William Lyndwood

William Lyndwood (c. 1375 – 21/22 October 1446) was an English bishop of St. David's, diplomat and canonist, most notable for the publication of the Provinciale.

Lyndwood was born in Linwood, Lincolnshire, one of seven children. His parents were John Lyndwood (died 1419), a prosperous wool merchant, and his wife Alice. There is a monumental brass to John Lyndwood in the local parish church in which an infant William is portrayed decked in the robes of a doctor of laws.

Lyndwood was educated at Gonville Hall, Cambridge though few details are known. He is thought to have become a fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge though later he moved to Oxford where he became DCL "probably rather by incorporation than constant education". He took Holy Orders and was ordained deacon in 1404 and priest in 1407.

Lyndwood had a distinguished ecclesiastical career. In 1408, Robert Hallum, Bishop of Salisbury appointed Lyndwood to his consistory court. Then, in 1414, Lyndwood was appointed "Official" of the Archbishop of Canterbury (i.e. his principal adviser and representative in matters of ecclesiastical law) in 1414, and Dean of the Arches in 1426, while holding at the same time several important benefices and prebends. In 1433 he was collated 1434 Archdeacon of Stow in the Diocese of Lincoln, and in 1442, after an earnest recommendation from King Henry VI, he was promoted by Pope Eugene IV to the vacant See of St. David's. During these years Lyndwood's attention was occupied by many other matters besides the study of canon law. He had been closely associated with Archbishop Henry Chichele in his proceedings against the Lollards. He had also acted several times as the chosen representative of the English clergy in their discussions with the Crown over subsidies, but more especially he had repeatedly been sent abroad on diplomatic missions, for example to Portugal, France and the Netherlands, besides acting as the King's Proctor at the Council of Basle in 1433 and taking a prominent part as negotiator in arranging political and commercial treaties.

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