Richard of Dover - Patronage, Death and Legacy

Patronage, Death and Legacy

Richard attracted canon lawyers to his household, including Gerard la Pucelle, Peter of Blois, and Henry Pium of Northampton, all of whom advised him on legal matters. At the Council of Westminster that Richard convened in May 1175, nineteen canons were put forth, dealing with clerical marriage, the oversupply of ordained clergy, the behaviour of the clergy and their dress and tonsure, and simony. Another canon dealt with clandestine marriages and regulated child marriages. He was also heavily involved with trying judicial cases, both in the actual judgment as well as in the execution of judgments made by others. Four of his questions to Alexander III entered the Decretals and the other collections of canon law of the 13th century.

Richard died at Halling, Kent on 16 February 1184 of colic and was buried in his cathedral. A. L. Poole, the historian, felt that Richard was a "feeble and ineffective person." Frank Barlow, another historian, calls him a "blameless mediocrity". Richard of Ilchester, a fellow bishop, held that it was Richard of Dover's defects that prevented the English Church from profiting more from Becket's martyrdom. However, Richard did much to promote the use of canon law throughout England. Richard was also active in using his legatine powers to interfere in monastic affairs, deposing the abbot of Peterborough Abbey in 1175 and threatening to visit other monastic houses that were exempt from episcopal interference in order to regulate the monastic affairs. On a more domestic note, Richard was held to have been an able steward of the estates of Canterbury, very much interested in increasing production. He was held to be a pious and gentle man.