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H Albans (Chron. Angl. ed. E. M. Thompson, 1874, p. 20;, Ypodigma Neustriæ, ed. H. T. Riley, 1876, p. 284), the king caused great scandal by writing to the pope in favour of his secretary, and when some of the cardinals objected ‘dictum Thomam fore levem et laicum,’ Clement VI replied, ‘Vere, si rex pro asino supplicasset, obtinuisset ad vota ista vice.’ Murimuth (p. 171) implies that the monks of Durham had the new bishop forced upon them, but no mention is anywhere made of their proposing another candidate. Hatfield was elected on 8 May (, p. 133, where the year is accidentally given as 1346;, iii. 290). The order for the restoration of the temporalities was given on the 24th (, Fœdera, Record ed., iii. pt. i. 40), and they were restored to him on 2 June (Registr. Palat. Dunelm. ed. Sir T. Duffus Hardy, iv. 364, 1878), his appointment having been confirmed a day earlier (, Reg. Sacr. Anglic. p. 54). He was consecrated on 10 July (not 7 Aug., as Murimuth says, p. 172), and enthroned on Christmas day (, p. 137).

Hatfield's relations with the court caused him to be often absent from his diocese. On 17 July 1345, before his consecration, the king when going to Flanders appointed him one of the councillors of his son Lionel, who was left as regent (, iii. pt. i. 50). In the autumn of the same year, when the pope wrote to Edward urging him against making war with France, he directed Hatfield at the same time to use his advocacy with the king (, p. 176). Doubtless he counted upon the support of so recently favoured a nominee. But the pope's statement of the case was too plainly dictated in the French interest, and his arguments were of no avail (ib. pp. 177–88). Hatfield accompanied Edward to France, 11 July 1346 (ib. p. 199;, p. 79), and after the battle of Crécy he performed the funeral service for the king of Bohemia, 27 Aug. (ib. p. 85). He then attended Edward on his march to Calais, where he was on 8 Sept. (, iii. pt. i. 90), and probably remained for some time longer. In July the prior of Durham sent him intelligence of the threatened Scottish invasion, and in October informed him of the battle between Durham and Bearpark (since known as that of Nevill's Cross) on 17 Oct. (Letters from Northern Registers, ccxli. ccxlii. pp. 385–9, where the letters are printed). On 10 Dec. the bishop was summoned with other northern lords to attend a council to take measures touching the war with Scotland (, iii. pt. i. 97), and between 1350 and 1357 he was placed at least six times upon commissions to treat for peace with that country and for the ransom of David Bruce. In 1355 Avesbury (p. 427) credits him with being instrumental in making a truce, but this notice probably refers to the negotiations concerning David's ransom in 1354 (, iii. pt. i. 285–91, 293).

Meanwhile Hatfield was frequently in the south of England, in attendance at parliament or at the court. On 18 March 1353–4 the admiral in the northern parts was ordered to provide three ships to carry the bishop's ‘victuals’ on his coming to parliament (ib. p. 275). On 22 Feb. 1354–5 he ‘received from the holy font’ the king's son Thomas at Woodstock (, p. 422), and in the following autumn he accompanied Edward into France, himself attended by a hundred men-at-arms and other forces (ib. p. 427). The surprise of Berwick in November called the king to the border, and on his return early in 1356, after his raid into Scotland, he left Hatfield with the lords Percy and Nevill in charge of the defence of the north-east frontier (ib. p. 456). The bishop took part in the proceedings of 16 Aug. 1356 (, iii. pt. i. 365–8), which led to the final release of the Scots king, 3–5 Oct. (ib. pp. 372–8). Three years later, 20 Aug. 1360, and again 25 June 1362, Hatfield was empowered with others to treat for a perpetual peace with Scotland (ib. pp. 506 f., pt. ii. 659). After David's death early in 1371 there was again a risk of disturbance from the side of Scotland, and on 26 Feb. 1372–3 Hatfield was commanded to stay at the border and to take military precautions (ib. pt. ii. 936). The same order is repeated 20 July 1377 (ib. iv. 11).

Not long after the accession of Richard II Hatfield's health showed signs of failing. In a letter of 15 Dec. 1379 or 1380 he entreated the monks of Durham to pray for his recovery (Hist. Dunelm. Script. tres, App. cxxviii. pp. cxlv f.), and as he grew weaker he became the more instant in almsgiving. He died at his manorhouse of Aldforde, near London (probably Old Ford, then in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex), on 8 May 1381, after a pontificate of just six-and-thirty years (, pp. 138 f. and App. cxxxii. p. cxlviii). His remains were brought to Durham, and were buried in the tomb which he had prepared beneath his own throne in the cathedral. But the funeral did not take place without an unpleasant dispute between the prior and the bishop's executors as to the former's perquisites (ib. pp. 141 f. and App. cxxxii, cxxxiii).

Hatfield is described by Chambre as a magnificent man and venerable to look upon, given to hospitality and large in his charities. To the monks of Durham he showed himself kindly and generous, and he was as strenuous