Walter de Coutances - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Coutances died on 16 November 1207 and was buried at Rouen Cathedral, in the chapel of Saints Peter and Paul. The inventory of his personal possessions made after his death included a large number of jewels and vestments. He also owned a large library, which contained not only religious works but also legal texts on canon law and works of classical authors such as Juvenal and Ovid.

Coutances' nephew, John of Coutances, became Archdeacon of Oxford and Dean of Rouen under Walter's influence, and later Bishop of Worcester. Other nephews were William, successively a canon at Lincoln Cathedral and an archdeacon at Rouen, and Richard, also an archdeacon at Rouen.

The historian John Gillingham called Coutances "one of the great fixers" of his time. Two other historians have argued that it was probably Coutances' judgement and stability that persuaded the king to trust him. The medieval poet John de Hanville dedicated a satirical poem on the tribulations of a poor scholar to Coutances.