Ralph Neville - Royal Service and Bishop of Chichester

Royal Service and Bishop of Chichester

Neville was keeper of the royal seal under the new king, Henry III (r. 1216–1272) from about 6 November 1218. He had been at the royal court since May 1218, and was given custody of the seal as soon as it was made up. One of the first documents subsequently sealed was a declaration that no charters or other rights would be granted in perpetuity until Henry attained his majority. Neville was also vice-chancellor of England under the chancellorship of Richard Marsh, who had been elected as Bishop of Durham in 1217 and spent most of his time attending to ecclesiastical affairs in his northern diocese. In fact, if not in name, Neville was responsible for all the duties of the chancellorship, and he exercised most of the power of that office, although Marsh continued to hold the title of chancellor until his death in 1226. When instability threatened the royal government in May and June 1219 Neville was ordered by Pandulf, the papal legate, to remain in London with the Great Seal while a royal council was held at Gloucester. The council resulted in royal government coming under the control of Hubert de Burgh the Justiciar, Pandulf, and Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester.

Neville received a papal dispensation for his illegitimacy on 25 January 1220, on the recommendation of the king, Stephen Langton the Archbishop of Canterbury, other bishops, and the papal legate Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, all of whom testified to his good reputation and character. In late October he was named chancellor of the see of Chichester, but was then elected Bishop of Chichester on about 1 November 1222. He was given control of the temporalities of the bishopric on 3 November 1222, and was consecrated on 21 April 1224. In April 1223 Neville was ordered by Pope Honorius III to cease using the Great Seal on the command of the justiciar or other members of the minority council, but instead to do so only at the king's command, essentially ending the royal minority. But it did not finally end until December 1223, and even then, as the king had not yet been officially declared of age, the ban on grants without a fixed time limit remained in force.