Silvester de Everdon

Silvester de Everdon (died 1254) was a medieval Bishop of Carlisle and Lord Chancellor of England.

Life

Everdon came from the village of Everdon, near Daventry in Northamptonshire, but other than the fact that he was related to a locally prominent family of Thorp, nothing else is known of his ancestry.<ref name=DNB>Summerson "Everdon, Silvester of" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</ref> He was a priest in Northamptonshire from 1219. In 1229 he entered the service of Ralph Neville, who was Bishop of Chichester and Lord Chancellor, as a chancery clerk and continued on in the chancery until his election to Carlisle.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=Prestwich62>Prestwich Plantagenet England p. 62</ref> In 1244 Everdon became Lord Chancellor (holding the post until 1246)<ref name=Handbook85>Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 85</ref> and in 1245 he became the Archdeacon of Chester.<ref name=BHOCarl>Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Carlisle: Bishops</ref> He was elected to the see of Carlisle about 1 September 1246 but declined the see.<ref name=BHOCarl/> He probably declined the see because of concerns over being rewarded for secular work with a clerical office.<ref name=DNB/>

King Henry III of England seems to have persuaded Everdon that election was canonical, and he was elected again in November 1246 and accepted.<ref name=DNB/> Earlier, Matthew Paris had described Silvester as "the king's faithful clerk, dear and close, obtaining the first place in the chancery, where he served him wisely" and certainly Henry would have had the ability to persuade Silvester to accept the bishopric.<ref name=DNBQ>Quoted in Summerson "Everdon, Silvester of" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</ref> He was consecrated on 13 October 1247.<ref name=BHOCarl/> During his time as bishop, he worked to settle a long-standing dispute over the finances of the see between the bishop and the canons.<ref name=DNB/> He also served as a royal justice and attended parliament.<ref name=DNB/> He died in the spring of 1254,<ref name=Handbook235>Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 235</ref> after being thrown from a horse<ref name=Prestwich62/> near Northampton while on his way to the royal court.<ref name=DNB/>

Everdon is believed to be buried in the Temple Church in London.<ref>Griffith-Jones and Park (ed.) Temple Church in London p. 85</ref>

References

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