Richard de Bury - Bishop of Durham

Bishop of Durham

During his absence from England he was made Dean of Wells in February 1333. In September of the same year, he was made Bishop of Durham by the king, overruling the choice of the monks, who had elected and actually installed their sub-prior, Robert de Graynes. In February 1334 de Bury was made Lord Treasurer, an appointment he exchanged later in the year for that of Lord Chancellor. He resigned the following year, and, after making arrangements for the protection of his northern diocese from an expected attack by the Scots, he proceeded in July 1336 to France to attempt a settlement of the claims in dispute between Edward and the French king. In the next year he served on three commissions for the defence of the northern counties. In June 1338 he was once again sent abroad on a peace mission, but within a month was waylaid by the approaching campaign.

de Bury traveled to Coblenz and met Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and in the next year was sent to England to raise money. This seems to have been his last visit to the continent. In 1340 and 1342 he again tried to negotiate peace with the Scots, but afterward left public politics to care for his diocese and accumulate a library. He sent far and wide in search of manuscripts, rescuing many volumes from the charge of ignorant and neglectful monks. He may sometimes have brought undue pressure to bear on the owners, for it is recorded that an abbot of St Albans bribed him with four valuable books, and that de Bury, who procured certain coveted privileges for the monastery, bought from him thirty-two other books for fifty pieces of silver, far less than their normal price. The record of his passion for books, his Philobiblon (Greek for "The Love of Books"), is a Latin treatise in praise of books. The Philobiblon was completed in 1344 and first printed in 1473. The most accurate and reliable English translation is by Ernest C. Thomas in 1888. Alfred Hessel describes the Philobiblon as “he particular charm of the apology consist in fact that it contains sound library theory—though clothed in medieval garb”. This remarkable piece of literature is one of the earliest books to discuss librarianship in-depth.