IN EDWARD II'S SERVICE 1307–1321

It was in December 1307, less than six months after Edward II's accession, that Adam Orleton, described as the king's chosen clerk skilled in civil and canon law, was despatched to Pope Clement V to promote the canonisation of Bishop Thomas de Cantilupe. The mission marked the beginning of a highly successful diplomatic career.

As the young monarch pointed out in his letters to pope and cardinals, Cantilupe's sanctification had been the subject of representations by his late father, of whose council the bishop had been a member, and the lengthy process of assessing the candidate's credentials was far advanced. The papal commissioners, William Durandus, bishop of Mende, Ralph Baldock, bishop of London, and William Testa, archdeacon of Aran, had been hard at work examining witnesses and pursuing other enquiries. They spent the summer and autumn months of 1307 at Hereford; indeed they did not complete their investigations in the city until mid-November, at which point they returned to London and despatched a letter to Clement V in which Orleton and Thomas de Guines are named as the Hereford chapter's proctors. Thus Orleton went to the Curia in a double capacity. Quite when he returned is unknown, though the king in a letter of 15 April 1308, reiterating his wishes with respect to Cantilupe, implies that the envoy was still abroad.