Walter de Stapledon

Denomination	Catholic
Senior posting
See	Diocese of Exeter
Title	Bishop of Exeter
Period in office	1308–1326
Predecessor	Thomas Bitton
Successor	James Berkeley
Religious career
Previous post	papal chaplain
Personal
Date of birth	1 February 1261
Place of birth	Annery, Devonshire
Date of death	14 October 1326
Place of death	London

Walter de Stapeldon (1 February 1261–15 October 1326), English bishop, was born at Annery in North Devon.

He became professor of canon law at Oxford University and chaplain to Pope Clement V^{citation needed} and on 13 March 1307 was chosen Bishop of Exeter, and was consecrated on 13 October 1308.¹ He went on errands to France for both Edward I and Edward II, and attended the councils and parliaments of his time.^{citation needed} As Lord High Treasurer of England, an office to which he was appointed twice, once in 1320 and once in 1322,² the Bishop was associated in the popular mind with the misdeeds of Edward II, and consequently, after the king fled before the advancing troops of Queen Isabella, he was murdered in London by the mob^{citation needed} on 15 October 1326.¹

Stapeldon is famous as the founder of Exeter College, Oxford, which originated in Stapeldon Hall, established in 1314 by the bishop and his elder brother, Sir Richard Stapeldon, a judge of the king's bench. He also contributed very liberally to the rebuilding of his cathedral at Exeter. His tomb is on the north side of the high altar there.

Notes

References

• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third Edition, revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.