Sewal de Bovil (died 1258) was a medieval Archbishop of York.
Life
Nothing is known of Bovil's origins or his parents, but he attended Oxford University at around the same time as Edmund of Abingdon, who became Bovil's good friend.Kingsford "Bovill, Sewal de" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography He first appears as a canon of York Minster in 1236, and was holding the prebend of Fenton by October 1240.Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Prebendaries: Fenton He was Archdeacon of York by January 1248,Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Archdeacons: York but had been named Dean of York by 21 September 1249.Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Deans He earned a doctor of theology title by 1244.
Bovil was archbishop for only two years between 1256 and his death in 1258. He was selected about 1 October 1255 and was consecrated on 23 July 1256,Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 282 at York by Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester. He received a papal dispensation to become archbishop because he was illegitimate on 11 March 1256.Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Archbishops Pope Alexander IV then provided Jordan, an Italian, to the now vacant deanery, but Bovil objected and attempted to keep Jordan out. Alexander IV then excommunicated the archbishop in 1257. After a compromise was reached whereby Jordan received a pension, Bovil was absolved. Godfrey Ludham was then promoted to the deanery. In July 1257 he was appointed to a commission to mediate between King Alexander III of Scotland and the Scottish nobles.
The archbishop died on 10 May 1258 and was buried in York Minster. Matthew Paris wrote that he was "a humble and holy man well skilled in law and other sciences."Quoted in Kingsford "Bovill, Sewal de" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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