Walter de Coutances was a medieval Anglo-Norman Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of Rouen. He began his royal service in the government of Henry II, serving as a vice-chancellor. He also accumulated a number of ecclesiastical offices, becoming successively canon of Rouen Cathedral (pictured), treasurer of Rouen, and Archdeacon of Oxford. King Henry sent him on a number of diplomatic missions, and finally rewarded him with the Bishopric of Lincoln in 1183. He did not remain there long, for he was translated to the archbishopric of Rouen in late 1184. When Richard I, King Henry's son, became king in 1189, Coutances absolved Richard for his rebellion against his father and invested him as Duke of Normandy. He then accompanied Richard to Sicily as the king began the Third Crusade, but events in England prompted Richard to send the archbishop back to England to mediate between William Longchamp, the justiciar whom Richard had left in charge of the kingdom, and Prince John, Richard's younger brother. Coutances succeeded in securing a peace between Longchamp and John, but further actions by Longchamp led to the justiciar's expulsion from England. Coutances died in November 1207 and was buried in his cathedral.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_de_Coutances> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1491: Several Jews and conversos were executed in Toledo, Spain, for the alleged ritual murder of an infant, who was later revered as the Holy Child of La Guardia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Child_of_La_Guardia> 1920: Qantas, Australia's national airline, was founded as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Qantas> 1938: Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized the psychedelic drug LSD (3D representation of molecule pictured) at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann> 1973: U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline to transport oil from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Alaska. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System> 2002: The first case of the respiratory disease Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was recorded in Guangdong, China. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_(SARS)> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: kraal: 1. In Central and Southern Africa, a rural village of huts surrounded by a stockade. 2. An enclosure for livestock. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kraal> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Besides the conversation of women, it is dreams that keep the world in orbit. But dreams also form a diadem of moons, therefore the sky is that splendour inside a man's head, if his head is not, in fact, his own unique sky. --José Saramago <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
