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 for his achievements in the liberal arts, both in England and in France, where he made the friendship of Thomas Becket, 'having him as a pupil whom he afterwards had as a patron.' Bale states that he was called 'Melundinensis,' from the place of his studies. This may mean either Melun or Meaux. By Becket's influence he was made archdeacon of Oxford towards the close of 1151. While holding this office he wrote a letter of consolation and advice to Gilbert Foliot, who, having been excommunicated by Becket, had written to him in very affectionate terms (, Materials, vi. 606–9). In 1155 he was the first occupant of the newly founded stall of Wellington in Hereford Cathedral. In 1174 the see of Hereford had been vacant seven years, since the death of William of Maledon in 1167, in consequence of Henry II's refusal to issue a license of election. Foliot was then appointed, and after some further delay was consecrated with three other bishops at Canterbury by the recently appointed Archbishop Richard, 6 Oct. 1174. In 1179 he was one of the four English bishops deputed to attend the Lateran council (, Chronicle, ii. 178;, Spicileg. xii. 650). He consecrated the abbey church of Wigmore, to which, on the same day, he is said to have presented various jewels (, Itin. viii. 78). He died 9 May 1186. His liberality was shown by his large gifts of lands, books, vases, and ornaments to his cathedral at Hereford, where a yearly commemoration was celebrated on the anniversary of his death. Bale attributes to him ‘a most lucid work,’ ‘De Sacramentis Antiquæ Legis,’ ‘Conciones Aliquot,’ and certain other unnamed works.

[Godwin, De Præsulibus, ii. 6; Bale's Scriptores Illustres, p. 216, ed. Basil, 1557; Leland's Itin. viii. 78; Britton's Hereford Cathedral.] 

FOLKES, MARTIN (1690–1754), antiquary and man of science, born in Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, on 29 Oct. 1690, was the eldest son of Martin Folkes, bencher of Gray's Inn, by his wife Dorothy, second daughter of Sir William Hovell, knt., of Hillington Hall, near Lynn, Norfolk. When a boy he was sent to the university of Saumur, and his tutor Cappel, son of Lewis Cappel, described him as ‘a choice youth of a penetrating genius and master of the beauties of the best Roman and Greek writers.’ Soon after February 1706–7 Folkes was sent to Clare Hall, Cambridge, and there made great progress in mathematics and other studies. He held the degrees of M.A., Cambridge (6 Oct. 1717), and D.C.L., Oxford (July 1746). On 29 July 1714, when only twenty-three, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1722–3 he was appointed vice-president of the society, and often presided in the absence of Sir Isaac Newton. On Newton's death he was a candidate with Sir Hans Sloane for the presidentship. Sloane was chosen, but Folkes became president (30 Nov. 1741) on Sloane's retirement. Under Folkes the meetings were literary rather than scientific. Stukeley describes them at that time as ‘a most elegant and agreeable entertainment for a contemplative person.’ Folkes contributed ten papers to the ‘Transactions’ of the society, his communications being chiefly on astronomy and metrology. He resigned the presidentship from ill-health on 30 Nov. 1752. As president he was a principal object of attack in Sir John Hill's ‘Review of the Works of the Royal Society’ (1751), and the book is ‘dedicated’ to him (, Calamities and Quarrels of Authors, 1860, pp. 364–6).

In 1733 Folkes went with his family to Italy and remained abroad about two years and a half. He went to Paris in May 1739. On 5 Sept. 1742 he was elected a member of the French Academy, in succession to Edmund Halley. Folkes was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 17 Feb. 1719–20. He was afterwards vice-president, and from 1749–50 till his death president of the society. His communications were on Roman antiquities and coins (, Lit. Anecd. ii. 581). He published at his own expense: 1. ‘A Table of English Gold Coins from the 18th year of King Edward III,’ with weights and values, London, 1736, 4to. 2. ‘A Table of English Silver Coins from the Norman Conquest to the Present Time,’ with weights, values, and remarks, 1745, 4to. The ‘Tables’ were much consulted by antiquaries. Folkes had more than forty plates engraved to illustrate his ‘Tables,’ and these, purchased after his death by the Society of Antiquaries, were utilised in the society's reprint of the ‘Tables’ published in 1763, 4to, 3 parts, and edited by J. Ward and Dr. A. Gifford. Folkes was an associate of the Egyptian Club and a member of the Spalding Society (instituted 1710, ib. vi. 13). He was a friend of Sir I. Newton and a patron of George Edwards, the naturalist. He gave some help to Theobald for his notes on Shakespeare. He was a man of extensive knowledge and is described as upright, modest, and affable. He contested Lynn as a whig in 1747. He died from a paralytic attack on 28 June 1754, and was buried in the chancel of Hillington Church, Norfolk. In 1792 a monument by Ashton, after Tyler, was erected to him in Westminster Abbey in the south aisle of the choir. He bequeathed to