# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/John (d.1320)

Duplicate of Dalderby, John de.
​JOHN (d. 1320), called of Dalderby, bishop of Lincoln, took his name from the village of Dalderby, near Horncastle, ​Lincolnshire, which was presumably his birthplace. Three persons of the same name, and probably of the same family, were prebendaries of Lincoln at the same period as himself, and Robert of Dalderby was mayor of the city in 1342. Dalderby devoted himself to the study of theology, of which the words 'sacræ theologiæ cathedram conscendens'(Rymer, Fœdera, ii. pt. ii. 698) imply that he became a teacher. He was canon of St. Davids, and became archdeacon of Carmarthen in 1283 (Wharton, Anglia Sacra, p. 651; Le Neve, Fasti, iii. 312), and chancellor of Lincoln in 1293. In 1300, on the death of Oliver Sutton [q. v.], he was elected bishop of Lincoln 'per viam scrutinii,' and was consecrated by Archbishop Winchelsea at Canterbury on 12 June of that year. The next year he received Edward I with his retinue at his manor of Nettleham, near Lincoln, from 20 Jan. to the beginning of March, during the sitting of the parliament held at Lincoln. Two other parliaments were held in Lincoln during his episcopate in 1304-5 and 1316, at the latter of which a patent was granted for enlarging the cathedral close. On the commencement of the process against the Knights Templars in 1309, Bishop Dalderby was one of the commissioners named by the pope to see it carried into effect. The trial of the Templars of Lincolnshire and the adjacent counties was held in the Lincoln chapter-house, but the records printed by Wilkins (Concilia, ii. 304 ff.) do not show what part the bishop took in it. The relations of the bishop to the court were evidently cordial. A file of letters exists in the muniment-room of the dean and chapter addressed to him by Margaret, the second wife of Edward I, and by Edward II when prince of Wales, commending chaplains of theirs to his good offices, and praying for preferment for them in his diocese. In 1310 he joined in the petition of the barons to the king calling on him to appoint 'lords ordainers' for a general reform of his realm and household (Chronicles of Edward I and II, Rolls Series, i. 170).
John was a notable benefactor to his cathedral. He earnestly recommended the completion of the great central tower in his letters to his diocese, and promised indulgences to those who took part in the work, in a document dated at Stow Park, 3 March 1306-7. For the augmentation of the salaries of the newly established college of vicars he transferred the advowsons of three benefices to the chapter, and made other grants to them and to the poor clerks. He was greatly beloved by the clergy and laity of his diocese. During his lifetime, even before his accession to the episcopate, miracles were ascribed to him, and after his death, which took place at Stow Park on 5 Jan. 1319-20, his grave under the western wall of the great south transept became the place of reputed marvellous cures, which procured for him a popular canonisation, and attracted crowds of votaries. The year after his death John Lindsay, bishop of Glasgow, when at Lincoln, granted forty days' indulgence to all true penitents visiting his tomb. A magnificent shrine was erected, eventually covered with silver plates, at which offerings continued to be made until the Reformation. To these gifts the new rose-window of this transept, known as 'the bishop's eye,' and the other adjacent decorations may probably be ascribed. Applications were made to the pope to procure Dalderby's legal canonisation. Certificates of miracles were laid before the holy see, and copies of them, together with the other documents relating to the petition, still remain in the chapter archives of Lincoln. But though supported by the advocacy of the king himself, the application proved unsuccessful. The pope returned a courteous negative in 1328. Nevertheless, Dalderby's day was popularly kept with much solemnity at Lincoln, and an office was drawn up for use at his commemoration, which has been printed from an imperfect manuscript in the muniment-room at Lincoln in the 'Archæological Journal' (xl. 215-24). John of Shalby, who had been a member of his household, sums up his character thus: 'Vir facundus, contemplativus, piissimus; verbi Dei prædicator egregíus; non avarus; largus, munificus; in cunctis prospers satis agens.'
[Biography by John of Shalby ap. Girald. Cambr. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 212-14, with Mr. Freeman's remarks, ib. p. c; Wickenden's memoir, Arch. Journal, xl. 215-24; other authorities cited above.]
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