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 ii. 405), probably at Oxford. In 1265 St. Thomas de Cantelupe [q. v.], as a strong partisan of the baronial party, became chancellor of England, and then, or a little earlier, Swinfield entered into his service. For the remaining eighteen years of Cantelupe's life Swinfield was his chaplain, secretary, agent, friend, and constant companion. In 1277 Cantelupe, then bishop of Hereford, presented him to a prebend of Hereford, and in May 1279 he was inducted by proxy to another stall in the same cathedral. Again, in 1280, on the expected deprivation of James of Aigueblanche [see ], of the archdeaconry of Shrewsbury, Cantelupe collated Richard to the post in his absence, with the proviso ‘if he can accept it.’ Finally both deprivation and appointment were cancelled. Swinfield had, however, already other preferment. Before 1280 he was chancellor of Lincoln, and in 1281 and 1282 he appears as prebendary of St. Pancras in St. Paul's Cathedral and archdeacon of London (, ''Repert. Eccles. Lond''. i. 59, 647;, ''Fasti Eccl. Angl''. ed. Hardy, ii. 320, 423). Despite these occupations elsewhere, Swinfield remained faithful to his ancient master. After Cantelupe's excommunication, Swinfield withdrew with him to Normandy, both returning to England in 1281. In 1282 Swinfield accompanied Cantelupe on his fatal journey to Italy. He is described by Cantelupe's biographer as ‘the chief manager of his affairs, his secretary, first in authority above the rest, and a prelate of great parts and virtuous conversation’ (Acta Sanctorum, October, tom. i.). He was present when Cantelupe died at Monte Fiascone on 25 Aug. 1282, and his pious care preserved the bishop's heart and bones, which he brought back with him to England. He deposited the heart with Edmund of Cornwall's college of canons at Ashridge, while he buried the bones at Hereford. On 14 May 1283 Swinfield and William de Montfort (afterwards dean of St. Paul's) took out the administration of Cantelupe's estate as executors (, Letters, iii. 1032).

Before this, on 1 Dec. 1282, the canons of Hereford had chosen Swinfield as their new bishop, and on 31 Dec. his election was confirmed by Archbishop Peckham (ib. ii. 498). He remained in charge of the diocese for thirty-four years.

Swinfield was a stay-at-home prelate who made his weak health an excuse for non-attendance at parliaments and councils, both ecclesiastical and lay. He was, however, an excellent bishop, administering both the temporal and spiritual concerns of his rude border diocese with exemplary zeal, tact, and success. He ever remained faithful to Cantelupe's memory. On 6 April 1287 he had the satisfaction of witnessing the translation of Thomas's bones to a more honourable resting-place in the north-west transept of his cathedral, which had perhaps been built by him for their reception. Moreover he had, as Cantelupe's chief executor, to bear the full burden of the wearisome lawsuit brought by Peter de Langon against Cantelupe for reinstatement in his Hereford prebend and damages for his ejectment. Though personally innocent of any share in Langon's wrong, he was made by Nicholas IV a chief party to the suit, and it was not until July 1290 that a decision was given in Langon's favour. Before this Swinfield wrote in April 1290 a strong appeal to Nicholas IV for Cantelupe's canonisation, reciting the miracles worked by his relics (, App. No. xxiv. 1). In 1305 Edward I joined with Swinfield in urging the canonisation on Clement V, and Swinfield opened his purse freely to defray the heavy expenses involved in the application. In 1307 Clement appointed a commission to inquire into Cantelupe's claims, putting on it Ralph Baldock, bishop of London, William Durand, bishop of Mende, and Swinfield himself. On 22 Feb. the bishop of Mende arrived in London, and was entertained at the bishop of Hereford's house (‘Ann. Londin.’ p. 150, in Chron. Edward I and Edward II, vol. i.) Nothing, however, came to Swinfield save fresh worry and expense, and he was three years dead before the canonisation of his hero had been effected.

Swinfield never shirked the burden involved in taking up the many quarrels and claims in which the hot-headed Cantelupe had involved the diocese. But, though firm in upholding the rights of his church, Swinfield's peacemaking and conciliatory temper gradually overcame the difficulties that had crushed Cantelupe. Despite his fidelity to his predecessor's memory, he kept on good terms with Cantelupe's enemy Peckham (cf., Letters, ii. 499). He interested himself in carrying out the archbishop's schemes of reformation (ib. ii. 500, 507). In later letters (ib. ii. 534, 535) Peckham urged the bishop to follow out his schemes even against the king's wishes. In 1286 Swinfield joined with Peckham in condemning certain heretics (ib. iii. 921). Subsequently he joined with Winchelsey in resisting Edward I's extortions. In 1296 he was the spokesman of a deputation representing the clergy which appeared before Edward at Castleacre. Swinfield's speech is described