Thomas Fastolf

Doctor Thomas Fastolf
Bishop of St David's
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	St David's
Installed	1352
Term ended	June 1361
Predecessor	Reginald Brian
Successor	Adam Houghton
Orders
Ordination	unknown
Consecration	1352
Personal details
Born	Perhaps at Great Yarmouth, date unknown.
Died	June 1361 St David's
Nationality	English
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Alma mater	Probably Cambridge

Thomas Fastolf, sometimes spelt Fastolfe (died June 1361) was an English canon lawyer and Bishop of St David's from 1352 until his death.

Probably educated at Cambridge and then overseas, he held the degree of Doctor of Laws and his first career was as a canon lawyer in Avignon, which was then the seat of the Papacy. He is credited as the first identifiable reporter of cases in the papal court known as the Rota. As Fastolf advanced in the service of the Avignon popes, he gained a series of preferments in the British Isles, concluding with the bishopric of St David's.

Fastolf was one of three sons of another Thomas Fastolf, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, who became lawyers, the others being Nicholas and Lawrence. He was mentored by William Bateman, bishop of Norwich, and probably read law at the University of Cambridge, as did others who came under Bateman's wing, but his studies were continued overseas and it is not known where he took his doctorate. His brother Nicholas Fastolf (died 1330) became a serjeant-at-law and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, while his brother Lawrence was auditor of the audience court of Canterbury. Nicholas was probably the direct ancestor of Sir John Fastolf.

...
Wikipedia