Aungerville

RICHARD AUNGERVILLE (1287 - 1345)

Nearly all the powers the king had elsewhere were exercised by the mediaeval Bishop of Durham. He had his own parliament (Durham sent no representatives to London) and his own coinage; soldiers fought under him, not the king; all mines belonged to him and he had the power of capital punishment.

Some bishops were warriors (preferring the mace as weapon) like the flamboyant Anthony Bek, the ‘Ecclesiastical Bonaparte’; others were builders, like Hugh Pudsey, close friend of Richard the Lionheart - and Thomas Hatfield who provided the prince bishops with the highest throne in Christendom. In addition, historians owe a great debt to Pudsey for the compilation known as the Boldon Book (1183). The celebrated Domesday Book (q.v.) had stopped short of the Tees, and the Boldon Book gives an invaluable insight into the Palatinate in the late 12th century.

Richard Aungerville, often called Richard de Bury, had taken part in the grim intrigues surrounding the deposition and gruesome murder of Edward II. On the accession of Edward III , whose tutor he had been, Aungerville achieved rapid promotion. Edward appointed him bishop of Durham in 1333 (against the wishes of the monks) and the enthronement in Durham Cathedral was attended by the king and queen of England, the king of Scotland, and many high dignitaries.

On an embassy to the Pope in Avignon, Aungerville had met the great Petrarch, who considered the Englishman ‘not ignorant of literature’. Now Aungerville began to collect manuscripts from far and wide: ‘No dearness of price ought to hinder a man from the purchase of books if he has the money demanded for them, unless it be to withstand the malice of the seller or to await a more favourable opportunity of buying’. Indeed, presents of books could often secure Aungerville’s support in some manner. To him belongs, it seems, the honour of founding the first lending library in England - at Durham College in Oxford (Now Trinity College), to which Durham students were sent between c1326 and 1544. He wrote about his passion for books and his plans for a library in his Latin Philobiblon (1345), the year he died at Auckland Castle.

In his book, Aungerville gives advice on the treatment of fine books. No scholar should read a book when he has a cold, unless he is aware of the uses of a handkerchief. He should not let a crying child admire the little pictures within the capital letters, ‘for a child touches whatever he sees’. He should not use the pages to press violets and primroses, and above all, he must resist any depraved impulse to scribble in the margins.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
RICHARD AUNGERVILLE (1287 - 1345) Nearly all the powers the king had elsewhere were exercised by the mediaeval Bishop of Durham. He had his own parliament (Durham sent no representatives to London) and his own coinage; soldiers fought under him, not the king; all mines belonged to him and he had the power of capital punishment. Some bishops were warriors (preferring the mace as weapon) like the flamboyant Anthony Bek, the ‘Ecclesiastical Bonaparte’; others were builders, like Hugh Pudsey, close friend of Richard the Lionheart - and Thomas Hatfield who provided the prince bishops with the highest throne in Christendom. In addition, historians owe a great debt to Pudsey for the compilation known as the Boldon Book (1183). The celebrated Domesday Book (q.v.) had stopped short of the Tees, and the Boldon Book gives an invaluable insight into the Palatinate in the late 12th century. Richard Aungerville, often called Richard de Bury, had taken part in the grim intrigues surrounding the deposition and gruesome murder of Edward II. On the accession of Edward III , whose tutor he had been, Aungerville achieved rapid promotion. Edward appointed him bishop of Durham in 1333 (against the wishes of the monks) and the enthronement in Durham Cathedral was attended by the king and queen of England, the king of Scotland, and many high dignitaries. On an embassy to the Pope in Avignon, Aungerville had met the great Petrarch, who considered the Englishman ‘not ignorant of literature’. Now Aungerville began to collect manuscripts from far and wide: ‘No dearness of price ought to hinder a man from the purchase of books if he has the money demanded for them, unless it be to withstand the malice of the seller or to await a more favourable opportunity of buying’. Indeed, presents of books could often secure Aungerville’s support in some manner. To him belongs, it seems, the honour of founding the first lending library in England - at Durham College in Oxford (Now Trinity College), to which Durham students were sent between c1326 and 1544. He wrote about his passion for books and his plans for a library in his Latin Philobiblon (1345), the year he died at Auckland Castle. In his book, Aungerville gives advice on the treatment of fine books. No scholar should read a book when he has a cold, unless he is aware of the uses of a handkerchief. He should not let a crying child admire the little pictures within the capital letters, ‘for a child touches whatever he sees’. He should not use the pages to press violets and primroses, and above all, he must resist any depraved impulse to scribble in the margins.
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