The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Benedict XI (1303-1304)
Consistory of February 19, 1304 (II)


(3) 1. WINTERBURN, O.P., Walter (ca. 1225-1305)

Birth. Ca. 1225, Salisbury, England. His first name is also listed as Gautier; as Gualtero; as Gualterius; as Gualtiero; as Godwino; and as Valtero; and his last name as Winterbourne; and as Winktemburn.

Education. Entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). Obtained a doctorate in theology in Paris or Oxford.

Priesthood. Ordained (no further information found). Provincial of his order in England from 1290 until 1296. Familiar, confessor and spiritual director of King Edward I of England from 1298. He accompanied the king of England in his Scottish campaign in 1300 to overthrow King Bruce and obtain the crown of that kingdom.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest of S. Sabina in the consistory of February 19, 1304; the news of the promotion reached the new cardinal while he was in the Scottish campaign; from St. Andrews, on April 4, the king wrote the pope thanking him for the elevation of his confessor but told the pontiff that he could spare his services at the court; at the death of the pope on July 7, 1304, the monarch allowed the new cardinal to go to Italy to participate in the conclave; he entered the papal curia in Rome on November 29, 1304. Participated in the conclave of 1304-1305, which elected Pope Clement V. He was sent to France, with Cardinal Niccolò Alberti, O.P., on a mission to examine the doctrine of Piergiovanni Olivi, O.F.M., who had caused great unrest in his order; and went to participate in the coronation of the pope in Lyon; he died in Genoa while on route to France. He was a poet and author of numerous works on Scholastic theology. His epitaph noted that his hours of prayer never shortened for all his duties as friar, scholar and cardinal.

Death. September 24, 1305, Genoa. Buried in the church of the Dominicans in Genoa; later, his remains were transferred to London and buried in Blackfriars.

Bibliography. Baxter, Dudley. England's cardinals. With an appendix showing the reception of the sacred pallium by the archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster. London : Burns & Oates ; New York : Benzinger, 1903, p. 21-22; Bellenger, Dominc Aidan and Stella Fletcher. Princes of the church. A history of the English cardinals. Phoenix Mill, Gloucestershire : Sutton Publishing Ltd., 2001, p. 18-19; Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, II, 74-75; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 354; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIVè siècle jusqu'au Grand Schisme". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1930. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1930, p. 138-139; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen I (1198-1431). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1913; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 13 and 46; Heseltine, George Coulehan. The English cardinals. With some account of those of other English-speaking countries. London : Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1931, p. 40-41; Isaacson, Charles S. The story of the English cardinals. London : Elliot Stock, 1907, p. 52-54; Quinlan, John. Our English cardinals, including the English pope. Alcester ; Dublin : C. Goodliffe Neale, 1972, p. 23; Schofield, Nicholas ; Skinner, Gerard. The English cardinals. Oxford, UK : Family Publications, 2007, p. 40.

Webgraphy. Biography by Charles Callan, in English, The Catholic Encyclopedia; his arms, stained glass window, Blackfriars, Oxford, England, flickr; his arms, engraving and portrait, Araldica Vaticana.

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