Robert de Stretton
| Robert de Stretton | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield | |
| Archdiocese | Province of Canterbury |
| Elected | 30 November 1358 |
| Term ended | 28 March 1385 |
| Predecessor | Roger Northburgh |
| Successor | Walter Skirlaw |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | before May 1349 |
| Consecration | 27 September 1360 by Michael Northburgh, Bishop of London, John Sheppey, Bishop of Rochester |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Great Stretton, Leicestershire |
| Died | 28 March 1385 Haywood manor, Staffordshire |
| Buried | St Andrew's Chapel, Lichfield Cathedral |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Previous post | Confessor to Edward, the Black Prince |
Robert de Stretton (died 1385) was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield following the death of Roger Northburgh in 1358. A client of Edward, the Black Prince, he became a “notorious figure” because it was alleged that he was illiterate, although this is now largely discounted as unlikely, as he was a relatively efficient administrator.
Robert de Stretton is presumed to have been born at Great Stretton or Stretton Magna in Leicestershire, a village that has since disappeared, although neighbouring Little Stretton survives. His parents were Robert Eyryk and his wife Johanna. He is thought to have had three siblings: Sir William Eyryk, the heir to the family estates, John and Adelina. Fletcher considered that Sir William was the ancestor of a prominent Leicestershire landowning family, the Heyricks of Houghton on the Hill, but this is far from certain. Families called Heyrick, and later Herrick, were to influential in Leicester and Leicestershire for centuries. When Robert's chantry at Stretton was dissolved in the 16th century, the dissolution certificate referred to him as “Robert Heyrick, sometym byshoppe of Chester” and it seems clear that he was frequently known by this name, although “de Stretton” was his more usual surname. The name is derived from the Danish personal name Eirik and suggests Norse origins. It was found in a number of Leicestershire villages.
The relationship between the Eyryk family and Great Stretton is problematic. Fletcher claimed that the Eyryk family were “undoubtedly seated at Stretton Magna at an early date, and held land there under Leicester Abbey,” providing a family tree, based on research by Nichols, that pushed the connection back to the reign of Henry III (1216-1272), while the recent Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article asserts that Robert himself held the manor in the 1370s. The relevant Victoria County History volumes provides only limited corroboration, showing the pattern of land holding at Great Stretton as complicated: there was a high degree of subinfeudation by the late 13th century. and in the 14th century, the manor itself was held by the Zouche family of Haryngworth from the Ferrers of Groby. The Heyrick family were substantial free tenants and the most important residents, but not apparently lords of the manor. Their presence in the village was first attested in 1274, with one Richard Heirick, a cleric. In 1327 and 1332 they paid about a third of the village's total tax bill, giving an indication of their relative importance. Bishop Robert inherited some of the family's land at Great Stretton in later life.
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