Walter de Cantilupe

Walter de Cantilupe
Bishop of Worcester
Elected	30 August 1236
Term ended	12 February 1266
Predecessor	William de Blois
Successor	Nicholas of Ely
Orders
Ordination	18 April 1237
Consecration	3 May 1237
Personal details
Died	12 February 1266
Denomination	Catholic

Walter de Cantilupe (died 1266) was a medieval Bishop of Worcester.

Cantilupe came from a family that had risen by devoted service to the crown. His father, William I de Cantilupe, and his elder brother William II de Cantilupe were named by Roger of Wendover among the evil counsellors of King John of England, apparently for no better reason than that they were consistently loyal to an unpopular master.

Cantilupe at first followed in his father's footsteps, entering the service of the Exchequer and acting as an itinerant Justice in the early years of Henry III.

But Cantilupe also took minor holy orders, and, in 1236, although not yet a deacon, received the see of Worcester. He was elected on 30 August 1236 and was consecrated on 3 May 1237. He was ordained a deacon on 4 April 1237 and a priest on 18 April 1237.

As bishop, Cantilupe identified himself with the party of ecclesiastical reform, which was then led by Edmund Rich and Robert Grosseteste. Like his leaders he was sorely divided between his theoretical belief in the papacy as a divine institution and his instinctive condemnation of the policy which Pope Gregory IX and Pope Innocent IV pursued in their dealings with the English church. At first a court favorite, Cantilupe came at length to the belief that the evils of the time arose from the unprincipled alliance of crown and papacy.

In 1240 Cantilupe conducted the significant Synod of Worcester, advancing many reforms for the church.

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