Early Life and Career
His father was Henry Langton, a landowner in Langton by Wragby, Lincolnshire. Stephen Langton may have been born in a moated farmhouse in the village. His brother Simon Langton was elected Archbishop of York in 1215, but that election was quashed by Pope Innocent III. Simon served his brother Stephen as Archdeacon of Canterbury in 1227. Simon and Stephen had another brother called Walter, a knight who died childless.
He studied at the University of Paris and lectured there on theology until 1206, when Pope Innocent III, with whom he had formed a friendship at Paris, called him to Rome and made him cardinal-priest of San Crisogono. His piety and learning had already won him prebends at Paris and York and he was recognized as the foremost English churchman.
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