Walter de Merton

Walter de Merton
Bishop of Rochester
Elected	July 1274
Term ended	27 October 1277
Predecessor	Lawrence of St Martin
Successor	John Bradfield
Other posts	prebendary of St. Paul's, London prebendary of Exeter Cathedral canon of Wells Cathedral
Orders
Consecration	21 October 1274
Personal details
Born	c. 1205 probably Merton
Died	27 October 1277
Buried	Rochester Cathedral
Denomination	Catholic

Walter de Merton (c. 1205 – 27 October 1277) was Bishop of Rochester and founder of Merton College, Oxford.

Walter was probably born at Merton in Surrey or educated there; hence the surname. He came of a land-owning family at Basingstoke; beyond that there is no definite information as to the date or place of birth. His mother was Christina Fitz-Oliver and his father William. By 1237 both his parents were dead, and Walter was a clerk in holy orders. In 1241 Walter already held a number of livings in various parts of the country; in 1256 he was an agent for Walter of Kirkham Bishop of Durham in a lawsuit; in 1259 prebendary of St. Paul's, London; and in 1262 prebendary of Exeter and canon of Wells Cathedral. Walter was also prothonotary of the chancery in 1258; and on 12 July 1261 Henry III made him chancellor, in place of Nicholas of Ely.

In 1261 Walter set aside two manors in Surrey for the priory at Merton, for the support of "scholars residing at the schools"; was the beginning of Merton College. In 1264 Walter drew up statutes for a "house of the scholars of Merton", at Malden in Surrey; ten years later these scholars were transferred to Oxford, and a permanent house established. Merton College, thus founded and endowed by Walter, is the earliest example of collegiate life at Oxford. Walter's statutes provided for a common corporate life under the rule of a warden, but as vows were to be taken and scholars entering a monastic order forfeited their scholarship, the college was really a place of training for the secular clergy.

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