pope had waited six months to give the monks an opportunity to appeal, and, on their failure, had confirmed the new arrangement (Will. Newb. i. 395). Richard of Devizes accuses Hugh of having tried to bribe certain cardinals by a promise to attach some of the new canonries at Coventry to their Roman churches (iii. 440–2). According to Gervase (i. 488) the final expulsion of the monks took place on Christmas-day 1190, after which Moses, the prior of Coventry, went to Rome in 1191. This agrees with William of Newburgh's statement that the appeal of the monks arrived too late. After Hugh had fallen out of favour, Hubert Walter restored the monks by order of the pope on 11 Jan. 1198.
Apart from his quarrel with the monks, Hugh held a not unimportant place in English politics during the first few years of the reign of Richard. He obtained from Richard the office of sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire. Archbishop Baldwin at once took exception to the tenure of such a post by a bishop, and Hugh promised to resign after Easter 1190. When he failed to do so, Baldwin ordered him to appear before the bishops of London and Rochester. Hugh thereupon, in a letter to the former, declared his readiness to abide by their decision. He, however, appears as sheriff of these counties in 1190–1, and again in 1192–4 (Ralph de Diceto, ii. 77–8). On the latter occasion he was no doubt acting in the interest of Earl John. In September 1189 Hugh was commissioned by Richard to endeavour to induce Geoffrey, the king's half-brother, to renounce his election to the archbishopric of York. A little later he was again sent to Geoffrey at Dover in company with Longchamp (Gir. Camb. iv. 376, 378). When Geoffrey returned to England in September 1191, Hugh had quarrelled with Longchamp; Giraldus Cambrensis says that the latter had tried to deprive Hugh of his London house (ib. iv. 416). Newburgh says that Hugh was reported to have instigated John in his rebellion. Hugh certainly took part in the pacification at Winchester on 28 July, when he received the castle of the Peak, no doubt to hold it in John's interest. When Geoffrey was arrested at Dover on 18 Sept. Hugh was foremost in denouncing the chancellor, and at once appealed to John. He was present with John at the conference of Longchamp's opponents near Reading on 5–6 Oct., persuaded the Londoners to proclaim Longchamp a public enemy (ib. iv. 398, 403), and took the chief part in his condemnation in the council of St. Paul's on 8 Oct. Longchamp's attempted flight is graphically but maliciously described by Hugh in a letter which he wrote at the time. Hugh's treatment of a man with whom he had but recently been on friendly terms met with not unnatural censure. Peter of Blois [q. v.] in particular remonstrated with him for his ingratitude, saying that Longchamp had looked on him as his other self (Epistola, 89, apud Migne's Patrologia, ccvii. 278). Hugh was included by Longchamp in the list of his opponents whom he threatened with excommunication in December 1191. On 27 Nov. Hugh was at Canterbury for the election of Baldwin's successor, Reginald Fitz-Jocelin [q. v.] During 1192 he was probably busy with his duties as sheriff and with his new buildings at Coventry (Richard of Devizes, iii. 440–2). After the news of Richard's captivity in 1193 Hugh started for Germany with horses and treasure for the king. On his way between Canterbury and Dover he was robbed, according to the statement of Giraldus, by men employed by Longchamp (Opera, iv. 417; Ralph de Diceto, ii. 111). He, however, made his way to Germany, but, finding that Richard was hostile to him, thought it prudent to retire to France. Meantime Hugh's brother, Robert de Nonant, had been sent to the emperor with treasonable letters from John and Philip Augustus. The emperor showed the letters to Richard, who nevertheless asked Robert de Nonant to become one of his hostages; when Robert refused, the king ordered him to be imprisoned (HOVEDEN, iii. 232–3). After Richard's return to England he ordered, on 31 March 1194 at Northampton, that Hugh should attend to answer before the bishops for his acts as bishop, and before laymen for his acts as sheriff. In the following year Hugh obtained pardon by a fine of five thousand marks, but his brother Robert was kept in prison at Dover, where he died (ib. iii. 242, 287). Hugh himself probably never returned to England, but remained in seclusion in Normandy. Before his death he assumed the habit of a monk in the Cluniac abbey of Bec Hellouin. There he fell ill in the autumn of 1197, but lingered till the following spring, occupied with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. He died on 25 or 27 March 1198, and was buried in the abbey at Bec (Gir. Camb. iv. 68–71; Ann. Mon. i. 56, ii. 67; Gervase of Canterbury, i. 552).
Hugh is not a bad type of the official prelate of the latter twelfth century—masterful and contentious, but sagacious and learned. As one who ‘never loved monks or monkhood,’ he finds little favour with the monastic historians, though they all agree in admitting his skill in letters and oratory. William of Newburgh describes him as ‘crafty,
