dge. He had been elected in
defiance of the king's recommendation, and the king tried to annul his
election; but he proceeded to Rome, and was actually consecrated there
by the pope. It is in connection with his election that we learn that
the custom of the monks was to depute the election of a bishop to a
committee of seven chosen from among themselves. Bishop Hugh died at
Doddington in 1286.

The next bishop, #John Kirkby# (1286-1290), although at the time of
his appointment Dean of Wimborne, Archdeacon of York, and Canon both of
Wells and York, was only in deacon's orders. He was accordingly ordained
priest one day and consecrated bishop the next. Three years previously
he had been elected to the See of Rochester, but had declined it. He had
also been Chancellor and Treasurer of England. He gave to his successors
a house in Holborn, which formed the nucleus of the grand palace
afterwards erected, adjacent property being subsequently acquired. He
died in 1290.

His successor, #William De Louth# (1290-1298) was not even in holy
orders at all when elected; yet he held prebends at S. Paul's, York, and
Lincoln, the Archdeaconry of Durham, and the Deanery of S.
Martin's-le-Grand. He is the only Bishop of Ely who was consecrated at
Ely (it was in S. Mary's Church, not the cathedral), a provincial
council of bishops happening to meet there at the time.

#Ralph Walpole# (1299-1302), Bishop of Norwich, was, on the death of
Bishop Louth in 1298, translated to Ely; the prior, John Salmon, who had
been elected by the monks, being made instead Bishop of Norwich. Walpole
had been formerly Archdeacon of Ely. He revised the statutes of the
monastery during the short time that he held the see, which was less
than three years.

The next bishop, #Robert Orford# (1302-1310), like his predecessor,
Hugh Belsham, was consecrated at Rome, though not, as he had been, by
the pope himself. The Archbishop of Canterbury had refused his consent
to the appointment on the ground that the elect was illiterate, but the
pope overruled the objection. He died at Downham in 1310.

A monk of the house, #John Keeton# (1310-1316), succeeded. King
Edward II. visited Ely in his time, and while there settled the
controversy between Ely and S. Albans as to the true place where the
body of the proto-martyr of England was deposited. The remains of S.
Alban had been carried off to Denmark by the Danes, after plundering the
abbey raised to his honour, and reco