[3] His origins were long unclear but following recent research (Hughes, 1992) it is now apparent that he was the eldest son of Simon Peverel[4] of "Langton" in Leicestershire,[3] the exact location of which estate is uncertain (see below).

His brother (it is now established) was Robert Peverel (d. 1317) of Brington and Ashby David in Northamptonshire,[5] an ancestor of Joan de la Pole, suo jure 4th Baroness Cobham (d. 1434) "of Kent", whose prominent descendants the Brooke family, Barons Cobham, are known to have quartered the arms of Peverel of Langton (Gules, a fess between nine cross-crosslets or).

[9] According to Hughes (1991): "In October 1298 Langton was licensed by Henry of Newark, archbishop of York, to ordain Walter and Robert Clipston, (his nephews), then aged seven and five years respectively, to all minor orders".

The King must have liked the young man, for he selected him for his service and in later years Langton became "unquestionably Edwards's first minister and almost his only real confidant".

[3] In 1293 he rushed to Lambeth to obtain a charter transferring the Isle of Wight to the king from Isabella de Fortibus who was near to death.

[14] Having become unpopular, the barons in 1301 vainly asked Edward to dismiss Langton; about the same time he was accused of murder, adultery and simony.

[15] By inference Pope Boniface VIII was charged, about the same time with Invocation, consultation of diviners, and other offenses, by officials of King Philip IV of France, about which more information is available.

The accession of Edward II and the return of Langton's enemy, Piers Gaveston, were quickly followed by the arrest of the bishop, his removal from office, and imprisonment at London, Windsor and Wallingford.

In spite of the intercession of Clement V and even of the restored Archbishop Winchelsea, who was anxious to uphold the privileges of his order, Langton, accused again by the barons in 1309, remained in prison after Edward's surrender to the ordainers in 1310.

[18] Apart from his landholdings at "Langton" in Leicestershire (see above), he held other estates including Brington, and Newbottle, both in Northamptonshire, for which in 1307 he received a royal grant of free warren.

Thomas Harwood (1806), historian of Lichfield Cathedral called Langton "another founder of this church"[20] and listed his building works as follows: He cleaned the ditch around the Close, and surrounded it with a stone wall: he built the cloisters, and expended two thousand pounds upon a monument for St. Chad.

He laid the foundation of St. Mary's chapel, in the cathedral, an edifice of uncommon beauty, in which he was interred; but dying before it was finished, he bequeathed a sufficient sum of money in his will to complete it.

This palace was spacious and splendid; the great hall of which was an hundred feet long, and fifty-six broad, painted with the coronation, marriages, wars, and funeral of his patron, K. Edward I.; and these costly decorations were remaining so late as the time of Erdeswicke, in 1603.

He erected that noble gate at the west entrance into the Close, a beautiful structure, worthy of its munificent founder; and which, in April 1800, was, with a barbarous taste, pulled down, and the materials applied to lay the foundation of a pile of new buildings, for the residence of necessitous widows of clergymen.