:''This article is about the patriarch of Jerusalem, for his kinsman and namesake, see Antony_Bek,_Bishop_of_Norwich.'' '''Antony Bek'''(also spelled Beck)(d. March_3, 1311), Bishop_of_Durham, belonged to a Lincolnshire family. Having entered the church, he received several benefices and soon attracted the attention of Edward I, who secured his election as bishop of Durham in 1283. When, after the death of King Alexander III in 1286, Edward interfered in the affairs of Scotland, he employed Bek on this business, and in 1294 he sent him on a diplomatic errand to the German king Adolf of Nassau. Taking part in Edward's campaigns in Scotland, the bishop received the surrender of king John_I_of_Scotland at Brechin in 1296, and led one division of the English army at the battle of Falkirk in 1298. Soon after his return to England he became involved in a quarrel with Richard_de_Hoton, prior of Durham. Deposed and excommunicated by Bek, the prior secured the kings support; but the bishop, against whom other complaints were preferred, refused to give way, and by his obstinacy incurred the lasting enmity of Edward. In 1302, in obedience to the command of Pope_Boniface_VIII, he visited Rome on this matter, and during his absence the king seized and administered his lands, which, however, he recovered when he returned and submitted to Edward. He continued, however, to pursue Richard with unrelenting hostility, and was in his turn seriously harassed by the king. Having been restored to the royal favour by Edward II who made him lord of the Isle_of_Man, the bishop died at Eltham on the 3rd of March 1311. A man of great courage and energy, chaste and generous, Bek was remarkable for his haughtiness and ostentation. Both as a bishop and as a private individual he was very wealthy, and his household and retinue were among the most magnificent in the land. He was a soldier and a hunter rather than a bishop, and built castles at Eltham, Somerton and elsewhere. He also built Durham_Castle's Great Hall, which at the time was the UK's largest 'Great Hall'. Bek's elder brother, Thomas Bek was Bishop_of_St_David's and a trusted servant of Edward I. Another related Thomas Bek was Bishop_of_Lincoln from 1321 until his death. ==References== *Robert_of_Graystane. ''Historia de statu ecclesiae Dunelmensis'', edited by J Raine in his ''Historiae Dunelmensis scriptores''. (London, 1839) *Hutchinson, W. ''History of Durham''. (Newcastle, 1785-1794). *Low, J. L. ''Diocesan History of Durham'' (London, 1881) *Mandell_Creighton in the ''Dictionary_of_National_Biography'', vol. iv. (London, 1885). *{{1911}} {{start box}} {{succession box | before=unknown| title= Titular Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem| years=1306–1311| after=unknown}} {{succession box | before=Robert_of_Holy_Island| title= Bishop_of_Durham| years=1284–1310| after=Richard_Kellaw }} {{end box}} Bek, Antony Bek, Antony Bek, Antony Bek