Simon Langham

Simon Langham OSB (* 1315 in Langham, Rutland, † July 22, 1376 in Avignon ) was a Benedictine, Archbishop of Canterbury ( 1366-1368 ) and Lord Chancellor of England ( 1363-1367 ) and from 1368 cardinal.

Little is known about the first decades of his life. 1349 he is abbot of St Peter at Westminster, 1360-1363 Thesaurar of the Exchequer, in 1362 he was elected Bishop of Ely, a simultaneous election as Bishop of London, he refused. At the office of Archbishop of Canterbury, which he received in 1366, he resigned after his appointment as Cardinal Priest of San Sisto by Urban V. in 1368. 1373 he became Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina. A postulation as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1374 was rejected by the Pope because he did not want to dispense with the services of Simon at the Curia in Avignon.

First buried in a Carthusian monastery near Avignon, he was transferred three years later to Westminster, which he had considered with significant donations.