Not long after succeeding his father he came into conflict with the lord of Howden and the surrounding district of Howdenshire, Bishop Hugh du Puiset of Durham.

Bishop Hugh had made grants of tithes in Howdenshire to the hospital of Kepier in the city of Durham, ignoring the prior rights of the church of Howden.

Roger pushed back with the assistance of the monks of the cathedral priory of Durham, the patrons of the minster, and eventually the bishop withdrew the grant.

However, Bishop Hugh did not take the defeat lightly, and retaliated by attempting to remove Roger as minster head, alleging irregularities in his presentation to the post.

[6] In 1189 Bishop Hugh du Puiset was appointed with the chancellor, William de Longchamp, by King Richard as joint justiciars to rule England in his absence.

His part in the affair was revealed by the recent discovery of the journal of his voyage from Howden to Marseille in July 1190, where he successfully delivered the bishop's complaint to the king, along with a substantial bribe to get royal writs reversing Longchamp's coup.

[7] Rather than return to Howden, Roger joined the king's retinue and accompanied him to Sicily and Palestine, appearing with a group of fellow Yorkshiremen in a document drafted at the siege of Acre in 1191.

It runs from 1169 to 1192 and much of its content is repeated and revised in the Chronica magistri Rogeri de Hoveden (Chronicles of Master Roger of Howden) which offers the story of England before Henry II's reign as well as continuing on until 1201.

[11] From 1148 to 1170 Roger used the Melrose Chronicle (edited for the Bannatyne Club in 1835 by Joseph Stevenson) and a collection of letters bearing upon the Thomas Becket controversy.

The discovery in the last decade of the twentieth century in French libraries of two MSS which include three separate tracts which can be associated with Roger of Howden has led to a re-evaluation of his intellectual interests and capacities.

The author makes many geographical and historical digressions about seamarks, cities and personalities as he goes, with a clear interest in winds, vessels and expanses of water.