A great-nephew and nephew of two Bishops of Lisieux, he held the office of archdeacon in that diocese before serving successively Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury and King Henry II of England.

Nonant replaced his monastic cathedral chapter with secular clergy, and attempted to persuade his fellow bishops to do the same, but was unsuccessful.

[4] Hugh Nonant was a canon in his uncle Arnulf's cathedral chapter[5] before serving as an archdeacon of the diocese of Lisieux from 1167 until 1184.

[1] Along with Richard Barre, Nonant was named in January 1184 as a papal judge-delegate in a case between two Norman monasteries.

[9] The long delay between his election and his consecration was due to Nonant's continued diplomatic efforts on behalf of Henry II.

In October 1189 he attempted to persuade his fellow bishops who had monastic cathedral chapters to expel the monks and replace them with secular clergy.

He also attempted to get all the bishops to prosecute a joint case at Rome to expel the monastic cathedral chapters, but gave up that idea after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Baldwin of Exeter declined to go along.

Nonant joined with John in trying to wrest control of the castles of Tickhill and Nottingham from William Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely, who had been named justiciar and chancellor during Richard's absence.

[17] This letter has now been published as part of the English Episcopal Acta series in the volume on the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry.