through a small number of incidental references in legal deeds, church documents and papal records.See sources listed in Watt, Dictionary, pp. 114–5. No modern historian has written a monograph about him, and the most extensive attempt to reconstruct his life in modern literature is a two-page entry in Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Graduates to A.D. 1410 (1977).Watt, Dictionary, pp. 114–5. James Hutchison Cockburn, in his Medieval Bishop of Dunblane and their Church (1959) devoted seven less extensively sourced pages, but they emphasized the analysis of a few events during de Coventre's episcopate, and the events of his time.Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, pp. 104–11.
During most of de Coventre's recorded lifetime Scotland was ruled by King David II. Coming to the throne at age five, King David was driven into exile in France at the age of ten. In the 1330s, civil war raged in Scotland as those loyal to David fought Edward Balliol and his English backers.Webster, "David II". In some sense, the conflict became a side-show of the Hundred Years' War, and David resided at Château Gaillard in northern France for much of his exile, until he could return to Scotland in 1341. In 1346, in response to a plea from France to come to its aid, David led an army into England only to be taken prisoner at Neville's Cross; he remained in captivity until he was ransomed in 1357.Oram, Kings and Queens pp. 118, 120. David's exile in France corresponded with Walter's own period in that country, prompting one historian to suggest that Walter was part of David's court while both were in northern France, and that Walter subsequently benefited from the relationship.Penman, David II, p. 53.
Biography
Origins and personal background James Hutchison Cockburn, a historian of Dunblane's medieval bishops, assumed that Walter's surname derived from the town of Coventry in England.Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 105. D. E. R. Watt has suggested that the medieval settlement of Coventre or Covintrie near Abernethy in the diocese of Dunblane was the origin of the name.Watt, Dictionary, p. 114; see also Cowan, Parishes, p. 3.
There is no direct evidence of de Coventre's family, but two other men bearing the name "de Coventre" are known to have been active during Walter's lifetime. A "John de Coventre" is found registered as a student at the University of Paris on 21 January 1331. Before December 1341, when he resigned, John de Coventre held the parish church of Inverarity, Angus, in the diocese of St Andrews.Watt, Dictionary, pp. 113–4. On 7 December 1345, a William de Coventre, also from the diocese of Dunblane, held a canonry and prebends (a cathedral priesthood with stipends) in the diocese of Ross and the Collegiate Church of Abernethy, when he was granted the church of Inverarity that had previously been held by John de Coventre. William thus appears to have succeeded John (and later Walter succeeded William) to all of these benefices.Watt, Dictionary, p. 114; the Ross and Abernethy benefices are uncertain because they are not known by name, but the unique combination cannot very likely be down to coincidence.
Watt suggested that all three were brothers, John the first-born, William the second-born, and Walter the youngest of the three.Watt, Dictionary, pp. 113, 114, 115. He further suggested that the family was probably closely connected to Margaret de Abernethy, heiress of the old lay abbots and lords of Abernethy. Margaret had patronage over both the church of Abernethy and, as probable owner of the barony of Inverarity, the church there.Watt, Dictionary, pp. 114, 115.
Early life
Education By Lent, 1333: Bachelor in the ArtsBetween 1333 and 1335: Licentiate in the ArtsBetween 1333 and 1345: Master in the ArtsBetween 1337 and 1345: Licentiate in Civil LawBy October 1349: Doctor in Civil LawBetween 1350 and 1351: Bachelor in Decrees (Canon Law)Between 1351 and 1359: Doctor of Both Laws (Canon & Civil) De Coventre received a B.A. under John de Waltirstone from the University of Paris by Lent, 1333.Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 105; Dowden, Bishops, p. 204, n. 2; Watt, Dictionary, p. 114. Although he had probably completed a Licentiate in the Arts and a Master of Arts by 1335, because of gaps in the Paris records it is not certain that he was a Master until April 1345.
He moved on to study civil law at the University of Orléans, and by 24 March 1337, he was serving as the proctor of the Scottish Nation in Orléans. By 7 December 1345, he had received a Licentiate in Civil Law.Dowden, Bishops, p. 204, n. 2; Watt, Dictionary, p. 114. On 20 December 1348 he was at Avignon as an envoy of his university, and while there he obtained a grace regarding his own benefice holding from Pope Clement VI. On 7 October 1349, Pope Clement granted an indult to Walter allowing him to be absent from his cure while he continued his studies at Orléans.Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 105; Dowden, Bishops, p. 204, n. 2; Watt, Dictionary, pp. 114, 115.
He may already have been a Doctor of Civil Law by that point, because in the following year, on 22 November 1350, he is found as such acting as the Regent of Orléans presenting a candidate for licence. Having studied civil law for the highest qualification available, de Coventre moved on to canon law. By 28 March 1351, he possessed a Bachelorate in Decrees (canon law). This was perhaps why on 16 April 1353, he obtained from Pope Innocent VI another grace for himself. Precisely when he obtained his doctorate is unclear, but he was D. U. J. (doctor utriusque juris), Doctor of Both Laws, by 4 September 1359.
Benefices 1345 (or before) until 1361: Ross canonry and prebend 1345 (or before) until between 1348 and 1351: Abernethy canonry and prebend1345: Failed provision to Archdeaconry of Dunblane1348–1361: Deanery of Aberdeen1351–1353: Failed provision to a St Andrews benefice1352–1361: Dunkeld canonry and prebend1353: Failed provision to Moray canonry and prebendc. 1353–1361: Inverarity parish (St Andrews) Walter's first known benefices were a canonry (with prebend) in the Collegiate Church of Abernethy and a prebend in the diocese of Ross, northern Scotland, which he was holding by 12 April 1345. None of these benefices, neither parish nor office, are known by name. While Walter would retain his Ross benefice until becoming Bishop of Dunblane, he lost his Abernethy benefice at some point between 20 December 1348 and 28 March 1351. During that period he obtained another unnamed prebend in exchange for the Abernethy prebend. Walter is only the second known canon of Abernethy Collegiate Church.Cowan & Easson, Medieval Religious Houses, p. 215.
On 12 April 1345, he was granted a canonry in the diocese of Dunkeld with expectation of a prebend, but does not appear to have obtained this in practice, although he did obtain a different Dunkeld canonry with prebend on 12 May 1352. This he retained until his consecration as Bishop of Dunblane in 1361. Walter also obtained a fourth prebend in this period. He had been pursuing a benefice in the diocese of St Andrews, and while he was granted this on 28 March 1351, the grant was still not effective by 16 April 1353, when he was granted a prebend in the diocese of Moray instead. This was not effective either, but Walter did eventually obtain a St Andrews diocese benefice, namely the church of Inverarity in Angus, which had become vacant on the death of its incumbent, William de Coventre, probably Walter's older brother.See Watt, Dictionary, s.v. "Coventre, William de", for details. On 7 December 1345, Walter was appointed (provided) as Archdeacon of Dunblane, his most substantial benefice to date, but the appointment does not appear to have been carried through.Watt & Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 117.
Walter obtained one more benefice during this period. On 20 December 1348, he was made Dean of Aberdeen Cathedral, a high-ranking office which Walter was not technically eligible to hold without a papal grace, being only a sub-deacon in orders.Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 105; Watt & Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 9. The deanery had been made vacant by the death of the long-serving Gilbert Fleming. Although in July the Pope had given it as an extra prebend for Annibald de Ceccano, Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum, this had been cancelled by 20 December, when it was given to Walter instead.Watt & Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 9.