Robert Foliot

Robert Foliot
Bishop of Hereford
Norman font from Hereford Cathedral, which predates Foliot's term in office.
Elected	April 1173
Term ended	9 May 1186
Predecessor	Robert of Melun
Successor	William de Vere
Other posts	Archdeacon of Oxford
Orders
Consecration	6 October 1174 by Richard of Dover, Archbishop of Canterbury
Personal details
Died	9 May 1186
Buried	Hereford Cathedral

Robert Foliot (died 1186) was a medieval Bishop of Hereford in England. He was a relative of a number of English ecclesiastics, including Gilbert Foliot, one of his predecessors at Hereford. After serving Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln as a clerk, he became a clerk of Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester and brother of King Stephen of England. He attended the Council of Reims in 1148, where another relative, Robert de Chesney, was elected as Bishop of Hereford. Chesney then secured the office of Archdeacon of Oxford for Foliot.

During the early 1160s, Foliot also served as a clerk for Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, but left the archbishop's service as Becket's dispute with the king began to intensify. He was elected to Hereford in 1173, and served as a royal and papal judge while bishop. Archeological evidence links the building of the Bishop's Palace at Hereford to his episcopate. After his death, Foliot was buried in Hereford Cathedral.

Robert Foliot was a relative of both Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London, and of Robert de Chesney, Bishop of Lincoln. Another relative was Ralph Foliot, a royal justice. Robert Foliot's family appears to have been the branch of the Foliot family that owned the manor of Warpsgrove in Oxfordshire. This is made likely by Foliot's confirmation of a gift of land from Ralph Foliot of Warpsgrove to Ralph's son, and it is possible that Foliot was the brother or uncle of Ralph Foliot.

There is no evidence of Foliot's education, but he likely received an education to fit him for his career in the church. Bibliographers have frequently confused him with his predecessor as bishop, Robert of Melun, so he has mistakenly been given as the author of a number of documents.