Roger de Clinton

c. 11th century–1148

Roger de Clinton was bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1129 until 1148. A relative of the royal official Geoffrey de Clinton, he owed his advancement partly to court patronage and served King Stephen during the Anarchy. Roger took part in the delegation defending Stephen’s claim before the papal curia and attended the Second Lateran Council. He was also associated with military affairs and founded the Cistercian house of Buildwas Abbey.

Roger appears only occasionally in historical fiction about the Anarchy, where armed bishops and politically active churchmen complicate the division between religious and secular power. No widely known novel centres on him, but he belongs naturally in stories involving Stephen’s court, Shrewsbury and the Welsh border. His career shows that episcopal office could combine diplomacy, patronage and military responsibility.

Ellis Peters’s The Summer of the Danes places Roger de Clinton within a narrative shaped by crime, espionage and covert power, social change and the pressures of ordinary life, and religion, belief and institutional authority. Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael’s Penance is set in late 1145, England remains divided between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, and an attempted peace meeting at Coventry fails to end the conflict.

Historical context

Historical periods linked to Roger de Clinton

The Anarchy 1135–1154 CE

Series

Series featuring Roger de Clinton (1 series)

Chronicles of Brother Cadfael in Order

by Ellis Peters 19 books 4.5

The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael follow a former soldier and crusader who has become the herbalist of Shrewsbury Abbey. Between 1137 and 1145, Cadfael investigates deaths, disappearances and disputed identities while working within the rhythms of Benedictine life and the law of medieval England. The twenty novels unfold…

All books in this series