{{short description|13th-century Bishop of Exeter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Use British English|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox Christian leader | name = Walter Branscombe | image = BranscombeArms.svg | caption = Arms of Walter Branscombe: ''Or, on a chevron sable three quatrefoils of the field two keys in chief and a sword in base argent''<ref>Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.473: "Brounscombe, Bishop of Exon". The blazon contravenes the heraldic "Rule of Tinctures"</ref> | religion = Catholic | title = Bishop of Exeter | elected = 23 February 1258 | consecration = 10 March 1258 | consecrated_by = Boniface of Savoy | enthroned = 14 April 1258 | ended = 22 July 1280 | predecessor = Richard Blund | successor = Peter Quinel | ordination = 9 March 1258 | other_post = Archdeacon of Surrey | birth_date = {{circa|1220}} | death_date = 22 July 1280 | buried = Exeter Cathedral }} [[File:Exeter Cathedral (St. Peter) (15207656710).jpg|thumb|Monument with effigy of Walter Branscombe, Exeter Cathedral. The effigy is contemporary with the bishop, but the chest-tomb and canopy were added in the 15th century to match the monument of Bishop Edmund Stafford (1344–1419) on the opposite side of the Lady Chapel]] '''Walter Branscombe'''{{efn|Also spelled '''Bronscombe''', '''Branescombe''', '''Bronescombe''', or '''Bronescomb'''}} ({{circa|1220}}–1280) was Bishop of Exeter from 1258 to 1280.
==Origins== Nothing for certain is known of Walter Branscombe's origins and education, but he is thought to have been born in Exeter in about 1220.<ref name=DNB/> In the opinion of William George Hoskins he was a member of the family of ''de Branscombe'' seated at the manor of Edge in the parish of Branscombe east Devon, situated about 16 miles east of Exeter;<ref name=Hoskins344>Hoskins ''Devon'' pp. 344-345</ref> although others appear to dispute this. John Prince (1643–1723), in his ''Worthies of Devon'', says he was a native of Exeter, and "born there of poor and mean parentage". Prince appears to be quoting an earlier authority, Bishop Francis Godwin (1562–1633), who writes of Walter Bronscombe: "''Patre natus Exoniensi cive, sed tenuissimae sortis et ex plebe infimâ'' ("He was born to a father who was a citizen of Exeter, but of the least and lowest of the common people"),<ref>Godw. de praes. in Episc. Exon. Page 146</ref> and it is not clear that the Branscombe family, who filled various positions of responsibility and authority in the fourteenth century,<ref>Both as Members of Parliament for Plympton Erle and Devon and as Sheriff of Devon</ref> married into the high Devonshire families of Courtenay and Champernowne, held land at Colyton, and took their name from the parish ever lived at Edge, Branscombe which, from the reign of King Edward III, was home to the Wadham family.
==Career== Branscombe held a prebend in of St Nicholas's College at Wallingford Castle, as well as a number of other benefices.<ref name=DNB>Denton "Bronescombe, Walter of" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> He also was archdeacon of Surrey.<ref name=BHOArchDSurrey>Greenway ''[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33880 Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: volume 2: Monastic cathedrals (northern and southern provinces): Archdeacons: Surrey]''</ref> In 1250, he acted as King Henry III of England's representative at the papal curia, and was appointed the king's proctor the next year. Besides being a royal clerk, he was often named as a papal chaplain also. Before 1254 he became a canon of Exeter Cathedral.<ref name=DNB/>
Branscombe was elected to the see of Exeter on 23 February 1258 and consecrated on 10 March 1258.<ref name=Handbook246>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 246</ref> He was ordained a priest on 10 March 1258, with both rites being performed by Boniface of Savoy, the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthroned at Exeter on 14 April 1258.<ref name=DNB/>
Maurice Powicke's opinion was that, having been trained in the royal service, Branscombe settled down to become an assiduous diocesan bishop.<ref name=Powicke485>Powicke ''Thirteenth Century'' p. 485</ref> He faced some problems at the start of his time as bishop, for right after the death of the previous bishop, Richard Blund, a number of Blund's officials and clerks had used Blund's seal to forge letters giving away benefices as well as Blund's property. This left Branscombe with debts and administrative issues.<ref name=Moorman173>Moorman ''Church Life'' p. 173</ref> He also continued to perform diplomatic missions for the king, as he was at Paris in 1258 and 1263. He attended a general council of the church held at Lyons in the summer of 1274.<ref name=DNB/>
Branscombe's register of his diocesan administration is the earliest episcopal one surviving from Exeter. He was a founder of a number of churches in his diocese, and issued sets of instructions for his cathedral church as well as others in his diocese. His last years were occupied with a dispute with Edmund the Earl of Cornwall over the earl's infringement of ecclesiastical rights.<ref name=DNB/>
Branscombe died on 22 July 1280<ref name=Handbook246/> at Bishopsteignton. He was buried in Exeter Cathedral, where his tomb, with the bishop's effigy, still survives.<ref name=DNB/> It remained unscathed during the Exeter Blitz, being protected by sand bags.<ref>S C Carpenter (1943) ''Exeter Cathedral 1942''. London: SPCK p. 1-2</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==Citations== {{reflist}}
==References== {{refbegin}} * {{cite ODNB |author= Denton, J. H. |title=Bronescombe, Walter of [Walter ''de'' Exonia] |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37225}} * {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }} * {{cite book |author=Greenway, Diana E. |section=Archdeacons: Surrey |title= Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300 |volume=2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces) |year=1971 |publisher= Institute of Historical Research |section-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33880|access-date=7 April 2008}} * {{cite book |author= Hoskins, W. G. |author-link=William George Hoskins |title=Devon |series=A New Survey of England |volume=2 |location=London |year=1959 |orig-date=1954 |publisher= Collins |oclc= 351627072}} * {{cite book |author=Moorman, John R. H. |author-link= John Moorman |title= Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century |year=1955|edition=Revised |publisher= Cambridge University Press |location= Cambridge |oclc= 213820968 }} * {{cite book |author=Powicke, F. Maurice |author-link=Maurice Powicke |series=Oxford History of England |title=The Thirteenth Century 1216–1307 |year=1953 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |oclc= 300724}} {{refend}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |editor=Robinson, O.F. |editor-link= Olivia F. Robinson |title=The Register of Walter Bronescombe, Bishop of Exeter, 1258-1280 |series=Canterbury and York Society |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, UK |volume=94 |year=2003 |isbn= 9780907239642}}
==External links== * "[http://www.dsnell.zynet.co.uk/Oliver/12.html Entry for Walter Bronescombe]" in George Oliver's ''Lives of the Bishops of Exeter'' * [http://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/Tour/Tour15.html The Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter: Bishop Bronescombe's Tomb]
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{s-bef | before = Richard Blund }} {{s-ttl | title = Bishop of Exeter | years = 1258–1280}} {{s-aft| after = Peter Quinel}} {{s-end}}
{{Bishops of Exeter}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branscombe, Walter}} Category:Bishops of Exeter Category:13th-century English Roman Catholic bishops Category:Burials at Exeter Cathedral Category:1220 births Category:1280 deaths