Longchamps, William de (died 1197)

Norman administrator and cleric. He became bishop of Ely and Chancellor of England during the reign of Richard I.

He was a Norman of humble origin, whom Richard I made bishop of Ely in 1189. Afterwards, when the king joined the crusade (1190), de Longchamps was made joint-justiciar with Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham. By becoming papal legate in 1190, de Longchamps united supremacy in Church and State. Though loyal to Richard, his scorn of everything English and his burdensome taxation aroused such a storm of popular dislike that it was not difficult for Richard's brother John to arrest and imprison him. He escaped and joined Richard in Germany. He died at Poitiers.