Alexander, the third dean of Wells, c. 1189-1213.
We ha ve said that it is reasonable to suppose that Master Alexander, the canon who held the prebend of Hengstridge, became subdean in 1187-8, and succeeded Richard as dean in 1189 or 1190. The earliest clear evidence of his attesting as dean is in a charter of Bishop Reginald's which is also attested by Savary archdeacon of Northampton. This charter must have been issued before Savary left England to go to K. Richard at Messina, where he seems to be in the first months of 1191: from Messina he went to Rome, where he was consecrated as Bishop Reginald's successor in the see of Wells in 1192. It is thus practically certain that Alexander was dean in 1190: and the fact that we can still point to twenty-three charters which are attested by him as dean under Bishop Reginald, before Dec. 1191, makes it not unlikely that his accession should be dated in 1189.
When did he cease to be dean? The last dated document which he attests is the ordinance made by Bishop Jocelin at Wells on 3 June 1209, by which the dean obtained the church of Wedmore and the subdean received in exchange the church of Wookey.[1] The country had then been under interdict some fourteen months, and before the end of the year 1209 Bishop Jocelin, who had remained at the king's side till his personal excommunication, was in exile in France. It is almost certainly during this period of exile that Dean Alexander died. Bishop Jocelin returned in Jufy 1213, and at the Michaelmas chapter of that year, at which several acts of importance were passed, Alexander's place as dean is found to be filled by Leonius.
It has been suggested that Dean Alexander was, like Bishop Reginald and Bishop Savary, a member of the Bohun family. Some plausibility was given to this suggestion by the fact that a brother of Engelger de Bohun was called Alexander: but as he attests a charter of their father, Richard de Meri (c. 1105),[2] we can only say that the name Alexander occurs in the family. The ground of the theory would appear to have been that on two occasions we have mention of Roger, nephew of the dean of Wells;[3] and that about the same time, we find a Roger de Bohun.[4] But the former is styled ' Master Roger ', and is almost certainly to be identified with Master Roger de Sandford, a canon of this period.[5]
