references to Langton are contained in the Cal. of Patent Rolls of Edward III.]
LANGTON, JOHN (fl. 1390), Carmelite, was, according to Bale, a native of the west of England. De Villiers, however, describes him as a Londoner. He studied at Oxford, and was a bachelor of theology (Fasc. Ziz. 358). He was present at the council of Stamford on 28 May 1392, when the lollard Henry Crump was tried, and drew up the account of the trial, which is printed in 'Fasciculi Zizaniorum,' pp. 343–59. He is also credited with 'Collectanea Dictorum.' Langton, owing to a confusion with John Langton [q. v.], bishop of Rochester, is wrongly said by De Villiers to have preached before a synod at London in 1411, and to have attended the council of Basle in 1434 (cf. Harpsfeld, Hist. Eccl. Angl. p. 619). The ascription to him of a treatise, 'De Rebus Anglicis,' is due to the same error.
[Bale's Heliades, Harleian MS. 3838, f. 72b; Leland's Comment. de Scriptt. p. 407; Pits, p. 1420; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 466; De Villier's Bibl. Carmel, ii. 25.]
LANGTON, ROBERT (d. 1524), divine and traveller, nephew of Thomas Langton [q. v.], bishop of Winchester, was born at Appleby in Westmoreland. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, of which his uncle was then president, and proceeded D.C.L. in 1501. He held the prebend of Welton Westhall in the church of Lincoln from 10 Oct. 1483 till 1517, and became prebendary of Fordington-with-Wridlington in the church of Salisbury in 1485. From 25 Jan. 1486 till 1514 he was archdeacon of Dorset. In 1487 he received, probably by way of exchange, the prebend of Charminster and Bere at Salisbury. On 24 April 1509 he was made treasurer of York Minster, holding office till 1514, and held the prebend of Weighton in York Minster from 2 June 1514 till 1524, and that of North Muskham at Southwell from 13 July 1514 till January 1516–17. Langton went at some time on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. He was a benefactor to Queen's College, Oxford, and built the outer hall in 1518. He died in London, June 1524, and was buried in the chapel of the Charterhouse. By his will he left 200l. to Queen's College where with to build a school-house at Appleby. Langton is said to have given an account of his wanderings in 'The Pilgrimage of Mr. Robert Langton, Clerk, to St. James of Compostell ...,' London, 1522, 4to, but no copy seems to be extant. A portrait of Langton is described in 'Notes and Queries,' 2nd ser. vi. 347.
[Wood's Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 7; Wood's Colleges and Halls, ed. Gutch, pp. 163–5; Hutchins's Dorset, i. xxviii; Testamenta Eboracensia (Surtees Soc.), pp. 297, 305; Le Neve's Fasti, ii. 236, 639, iii. 162, 224, 430; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.]
LANGTON, SIMON (d. 1248), archdeacon of Canterbury, was son of Henry de Langton, and brother, probably younger brother, of Stephen Langton [q. v.], archbishop of Canterbury. He first appears, with the title of 'master,' during the struggle between King John and Innocent III, when he shared his brother's exile, and was actively employed in negotiation in his behalf. On 12 March 1208 he had an interview with John for this purpose at Winchester, and in March 1209 he received a safe-conduct for three weeks, that he might go to England to confer on the same business with John's ministers. With his brother he returned from exile in 1218. Early next year he was at Rome, defending the archbishop against the accusations of Pandulf; by November he was home again, ready to be installed in the prebend of Strensall in Yorkshire; and in June 1215 his fellow-canons at York chose him for their primate, counting upon his 'learning and wisdom' to secure his confirmation at Rome as champion of their independence against the king and his nominee, Walter de Grey [q. v.], brother of the John de Grey whom Innocent had once set aside to make Simon's brother Stephen archbishop of Canterbury. Now, however, Stephen was in political disgrace at Rome, and Simon's election was therefore quashed by Innocent at the request of John. Thereupon Simon flung himself actively into the party of the barons against king and pope alike. He accepted the office of chancellor to Louis of France when that prince came to claim the English crown in 1216. His preaching encouraged the barons and the citizens of London to disregard the pope's excommunication of Louis's partisans; and Gualo, in consequence, specially mentioned him by name when publishing the excommunication on 29 May. As he refused to submit, he was excepted from the general absolution granted in 1217, and was again driven into exile. He seems to have been absolved next year, but the pope forbade him to return to England. In December 1224 his brother made peace for him with Henry III; at the close of 1225 he was of sufficient importance to be invoked by Henry's envoys as an intercessor at the French court in the negotiations about Falkes de Breauté; in May 1227 the pope, at Henry's request, gave him leave to go home. He was made archdeacon of Canterbury, and soon rose into
