Eustace (bishop of Ely) - Bishop

Bishop

Eustace was elected to the see of Ely on 10 August 1197 and consecrated on 8 March 1198. He had been elected at Vaudreuil, but King Richard I of England sent him on a diplomatic mission to Germany after his election, which kept him from being consecrated until 1198. The consecration was performed by Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster.

Eustace was Lord Chancellor from May 1198 to May 1199. During this time he also acted as a royal justice, and in January 1199, Richard sent him to King Philip II of France to notify the French king that the truce between Philip and Richard was over. With the death of King Richard and the accession of King John of England, Eustace was replaced as chancellor by Hubert Walter, but Eustace was still employed by the king on diplomatic errands, including two errands to the French king, in 1202 and 1204. It was at this time that Pope Innocent III began to use Eustace as a papal judge-delegate, first appointing him to help mediate a dispute between Hubert Walter and the monks of Canterbury.

Eustace was appointed one of the papal commissioners to investigate and settle the attempt by Savaric FitzGeldewin the Bishop of Wells to take over Glastonbury Abbey as Savaric's new cathedral site. The commissioners set forth a plan, but Savaric died soon after and Pope Innocent III was persuaded to disallow the move. During King John's dispute with the pope over the election of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, the pope once more chose Eustace as a commissioner in August 1207, along with William of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the Bishop of London, and Mauger the Bishop of Worcester. The commission tried to convince the king to accept Langton, but eventually in March 1208, they pronounced an interdict on England because of John's refusal to accept Langton. In July 1208 the commissioners once more attempted to negotiate with John, this time in company with Langton's brother Simon Langton. They waited eight weeks for a meeting, but the king never received them. A year later, the king finally met with them at Dover. Although an agreement was reached, it was never put into effect, and negotiations reached a stalemate. In November, the commissioners declared John excommunicated. Eustace had been in exile since the proclamation of the interdict in 1208. In 1212, Eustace journeyed to Rome to complain to Innocent about John's oppression of the English Church.