Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sandwich, Henry de
SANDWICH, HENRY de (d. 1273), bishop of London, was son of Sir Henry de Sandwich, a knight of Kent (Cont. Gervase of Canterbury, ii. 218). Ralph de Sandwich [q. v.] was probably his brother. He is perhaps the Henry de Sandwich, clerk, who had license to hold an additional benefice, with cure of souls, on 7 June 1238 (Cal. Papal Registers, i. 175). Afterwards he held the prebend of Wildland at St. Paul's (Dugdale, Hist. St. Paul's, p. 279). On 13 Nov. 1262 he was elected bishop of London, and at once went abroad to obtain the assent of King Henry, who was then in France. Thence he proceeded to Belley, where he received confirmation from Archbishop Boniface on 21 Dec. (Cont. Gervase, ii. 218; Ann. Mon. iv. 132). He was consecrated at Canterbury by John of Exeter [q. v.], bishop of Winchester, on 27 Jan. 1263. Sandwich was a warm sympathiser with the baronial party, but, like other bishops on that side, frequently acted as a mediator during the barons' war. On 12 July 1263 he, with other bishops, had a conference with Simon de Montfort at Canterbury to arrange terms of peace; afterwards, by the king's order and with the will of the barons, he had custody of Dover Castle after its surrender by the king's son Edmund, and pending the appointment of a regular custodian (Cont. Gervase, ii. 273). As one of the baronial prelates he joined in the letter accepting the arbitration of Louis IX on 13 Dec. (Rishanger, De Bellis, pp. 121–3). He took part in the abortive negotiations at Brackley at the end of March 1264, and, accompanying Simon de Montfort into Sussex, was sent with Walter de Cantelupe, bishop of Worcester, on the day before the battle of Lewes, to offer a payment of 30,000l. if the king would undertake to observe the provisions of Oxford (ib. p. 29). After the battle Sandwich was one of the arbitrators appointed under the mise of Lewes (ib. p. 37). In September Guy Foulquois the legate, afterwards Clement IV, summoned the baronial bishops to appear before him at Boulogne. According to some accounts the bishops refused to appear, either in person or by proctors; but eventually the bishops of London, Worcester, and Winchester appear to have gone at the end of September. Guy ordered them to publish his sentence of excommunication against Simon de Montfort and his abettors. The bishops appealed to the pope, and when they returned with the ball of excommunication allowed the men of the Cinque ports to seize and destroy it. Afterwards, in an ecclesiastical council at Westminster on 19 Oct., the appeal was confirmed, and the bishops openly disregarded the legate's decree (Annales Monastici, iii. 234, iv. 156; Flores Historiarum, iii. 262–3; Rishanger, De Bellis, p. 39). After the fall of Simon de Montfort, Clement IV gave the new legate, Ottobon, power to absolve Sandwich and the other baronial prelates, but directed that they should be suspended from their office, and their case reserved for his own decision (Cal. Papal Registers, i. 419, 435, 438). Shortly before Easter 1266 Ottobon formally suspended Sandwich, who soon afterwards went abroad to the pope. Sandwich was detained at the Roman curia for nearly seven years, having only a small pittance from the revenues of his see (Ann. Mon. iii. 247). At last, on 31 May 1272, having shown his humility and devotion, he was, on the petition of Edward, the king's son, relaxed from suspension and restored to his office (Cal. Papal Reg. i. 441). On 31 Jan. 1273 he was once more received in his cathedral amid much rejoicing (Ann. Mon. iv. 253–4; Lib. de Ant. Legibus, p. 156). His health was already failing, and he could not attend Kilwardby's consecration on 26 Feb. (ib. p. 157). He died at his manor of Orset on 15 Sept., and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral on 23 Sept., in the place which he had chosen on the day of his enthronement (ib. p. 200; Ann. Mon. iv. 255). His tomb was destroyed at the Reformation. He left 40s. for the observance of his obit; his chalice of silver gilt, his mitre, and a number of vestments were anciently preserved at St. Paul's (Dugdale, pp. 313, 315, 321–3). Richard de Gravesend, afterwards bishop of London, owed his early advancement to Sandwich (ib. p. 23). Simon de Sandwich of Preston, Kent, whose granddaughter Juliana married William de Leybourne [see under Leybourne, Roger de], was probably a brother of the bishop (Archæologia Cantiana, vi. 190).
[Annales Monastici, Flores Historiarum, Continuation of Gervase of Canterbury, Annales Londinenses, ap. Chron. Edward I and Edward II (all these are in Rolls Ser.); Rishanger, De Bellis apud Lewes et Evesham, Liber de Antiquis Legibus (both Camden Soc.); Bliss's Calendar of Papal Registers; Hasted's Hist. of Kent, iv. 265–6; Wharton, De Episcopis Londinensibus, pp. 98–100; Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy; Prothero's Simon de Montfort.]