Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Insula, Robert de
INSULA, ROBERT de, or ROBERT HALIELAND (d. 1283), bishop of Durham, was born at Holy Island, apparently of humble parentage. He became a monk at Durham. The Lanercost chronicler (p. 113) calls him Robertus de Coquina, which looks as if he was employed in some menial office. He rose to be prior of Finchale, and in May 1274 attended the council of Lyons as proctor for the prior of Durham. On 24 Sept. in the same year he was chosen bishop of Durham; his election was confirmed 31 Oct., the temporalities were restored 11 Nov., and on 9 Dec. he was consecrated at York. In 1276 he issued some ‘Constitutiones Synodales,’ relating to tithes, which are printed in Wilkins's ‘Concilia’ (ii. 28–30). Next year he was engaged in a quarrel with the king of Scotland as to some border forays, and when Edward issued a commission to treat with the Scots, Bishop Robert attended at Tweedmouth to substantiate his claim, but nothing came of it (Fœdera, ii. 84–6). In 1280 he and his chapter refused to admit the visitation of William Wickwaine, archbishop of York, grounding their refusal on a statement that the archbishop was bound to visit his own chapter first, and when the archbishop came to Durham on 24 June they shut the gates of the city against him. The archbishop thereupon excommunicated them, and laid the diocese under interdict. Bishop Robert paid a visit to Rome during the year to lay the matter before the pope, but the dispute was still unsettled at his death; some letters relating to the quarrel are preserved (see Raine, Letters from Northern Registers, pp. 65–6, and Peckham, Reg. i. 383, ii. 494, both in Rolls Ser.; see also Hemingburgh, ii. 7, 219, and Graystanes, c. xvii.) Robert de Insula died at Middleham, Yorkshire, 7 June 1283, and was buried in the chapter-house at Durham. He is praised as a defender and enlarger of the liberties of his church (Planctus in laudem Roberti Episcopi, ap. Surtees Society, xxxi. 51–3). Three charters granted by him to Finchale are printed, with engravings of his seal, in ‘The Priory of Finchale’ (pp. 110, 148, 183, Surtees Soc.). He left various bequests to the convent of Durham (Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. xci), and is said to have been a benefactor of the university of Cambridge.
[Authorities quoted; Annales Monastici (Rolls Ser.); Graystanes Chronicle in Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres (Surtees Soc.); Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. 743–5; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 429; Surtees's Hist. Durham, i. xxx–i.]