Walter Reynolds

Walter Reynolds
Archbishop of Canterbury
Tomb of Reynolds in Canterbury Cathedral
Appointed	1313
Installed	January 1314
Term ended	16 November 1327
Predecessor	Thomas Cobham
Successor	Simon Mepeham
Other posts	Bishop of Worcester
Orders
Consecration	13 October 1308
Personal details
Died	16 November 1327
Lord High Treasurer
In office 1307–1310
Monarch	Edward II
Preceded by	Walter Langton
Succeeded by	John Sandall
Keeper of the Great Seal
In office 1310–1314
Monarch	Edward II
Preceded by	John Langton
Succeeded by	John Sandall

Walter Reynolds (died 1327) was Bishop of Worcester and then Archbishop of Canterbury (1313–1327) as well as Lord High Treasurer and Lord Chancellor.

Reynolds was the son of a baker from Windsor in Berkshire, and became a clerk, or chaplain, in the service of Edward I.

Reynolds held several livings and, owing perhaps to his acting skill, he became a prime favourite with the prince of Wales, afterwards Edward II, whom he served as Keeper of the Great Wardrobe. Just after the prince became king, on 22 August 1307 Reynolds was appointed Treasurer of England. On 13 November 1307 he was elected Bishop of Worcester and consecrated on 13 October 1308. He was also on 6 July 1310 named Keeper of the Great Seal and Lord Chancellor of England. Amongst his duties as Bishop of Worcester was to act as the parton and appoint the Headmaster of the school that later became the Royal Grammar School Worcester.

Reynolds was one of the godfathers of the future Edward III when the prince was christened on 17 November 1312.

When Robert Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, died in May 1313 Edward II convinced Pope Clement V to appoint his favourite to the vacant archbishopric, and Reynolds was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral in January 1314 as the 51st Archbishop.

Although the private life of the new archbishop appears to have been the reverse of exemplary he attempted to carry out some very necessary reforms in his new official capacity; he also continued the struggle for precedence, which had been carried on for many years between the archbishops of Canterbury and of York. In this connection in 1317 he laid London under an interdict after William de Melton, the Archbishop of York, had passed through its streets with his cross borne erect before him.