Robert of Shrewsbury (died 1212) was an English cleric, administrator, and judge of the Angevin period. His career culminated in his appointment as Bishop of Bangor.
Origins
Robert seems to have had strong local connections with Shrewsbury and owned property in the town, so he may have originated in Shrewsbury or Shropshire, as his toponymic byname suggests. He had a brother called Richard, who was archdeacon of Shrewsbury, suggesting that they formed part of a local landowning family. In view of their later careers, both must have followed a course of study including literature and law, typically provided by a cathedral school.
Career
Royal official
Robert was a King's clerk and royal justice in the reign of Henry II. Some of the cases in which he was involved are known. For example, on 11 February 1189 Robert was one of the justiciars who helped settle a suit precipitated by an assize of novel disseisin concerning Lilleshall Abbey over disputed land at Hencott, north of Shrewsbury. A year or two later, he was a justiciar in a long-running case involving land at Longford.
Ecclesiastical appointments
Robert was made Dean of St Mary's College, Shrewsbury. The Victoria County History lists him as occurring as dean between 1186 and 1200, although he is unaccountably missing from the list of deans in Owen and Blakeway's account of religious houses in Shrewsbury. St Mary's was a royal free chapel and was to evolve into a Royal Peculiar, independent of the local Diocese of Lichfield. As such, it was essentially in the gift of the king and most of its medieval deans were royal clerks. Substantial additions were made to the church building during his incumbency and that of Henry of London, another royal clerk and justice who held the deanery in the early 13th century.
Robert was also a prebendary of the church at Wolverhampton, then dedicated to the Virgin Mary but now St Peter's Collegiate Church. This was another royal free chapel, where appointments were in the gift of the king. This royal favour seems to have persisted into the reign of Richard I.
The network of alliances
As both a justice and a cleric, as well as a local landed grandee, Robert was greatly in demand as a witness in property transactions, especially those involving transfers of land and privileges to the Church. These cluster around the interests of the powerful Fitz Alan family and their allies, who dominated Shropshire in the 12th century, and with whom Robert was evidently on good terms. About 1190 he witnessed an agreement by which William Fitz Alan and his heirs rented land at Henley and advowson of Tasley chapel, both parts of Morville, near Bridgnorth, from Shrewsbury Abbey. At about the same time Fitz Alan also gave the advowson of Oswestry church to Shrewsbury Abbey. Between 1204 and 1210 Robert was witness to a charter of Reiner, Bishop of St Asaph, confirming the grant.
Several times he helped in donations to Wombridge Priory, a small Augustinian house founded by the Hadley family, vassals and close friends of the Fitz Alans. Probably in 1186-7 Robert witnessed a charter by which Madoc, son of Gervase Goch, donated advowson of Sutton Maddock church to Wombridge Priory. Later he was witness to a charter by which William of Hadley gave land to the Priory. Probably in the 1190s he witnessed John de Cambrai gave a virgate and eight acres of land, as well as a meadow, at Wappenshall in his manor of Lee Cumbray (now Leegomery), north-west of Hadley. Around 1196 he and Richard, his brother, witnessed a deed by which Galiena, widow of Roger Musson, gave the Priory half a virgate of land in frankalmoin at Harrington in Sutton Maddock.
To this web of alliance with local and regional magnates, Robert seems to have added some influence with the most powerful of allies: Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who acted as Chief Justiciar, effectively regent for the absent King Richard I. The Pipe Roll for 1195 has an addendum showing accounts for the royal silver mine at Carreghofa, which was administered by Joseph Aaron, the archbishop's clerk. This shows that Robert had been appointed custos or guardian of the mine and paid the large sum of £16 14s. for his services. This appointment must have complemented one of his other known appointments of the 1190s - as warden of Shrewsbury mint. As he was literally making money, Robert must have prospered greatly in this period, with access to numerous emoluments and perquisites.