Richard Mitford

Who was Richard Mitford?

Richard Mitford was an English bishop of Chichester from 17 November 1389, and consecrated on 10 April 1390 and then bishop of Salisbury. He was translated to the see of Salisbury on 25 October 1395.

The earliest record of him is "Richard Medeford of Hakebourne, clerk" in 1349. The cartulary of Cirencester Abbey records the Metfords of Hakebourne as a leading freeman tenant family of the village. His name appears as "Metford" in his own household accounts and as "Medford" in the Register of John Chandler, who was Dean of Salisbury Cathedral during much of Mitford's episcopacy. Mitford, as revealed by bequests in his own and his brother Walter's wills, had three brothers and four sisters. He spent much of his life at the royal court, starting probably as a chorister in the Chapel Royal and continuing as a clerk of the household under Edward III. His training during his time as a Fellow at Kings Hall, Cambridge from 1352-1374 prepared him for service in the royal bureaucracy, where he eventually rose to become Secretary of the King's Chamber to Richard II. He was a Canon of Windsor from 1375 - 1390.