Balsham was consecrated on 14 October 1257[3] by the pope. Balsham also promised that he would visit Rome every three years, but he was released from this promise in 1278.[1]
Balsham legislated against the sale of the sacraments.[4] He was present at the Parliament held at London in June 1264 that set up the government of Simon de Montfort.[5] Much of Balsham's time was spent in repairing damage done to his diocese by various people, first the royal administrators during the election dispute, and then later some of the baronial supporters who occupied the Isle of Ely in 1265. The bishop issued statues for his diocese, and worked to improve the administration of the diocese. He promoted the cult of Ethelreda, the local saint of Ely. Gifts to the monks of the cathedral chapter as well as to churches in his diocese contributed to his reputation as a good bishop.[1]
Balsham played an important role in the early history of Cambridge University. In 1280 he obtained a charter from the king allowing him to replace the secular brethren residing in the diocesan hospital of St John at Cambridge by "studious scholars"; a second charter four years later entirely differentiated these scholars from the brethren of the hospital,[1] and for them Balsham founded and endowed the college of Peterhouse,[6] the first Cambridge college. He left 200 pounds to the college in his will.[1]
Balsham died on 16 June 1286[3] at the manor of Dodington on the Isle of Ely. He was buried in Ely Cathedral on 24 June 1286. A brass in the church at Balsham, Cambridgeshire, supposedly depicts the bishop.[1] An unidentified tomb slab now in Ely Cathedral has sometimes been identified as his, but this identification is not secure.[7]
Citations
^ abcdefgOwen "Balsham, Hugh of" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
^ abGreenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Ely: Bishops
^ abFryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 244
^Sayers "Once 'Proud Prelate'" Journal of the British Archaeological Association pp. 78–79
References
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-56350-X.
Greenway, Diana E. (1971). "Ely: Bishops". Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300. Vol. 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces). Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2007.
Moorman, John R. H. (1955). Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century (Revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. OCLC213820968.
Sayers, Jane (2009). "A Once Proud Prelate: An Unidentified Episcopal Monument in Ely Cathedral". Journal of the British Archaeological Association. 162: 67–87. doi:10.1179/006812809x12448232842376. S2CID192184394.