Roger Walden was at one time Rector of St Helier and went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury. A recent history suggests that his role in the Channel Islands was more administrative than clerical and that he served on commissions and was a lieutentant to Warden of the Isles Hugh Calvilegh.
Background
He is said to have been of humble birth, the son of a butcher at Saffron Walden in Essex (Annales, p. 417; Usk, p. 37). But the statement comes from sources not free from prejudice, and cannot perhaps be entirely trusted. He had a brother John described as an esquire "of St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, " who, when he made his will in 1417, was possessed of considerable property in Essex (Wylie, iii. 127).
Education
Nothing is known of Walden's education and first advance in life.
Career
He was Rector of St Helier from 1371 to 1378. He then held livings in Yorkshire and in Leicestershire before he became archdeacon of Winchester in 1387. His days, however, were by no means fully occupied with his ecclesiastical duties, and in 1387 also he was appointed treasurer of Calais, holding about the same time other positions in this neighbourhood.
His days, however, were by no means fully occupied with his ecclesiastical duties, and in 1387 also he was appointed treasurer of Calais, holding about the same time other positions in this neighbourhood. In 1395, after having served Richard II as secretary, Walden became treasurer of England, adding the deanery of York to his numerous other benefices.
In 1397 he was chosen archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Thomas Arundel, who had just been banished from the realm, but he lost this position when the new king Henry IV restored Arundel in 1399.
He died at Much Hadham in Hertfordshire on the 6th of January 1406. An Historia Mundi, the manuscript of which is in the British Museum, is sometimes regarded as the work of Walden; but this was doubtless written by an earlier writer.
Views
Quotations:
After a short imprisonment he passed into retirement, being, as he himself says, " in the dust and under feet of men. "