Thomas de Hatfield# (1345-1381) was, like Bishop Bek, a warrior
ecclesiastic. Soon after his election he led eighty archers to the siege
of Calais. His episcopate was notable for the wars with the Scots, and
the great victory obtained over them, with the capture of King David and
many nobles, at Neville's Cross, near Durham. Fifteen thousand Scots
were slain. The victory was attributed to the presence of the sacred
banner of S. Cuthbert, which Prior John Fossor took to a place near the
battlefield, kneeling in prayer the while for success. A hymn of
thanksgiving was appointed to be sung on the top of the cathedral tower
on each anniversary of the battle. This custom is still carried out,
though the day has been changed to the twenty-ninth of May. Hatfield was
a liberal supporter of Durham College at Oxford. He erected his own tomb
in the choir of the cathedral, in which he was afterwards buried.

#John Fordham# (1381-1388), secretary to Richard II., and Canon of
York, was next elected. Suspected of giving bad advice to the king, he
was compelled to resign, but was given the inferior bishopric of Ely,
where he lived to extreme old age, dying in 1425.

#Walter de Skirlaw# (1388-1405), translated from Bath and Wells, was
a munificent prelate. He built bridges at Shincliffe, Bishop Auckland,
and Yarm; a refuge tower, a beautiful chapter-house (now in ruins) at
Howden; and was a large contributor to the expense of building the
central tower of York Cathedral. His work in the building of the
cloisters of Durham has already been referred to.

#Thomas Langley# (1406-1437) succeeded. He was Chancellor of England,
Dean of York, and in 1411 was made a cardinal. He occupied the see
during part of the reign of Henry IV., the whole of that of Henry V.,
and fifteen years of that of Henry VI. He founded two schools on the
Palace Green at Durham, and in his will left collections of books to
many colleges.

#Robert Neville# (1437-1457), son of the Earl of Westmoreland and his
wife Joan, who was a daughter of John of Gaunt. He was therefore uncle
of the Earl of Warwick, the "king-maker" of Richard III. and of Edward
IV. He had a peaceful episcopate of nineteen years, and was buried in
the cathedral, in the south aisle near his ancestors.

#Laurance Booth# (1457-1476), Canon of York and Lichfield, Archdeacon
of Richmond, and Dean of S. Paul's, was the next bishop. He was a
supporter of the House of Lancaster. He was translated to the