Siècle, pp. 51, 63–4, 153–4; Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue of British History; Brit. Mus. Cat.; other authorities quoted.]
PETER Hibernicus, de Hibernia or de Isernia (fl. 1224), jurisconsult, was probably of Irish birth. He became a subject of the emperor Frederick II, who sent him in 1224 to teach law in the newly established university of Naples (Lib. iii. Ep. 11, of Petri de Vineis Epistolæ, ed. 1566). Peter de Hibernia taught Thomas de Hibernia, a learned Franciscan [see under Thomas], and Thomas Aquinas before 1243 was taught physical science at Naples by Master Peter de Hibernia (Acta Sanctorum, March 1, p. 660). In some manuscripts of the emperor Frederick's letter appointing the professor of law at Naples his initial appears as B or R, and his surname as de Isernia. It is probable that the jurisconsult is identical with a Master Peter de Isernia, to whom another letter in De Vineis's collection is addressed (Lib. iii. Ep. 10). The second letter is generally (Huillard-Bréholles, Hist. Diplom. Frederici Secundi, ii. 449) ascribed to the pen of Frederick II, and dated, like the first, June 1224. Ficker (Böhmer, Regesta Imperii V, No. 1537) is, however, of opinion that the second letter was written by Conrad IV in 1252, as the writer speaks not of founding but of restoring a university at Naples. The writer states that he has heard good reports of Peter's character, and remembers the faithful services rendered by Peter to his father. He invites Peter to give lectures in Naples, in return for a payment of a certain number of ounces of gold; the number varies in the manuscripts. Another letter in a Berlin manuscript of De Vineis's collection (Lib. iv. Ep. 8) is addressed to scholars, and laments the death of Master Peter de Hibernia, a grammarian. But De Vineis's printed edition of 1566 adds to the obscurity in which Peter's career is involved by substituting in this letter the name of Bernhard in one passage and Master G. in another for that of Peter. Peter de Hibernia, the tutor of Thomas Aquinas, was buried in the convent of Aquila, in the province of Abruzzo Molie (Wadding, Ann. Min. iv. 321, ad an. 1270). According to Tanner, Peter de Hibernia wrote theological works.
[Tanner's Bibliotheca; Tiraboschi's Storia della Letteratura Italiana, IV. i. 48, 125–6, ii. 286; Petri de Vineis Epistolæ, ed. 1566 and 1609.]
PETER des Roches (d. 1238), bishop of Winchester, a native of Poitou, served under Richard I in his wars as knight and clerk, and became one of his chamberlains, witnessing in that capacity a charter dated 30 June 1198 (MSS. Dom. Fonteneau, in municipal library of Poitiers, lxxii. 58; M. Lecointre-Dupont, Discours à la Société des Antiquaires de l'Ouest, p. 6). On 19 June 1199 he was acting as treasurer of the chapter of St. Hilary of Poitiers (Close Rolls, i. 1 b), and on 30 July of the same year received from King John, as prior of Loches, all the king's rights in the gifts of the prebends of that church. He continued in John's service as a clerk, accompanying him in his journeys abroad (see Close, Charter, and Patent Rolls). On 26 Dec. 1202 he was sent to arrange a truce with Philip Augustus, and, among other favours, received from John on the following 3 Jan. the deanery of St. Martin's of Angers (Patent Rolls, pp. 22, 22 b). The loss of Poitou and Anjou by John deprived Peter of these benefices. But in 1205 he received the lands of the Countess of Perche in England (Norman Rolls, p. 131), and the custody of the bishoprics of Chichester (1 April 1204) and Winchester (21 Sept.) during their vacancy, with the perpetual vicarship of Bamburgh. Before 5 Feb. 1205 he was elected to the see of Winchester (Close Rolls, i. 18 b). The election was disputed; but he and his rival, Richard, dean of Salisbury, went to Rome (‘Osney Annals’ in Ann. Monast. iv. 51), and Peter triumphed. He received consecration from Innocent III himself on Sunday, 25 Sept. (Annales de Wintonia, ii. 79). He brought back an ineffective papal mandate regulating the collection of Peter's pence, of which he was to be receiver-general for the kingdom (Annales de Waverleia, ii. 257). He at once applied the revenues of his see to the discharge of his debts, probably incurred in the purchase of the rich presents which he distributed at Rome (Rog. Wend. ii. 9).
On the death of Hubert Walter, on 12 July 1205, John's long struggle with Innocent III began. Peter throughout stood by the king, and though his lands, like those of the other bishops, were seized by way of retaliation for the papal interdict, John ordered them to be restored on 5 April 1208 (Rymer, Fœdera, Record ed. i. 100). On 23 March Peter received a charter confirming the liberties of the bishopric (Charter Rolls, p. 183). In 1209 he, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, earl of Essex [q. v.], and the Earl of Chester [see Blundevill, Ranulf] led an army into Wales, and in the first week of October took part in some abortive negotiations with Stephen Langton [q. v.] at Dover (Ann. Wav. ii. 263). Peter's avowedly secular ambition was attacked at the time in the satire of ‘Flacius Illyricus’ (Wright, Political Songs, Camden Soc., pp. 10, 11):
