page_title: Walter de Stapledon
section_title: Death and burial
hierarchical_section_title: Walter de Stapledon / Death and burial
caption_attribution_description: Monument to Bishop Walter Stapledon (1261-1326), Exeter Cathedral. Viewed from the high altar looking northward
context_page_description: Walter de Stapledon was Bishop of Exeter 1308–1326 and twice Lord High Treasurer of England, in 1320 and 1322. He founded Exeter College, Oxford and contributed liberally to the rebuilding of Exeter Cathedral. His tomb and monument, of great architectural importance, survives in Exeter Cathedral.
context_section_description: Stapledon was associated in the popular mind with the misdeeds of King Edward II. On fleeing London before the advancing troops of Queen Isabella, that king appointed Stapledon Custos or "Keeper" of the City of London, the population of which was mostly in favour of the Queen. Foreseeing her forced entry into the City, Stapledon demanded from the Lord Mayor of London the keys to the gates, to lock her out. The following account is related by William de Dene in his History of the See of Rochester. A gathering of bishops took place at Lambeth Palace, south of the River Thames, aimed at arranging a mission of two of their number to convene peace talks between the warring king and queen in St Paul's Cathedral in the City. However all the bishops were wary of crossing the Thames into London, where the population was known to be hostile to them. Eventually The Bishop of London and Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, appear to have volunteered and crossed the Thames to convene at the Blackfriars, just outside the City gates. Here they met with a group of the Kings Justices (possibly therefore including Sir Richard de Stapledon, the bishop's brother). When the Londoners heard of this they met in the Guildhall and plotted how to ambush, capture and kill the two bishops, and then loot the merchants, and sent out scouting parties to report on the route of their journey. The plot came to fruition when Stapledon was ambushed on his journey. He was accompanied by his elder brother Richard de Stapledon, a Justice of Assizes for the western circuit, who in trying to save him was dragged from his horse and murdered. This is said by John Prince to have happened as he rode through the city gate of Cripplegate, when a cripple grasped one of the forelegs of Sir Richard's horse and by crossing it threw the horse and rider to the ground, whereupon Sir Richard was murdered by the mob. Sir Richard's elaborate monument with effigies survives in Exeter Cathedral, near to that of his brother the bishop . The bishop fled for safety into St Paul's Cathedral. However he found no safety there as a mob entered and dragged him out and proceeded to beat and wound him and dragged him to the Great Cross at Cheapside "where those sons of the devil most barborously murdered him" on 15 October 1326. His head was chopped off and his body was thrown onto a dunghill "to be torn and devoured by dogs". Later some of his supporters took away his body and re-buried it in the sand of the shoreline of the River Thames next to the bishop's palace, Exeter House, beyond Temple Bar on The Strand, which site was later occupied by Essex House, the townhouse of the Earl of Essex during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. About six months later the Queen "reflecting how dishonourable a thing it was to suffer the corps of so truly great and good prelate to lie thus vilely buried" ordered his body to be disinterred and removed for burial in Exeter Cathedral, "there to be honoured with most magnificent exequies", which duly occurred on 28 March 1327.
caption: Monument to Bishop Walter Stapledon, Exeter Cathedral, viewed from within the choir
exif: {"Image Software": "Irodio Photo & Video Studio", "Image ImageDescription": "Exif_JPEG_PICTURE", "Image Make": "RICOH", "Image Model": "RICOH R10", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2012:07:09 18:07:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "306", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/32", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "161", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:07:09 18:07:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:07:09 18:07:25", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8/5", "EXIF ApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3251", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2101", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}