Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/March, William
MARCH, DE LA MARCHE, or DE MARCHIA, WILLIAM (d. 1302), treasurer, and bishop of Bath and Wells, was a clerk of the chancery in the reign of Edward I, apparently of humble origin, and a follower of Bishop Robert Burnell [q. v.] In October 1289 he was put on a commission, of which Burnell was the head, to inquire into the complaints brought against the royal officials during the king's long absence abroad (Fœdera, i. 715; cf. Ann. Land, in Stubb's Chron. of Edward I and Edward II, i. 98). About 1285 he became clerk of the king's wardrobe (Madox, Exchequer, p. 750, ed. 1711), in which capacity he received on 24 Feb. 1290, and again after the death of Bishop Burnell, the temporary custody of the great seal. There is, however, no reason for putting him on the list of lord keepers, as he simply took charge of the seal when it was in the wardrobe, its customary place of deposit (Foss, Judges of England, iii. 127 ; Biographia Juridica, p. 432 ; Cat. Rot. Pat. pp. 54 and 55). About 1290 he was rewarded for his services to the crown by a grant of a messuage in the Old Bailey in London (Cal. Hot. Cart. p. 120). On 6 April of the same year he was made treasurer, in succession to John Kirkby [q. v.], bishop of Ely, who died on 26 March (Madox, Hist. of Exchequer, p. 571 ; Dunstaple Annals in Ann. Monastics, iii. 358). During the absence of king and chancellor in the north, at the time of the great suit of the Scots succession, William acquired a prominent position among the officials remaining in London.
William received various ecclesiastical preferments, important among which was a canonry at Wells. On 25 Oct. 1292 the death of Burnell left vacant the bishopric of Bath and Wells. There were the usual difficulties as to obtaining an agreement between the two electing bodies, the secular chapter of Wells and the monastic chapter of Bath. But at last the monks of Bath joined with a minority of the canons of Wells, who had gone down to the election intent on procuring the appointment of William of March. He was accordingly elected on 30 Jan. 1293. When the announcement of the election was made to the people in Bath Abbey, a countryman invoked in English blessings on the new bishop (Prynne, Records, iii. 567-9; Le Neve, Fasti Eccl. Angl. i. 135, ed. Hardy). The king gave his consent on 1 March, but the vacancy of the see of Canterbury, caused by the death of Peckham, delayed William's consecration until 17 May 1293, when he was consecrated at Canterbury by the bishops of London, Rochester, Ely, and Dublin (cf. Osney Annals in Ann. Monastici, iv. 334 ; Flores Hist. iii. 87 ; Stubbs, Reg. Sacr. Angl. p. 48). The occasion was made memorable by an unseemly fray that broke out between the servants of the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishop of Ely, as they were returning home. The archbishop's tailor was slain by one of the bishop's men (Prynne, Records, iii. 567-9.)
William retained the treasurership with his bishopric, but his excessive sternness rendered him unpopular (Dunstaple Annals, p. 399), and in 1295 he became involved in the odium which Edward's violent financial expedients excited at that period. When Archbishop Winchelsea complained to Edward of his sacrilege in seizing one half of the treasure of the churches, the king answered that he had not given the order, but that the treasurer had done it of his own motion (Ann. Edwardi I in Rishanger, p. 473 ; cf. Flores Historiarum, iii. 274). Thereupon Edward removed William from the treasury. The displaced minister paid large sums to win back the royal favour, but does not seem to have had much success (Dunstaple Annals, p. 400). He is described during his ministerial career as a man of foresight, discretion, and circumspection (Osney Annals, p. 324).
Thus removed from secular life, William was able to devote the rest of his life to the hitherto neglected affairs of his diocese. He took no great part in public affairs, and showed such liberality in almsgiving and general zeal for good works, that he obtained great popular veneration. He obtained from the king the grant of two fairs for the lordship of Bath. He built the magnificent chapter-house of Wells Cathedral, with the staircase leading to it works that well mark the transition of the 'Early English' to the 'Decorated' style of architecture (Proceedings of the Somerset Archœological Society, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 74). He died on 11 June 1302, and was buried in his cathedral. His tomb, with his effigy upon it, lies against the south wall of the south transept, between the altar of St. Martin and the door leading to the cloister. He seems to have left behind him no near kinsfolk, for the jury of the post-mortem inquest returned that they were ignorant as to who was his next heir (Calendarium Genealogicum, p. 623). It was believed that many miracles, especially wonders of healing, were worked at his tomb (Anglia Sacra, i. 567 ; Fœdera, ii. 757). The result was that a popular cry arose for his canonisation. In 1324 and 1325 the canons of Wells sent proctors to the pope to urge upon him the bishop's claims to sanctity. In the latter year the whole English episcopate wrote to Avignon with the same object. On 20 Feb. 1328 application was made to the same effect in the name of Edward III (ib. ii. 757). But nothing came of these requests, and the miracles soon ceased.
[Annals of Dunstaple, Osney, and Worcester, in Luard's Annales Monastici, vols. iii. and iv.; Stubbs's Chronicles of Edward I and Edward II; Rishanger; Flores Historiarum (all the above in Rolls Series); Prynne's Records, vol. iii.; Canonicus Wellensis in Anglia Sacra, i. 567, with Wharton's notes; Rymer's Fœdera, vols. i. and ii. (Record edition); Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Bath and Wells, pp. 150-4; Foss's Judges, iii. 127,and Biographia Juridica, p. 432; Madox's Hist, of the Exchequer; Le Neve's Fasti, i. 135, ed. Hardy.]