Henry Burghersh, bishop of Lincoln from 1320 until 1340, has not been treated kindly by historians. The largely hostile view expressed by early fourteenth-century chroniclers gives us a portrait of a man promoted to the office of bishop solely as a result of family influence and royal intervention, but who subsequently betrayed the monarch who had favoured him, lending support to the rebellion of Thomas of Lancaster in 1322 and plotting with Queen Isabella to overthrow her husband. This edition of Burghersh's episcopal register reveals a different character. The bishop emerges as a conscientious diocesan and an administrator of considerable ability, while the evidence of his itinerary throws new light on the question of his involvement in the invasion of Isabella and Mortimer in 1326. The volume includes the first part of Burghersh's institution register, comprising admissions of clergy to parochial benefices, appointments of heads of religious houses, and ordinations of vicarages and chantrys, in the archdeaconries of Lincoln, Stow and Leicester.

Dr NICHOLAS BENNETT is Vice-Chancellor and Librarian of Lincoln Cathedral.