William Longchamp: A Hated Royal Stand-In

He was King Richard I’s deputy for a short time during the late 12th century

William Longchamp (sometimes given as “de Longchamp”) was someone who ruled England for a time but of whom most people have never heard.

He was one of the most vilified public figures of the Middle Ages. Not content to demolish his policies and motives, his enemies portrayed him as a physically grotesque, ugly, misshapen, dwarfish, leering, pot-bellied pederast. Whether or not Longchamp resembled a gargoyle or could not, as some alleged, be trusted with the sons of the nobility, his chief failings were political tactlessness and personal arrogance which, in the eyes of his employer King Richard, were, initially at least, outweighed by his effectiveness in conducting royal business.

It is not known when he was born, but the place was somewhere in Normandy. A clerk and expert in civil law, he graduated from Henry II’s chancery to the service of the future Richard I, rising to be his chancellor before 1189. After Richard’s accession, Longchamp, now the royal chancellor, was selected as the king’s chief representative in England, being appointed joint justiciar and bishop of Ely, the traditional civil servant’s see. The following year Longchamp ousted his colleague, Hugh of Le Puiset, bishop of…