Antony Bek (bishop of Durham) - Service For Edward I

Service For Edward I

In 1293, Bek was excommunicated by the Archbishop of York because Bek had allowed the king's officers to arrest two clerks while Bek was in Scotland on a royal mission. In response, a legal case was brought against the archbishop in Parliament alleging that because Bek was acting as the king's officer at the time, he wasn't acting as bishop but as earl palatine, and thus the excommunication was actually an affront to the royal dignity. Before the case could be decided, the archbishop yielded and was fined. In 1294 the king sent Bek, along with others, on a diplomatic errand to the German king Adolf of Nassau and the archbishop of Colonge. The embassy was attempting to secure allies for Edward's war against King Philip IV of France.

Taking part in Edward's campaigns in Scotland, the bishop received the surrender of King John I of Scotland at Brechin in 1296, and led one division of the English army at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. During the Falkirk campaign, but before the battle itself, a section of the army under Bek captured Dirleton Castle.

In 1300, soon after his return to England, Bek became involved in a quarrel with Richard de Hoton, Prior of Durham and the cathedral chapter. Both Hoton and the chapter were attempting to assert their independence from oversight by the bishop. Bek deposed and excommunicated the prior, and locked the cathedral and the priory up. Appeals from both sides were made to the king, but the prior had previously secured the support of several of the king's advisors. Attempts to secure a negotiated settlement failed, and other disputes over lands and rights escalated the dispute. At sometime after 1301 the king confiscated the lands of the bishop. A settlement in 1303 which restored the bishop's lands, did not settle the dispute between the prior and the bishop. In 1304, further charges were brought against the bishop by the prior and the cathedral chapter, including a serious one of imprisoning a royal messenger. The issue of the messenger led to the lands of the bishop once more being confiscated in 1305. The bishop secured the support of Pope Clement V who named Bek Patriarch of Jerusalem on 26 February 1306. Further actions against the bishop were stopped by the death of the king in 1307.