STEPHEN LANGTON. - Theologian and cardinal, born in England c. 1150, died at Slindon on 9 July 1228. At Paris he attended the lectures of John Beleth and Peter Comestor, and having obtained the mastership in theology around 1180, he taught at the University for about twenty years.
Created cardinal by Innocent III (22 June 1206) and archbishop of Canterbury (hence the name Stephanus Cantuariensis) on 17 June 1207, his election was contested by the king of England, and he could not enter his see until 1213. As archbishop of Canterbury he carried out an activity that left its mark on the national history of England: he cooperated in the drafting of the Magna Carta and presided over the Council of Oxford in 1228. In accordance with medieval usage he bore the title of Doctor nominatissimus. A man of extraordinary learning, he wrote postils and glosses on almost all the books of Holy Scripture, a commentary on the Historia scholastica of Peter Comestor, numerous quaestiones and sermons, and above all two theological summae of particular importance. With the exception of the Sermo in transl. s. Thomae Cantuariensis (PL 190, 407-24), everything remains unpublished. P. Glorieux (Répertoire des maîtres en théologie de Paris au XIIIe siècle, I, Paris 1933, pp. 238-60) provides an exact list of all Langton’s works with the incipits and the manuscripts in which they are contained.