BALDWIN, Thomas, a celebrated English prelate of the 12 th century, was born of obscure parents at Exeter, where, in the early part of his life, he taught a grammar school. After this he took orders, and was made archdeacon of Exeter; but he resigned that dignity, and became a Cistercian monk in the monastery of Ford in Devonshire, of which, in a few years, he was made abbot. In the year 1180 he was consecrated bishop of Worcester. In 1184 he was promoted to the see of Canterbury, and by Urban IIL was appointed legate for that diocese. He laid the foundation of a church and monastery in honour of Thomas à Becket at Hackington, near Canterbury, for secular priests; but being opposed by the monks of Canterbury and the Pope, he was obliged to desist. Baldwin then laid the foundation of the archiépiscopal palace at Lambeth. In 1189 he crowned ELing Richard I. at Westminster, and two years later, after making a pilgrimage through Wales to preach the Crusade, followed that prince to the Holy Land, where he died at the siege of Ptolemais or St Jean d’Acre. Giraldus Cambrensis, who accompanied him in an expedition through Wales, says he was of moderate habits and of an extremely mild disposition. He wrote various tracts on religious subjects, some of which were collected and published by Bertrand Tissier in 1662.