In spite of the favour he had received from Edward II. he deserted him in
his troubles. His tomb remains in the south aisle of the choir.

#Simon Mepeham# (1328-1333) was elected by the monks and consecrated at
Avignon. He was opposed in his visitation by Grandisson, the powerful
Bishop of Exeter, who refused him admission to his cathedral by force. He
was unsupported by the pope, and is said to have died of a broken heart in
consequence. His tomb forms the screen of St. Anselm's Chapel.

#John Stratford# (1333-1348) was appointed by the pope at the request
of Edward III. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, and became
Archdeacon of Lincoln and Bishop of Winchester. He was made Lord Treasurer
by Edward II., to whose cause he remained faithful during the short-lived
triumph of Isabella and the desertion of the archbishop. Edward III. made
him Lord Chancellor, in which office he was succeeded by his own brother,
Robert. Stratford had endeavoured to dissuade the king from entering on
the French war, and the king, hard pressed for money, had the archbishop
arraigned for high treason. Stratford fled from Lambeth to Canterbury,
where he excommunicated his accusers. He subsequently returned to London
and sheltered himself, not under his ecclesiastical immunity, but under
his privileges of parliament as a member of the House of Peers, a
significant landmark in the history of the English Church. The quarrel
between the king and the archbishop was amicably settled.

Stratford held exalted opinions on the subject of clerical superiority,
and his arraignment, without the support of the pope, was a decisive blow
against the power of the Church. In his time, also, a layman was for the
first time appointed to the office of Chancellor, and Edward III. wrote a
letter to the pope protesting against the frequent papal nominations to
vacant English sees, which was followed up by the Statute of Provisors in
1350. Stratford died at Mayfield in Sussex, and was buried in his own
cathedral, where his monument still remains.

#Thomas Bradwardine# (1349) was consecrated after election by the monks of
Christ Church after the death of John Ufford, the king's nominee, who died
of the Black Death before consecration. Bradwardine had been the king's
confessor. He was educated at Merton College, and was one of the best
geometers of his time, besides being the author of an important tract
against Pelagianism.

#Simon Islip# (1349-1366), the k