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Historical person

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 de Clinton also worked as Roman Catholic Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. The historical importance of Roger de Clinton also reflects the institutional and political setting of religious authority, where doctrine, patronage and public power were often closely connected.

In Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael’s Penance, the failed Coventry peace conference and the competing claims of Stephen and Empress Matilda place Roger de Clinton’s diocese at the centre of national politics; as bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, he represents the churchmen required to work across a kingdom divided by civil war. The Summer of the Danes uses the same ecclesiastical network when Cadfael is sent into Wales on church business. Roger’s relevance in both novels lies less in private adventure than in the episcopal authority through which diplomacy, travel and monastic obligations are organised during the Anarchy.

Periods

Periods linked to Roger de Clinton

The Anarchy1135–1154 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Roger de Clinton (1 series)

Chronicles of Brother Cadfael in Order

by Ellis Peters 19 books 4.5(42,288)

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