Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury

Nicholas Longespee was a medieval Bishop of Salisbury.

He was the son of William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury and William's wife, Ela.[1] He was a canon of Salisbury Cathedral before 1272 and held the office of treasurer of the diocese of Salisbury before 1275. He also held the position of rector of Lacock.[2]

Longespee was elected bishop between 8 November and 12 December 1291 and consecrated on 16 March 1292. He died 18 May 1297.[3] He was buried at Salisbury, but his heart was buried at Lacock and his viscera at Ramsbury.[1]

Notes

1. British History Online Bishops of Salisbury accessed on 30 October 2007
2. British History Online Treasurers of Salisbury accessed on 30 October 2007
3. Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 270

Some sources give him a son Nicholas, which means he either took holy orders after his wife died, or had a mistress on the down-low (this was not all that uncommon at the time). Records of his clerical activities are sufficiently late (starting after c. 1270) that he could have had a secular career and given it up for the Church later in life.

No son is mentioned in his will, but bequests are left to various "foster sons" and "godsons" (a Lambert with sons Walter and Nicholas, among others, who is left quite a handsome legacy for his supposedly commoner status), into which one may read whatever one wishes.