to have been a member of a noble
Pisan family, and in 1211 had been sent by Pope Innocent to humble King
John, which he successfully did. He was again employed as Papal Legate
during the young King Henry II.'s minority, and died in Italy, 16th
September 1226, having played a prominent part as politician and
mediator.

#Thomas de Blunville# (1226-1236), the nephew of Hubert de Burgh, Lord
Chief-Justice of England, was consecrated in St. Catherine's Chapel at
Westminster by Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury. He died in 1236, and
was succeeded by #Ralph de Norwich#, of whom but little is known; and is
even supposed to have died before his consecration.

#William de Ralegh# was consecrated on the 25th September 1239 at St.
Paul's by Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury. He had been a chaplain
of King Henry, and having received the education of a lawyer, from
1224-35 he visited various parts of the kingdom as a justiciary. On the
death of Peter de Rupibus he was elected to the see at Winchester by the
monks, in direct defiance of the king. The Pope's intervention in the
end secured him his see. He died at Tours in 1250.

#Walter de Suffield# (1245-57) was elected bishop by the monks after
Ralegh's translation. He chiefly busied himself in building and
beautifying the cathedral, and there is no record that he took any
prominent part in politics. He superintended a general inquisition
(known as the Norwich taxation) into the value of the Church revenues
throughout the whole of England. He died May 18, 1257, during a visit to
Colchester.

#Simon de Walton# (1258-66) was consecrated by Boniface, Archbishop of
Canterbury, on March 10, 1258. He held (in 1246) the office of
justice-itinerant. Of his administration little is known. He was past
seventy when he assumed the charge of the diocese. The barons under De
Montfort had beaten the king's army at Lewes, in 1264, and in 1266, from
their encampment in the Isle of Ely, attacked and sacked the city. Simon
de Walton died January 2, 1266.

#Roger de Skerming# (1266-78) was elected by the monks, and was
consecrated by Geoffrey Rages in St. Paul's Cathedral in April 1266. It
was during his episcopate that the disturbance occurred between the
monks and citizens over the annual fair held on Trinity Sunday, in
Tombland. He died January 2, 1278.

[Illustration: The Guildhall.]

#William de Middleton# (1278-88) was consecrated at Lambeth by the
Archbishop of Canterbury on May 29,