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 turned his back on England to join the crusade of the emperor Frederick II. He was absent from England until 1231; but in the meantime enhanced his reputation both as a soldier and diplomatist. After the fall of De Burgh he kept in the background, but offices and honours were heaped on his dependants, especially on his nephew, Peter des Rievaulx, and other Poitevins. This foreign party triumphed over the revolt which was headed by Richard Marshal in 1233. But the primate, Edmund Rich, voiced the general feeling when he denounced Peter as a mischief maker, and demanded that he should be dismissed from court. The king complied, and threatened the bishop with charges of malversation. Peter was however permitted to leave the country with a pardon (1235); he conciliated Gregory IX. by rendering efficient aid in a war with the citizens of Rome (1235); and in the next year returned without molestation to his see. He was invited to go as the king’s envoy to the court of Frederick II., but refused apparently on the score of ill health. His public reconciliation with De Burgh (1236), effected through the mediation of the papal legate, provided a dramatic close to their long rivalry, but had no political significance, since both were now living in retirement. Peter died in 1238, and was buried at Winchester. He was undoubtedly a man of a winning personality, a good diplomat and financier, a statesman whose unpopularity was due in some measure to his freedom from the insularity of the Englishmen, against whom he matched himself. But his name is associated with a worthless clique of favourites, and with the first steps which were taken by Henry III. to establish a feeble and corrupt autocracy.

PETER LOMBARD (c. 1100–c. 1160), bishop of Paris, better known as Magister sententiarum, the son of obscure parents, was born about the beginning of the 12th century, at Novara (then reckoned as belonging to Lombardy). After receiving his education at Bologna, he removed to France, bearing a recommendation to Bernard of Clairvaux, who first placed him under Lotolf at Reims, and afterwards sent him to Paris with letters to Gilduin, the abbot of St Victor. He soon became known as a teacher, and obtained a theological chair in the cathedral school. His famous textbook, the Sententiae, was written between 1145 and 1150. On the 29th of June 1159 he became bishop of Paris. The accounts of his bishopric are satisfactory. There is a charge that he was guilty of simony, having received his office through the favour of Philip, brother of Louis VII., his former pupil. The date of his death is uncertain. According to one account he died on the 20th of July 1160, and as Maurice de Sully became bishop that year the statement seems probable. Yet there is evidence for a later date, and he may have been set aside for simony.

 PETER OF AIGUEBLANCHE (d. 1268), bishop of Hereford, belonged to a noble family of Savoy and came to England in 1236 with his master, William of Savoy, bishop of Valence, being in attendance on Eleanor of Provence, the bride of Henry III. A year or two later he is found residing permanently in England as a member of the king’s court, before 1239 he was archdeacon of Salop, and in 1240 he was chosen bishop of Hereford. In 1255 Peter acted as Henry’s principal agent in the matter of accepting the kingdom of Sicily from Pope Alexander IV. for his son Edmund, and his rapacious and dishonest methods of raising money for this foolish enterprise added not a little to the unpopularity which surrounded the king and his foreign favourites. When civil war broke out between Henry and his barons the bishop remained loyal to his master, and whilst residing, almost for the first time, at Hereford he was taken prisoner in May 1263. He was, however, released when the king and his enemies came to terms, and after a stay in France he retired to Savoy, where he died on the 27th of November 1268.

 PETER OF BLOIS [] (c. 1135–c. 1205), French writer, the son of noble Breton parents, was born at Blois. He studied jurisprudence at Bologna and theology in Paris, and in 1167 he went to Sicily, where he became tutor to the young king William II., and keeper of the royal seal (sigilarius). But he made many enemies and soon asked permission to leave the country; his request was granted and about 1170 he returned to France. After spending some time teaching in Paris and serving Rotrou de Perche, archbishop of Rouen, as secretary, Peter entered the employ of Henry II. of England about 1173. He quickly became archdeacon of Bath and soon afterwards chancellor, or secretary, to Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, and to Richard’s successor, Baldwin, being sent on two occasions to Italy to plead the cause of these prelates before the pope. After the death of Henry II. in 1189, he was for a time secretary to his widow, Eleanor, in Normandy; he obtained the posts of dean of Wolverhampton and archdeacon of London, but he appears to have been very discontented in his later years. He died some time after March 1204.

 PETER OF COURTENAY (d. 1219), emperor of Romania (or Constantinople), was a son of Peter of Courtenay (d. 1183), and a grandson of the French king, Louis VI. Having, by a first marriage, obtained the counties of Nevers and Auxerre, he took