Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Peter (d.1085)

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1164575Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 45 — Peter (d.1085)1896Alice Margaret Cooke

PETER (d. 1085), bishop of Lichfield, was chaplain of William I, and custodian of the see of Lincoln in 1066 (Chron. Monast. de Abingdon, i. 492, Rolls Ser.). He was consecrated by Lanfranc at Gloucester, probably in 1072. In 1075, at a synod held by Lanfranc in London, a decree was passed for the removal of certain bishoprics to more populous places. In accordance with this decree Peter removed the see of Lichfield to Chester. There he made the church of St. John's his cathedral church, instituting a dean and canons, for whose maintenance he provided. The see was situated at Chester only until 1106, but some of the canonries inaugurated by Peter remained there until 1541, when the modern see of Chester was created. In 1076 Peter was sent by Lanfranc to assist the archbishop of York in certain consecrations (AnglgSaxon Chron. i. 387, Rolls Ser.) In 1085 he died, and was buried at Chester, being the only bishop of the earlier foundation who was buried there.

[Chron. Monast. de Abingdon, i. 492 (Rolls Ser.); Ann. Monast. i. 185 (Rolls Ser.); Wharton's Anglia Sacra, i. 433, 445, 457; Le Neve's Fasti; Gervase of Canterbury's Actus Pont. ii. 366; Florence of Worcester in Petrie's Monumenta, p. 624 a; William of Malmesbury, pp. 68, 308–9; Higden's Polychron. vii. 292; Stubbs's Regist. Sacr. Angl. p. 22; Freeman's Norm. Conq. iv. 417 seq.]

A. M. C.-e.