The Rolls and Register of Bishop Oliver Sutton, 1280-1299, Volume I

This is the first of eight volumes containing the record of the institutions performed in the archdeaconry of Lincoln by Oliver Sutton, Bishop of Lincoln from 1280 to 1299. Subsequent volumes in addition to the institutions include memoranda dealing with the administration of the see, together with an account of his life. The introduction to the first volume includes a brief description of the manuscripts from which the contents of the volumes is drawn. Sutton’s register describes incidents in the course of which clerks were maltreated and sometimes killed, rights of sanctuary violated and churches desecrated by bloodshed. There is no reason to think that in offences such as these the diocese of Lincoln had an especially bad record. Sutton was not a saint, and as a scholar he appears to have been competent rather than distinguished. He was, however, a thoroughly good man, a trained canonist who was determined to uphold the law, and an administrator at once efficient and humane. For nearly twenty years he devoted himself almost completely to his diocese, ruling it with unending patience and a determined sense of justice.
Adapted from the Preface.