Hugh, St, of Avalon, Bishop of Lincoln, was born of noble family at Avalon in Burgundy about 1135. On his mother's death his father entered a priory of regular canons at Villarbenoit, carrying with him the boy, then but eight years old. At nineteen he was ordained deacon, and was already remarkable for his holiness of life and ascetic austerity. Ere long he was attracted by the severer discipline of the Grande Chartreuse, and thither he repaired, although he had taken an oath to his superior not to do so. Here he remained ten years, received his priest's orders, and was for his practical ability appointed bursar to the monastery. His fame came to the ears of Henry II., who prevailed upon him to accept the government of the struggling Carthusian monastery at Witham in Somersetshire, and summoned him hence in May 1186 to fill the bishopric of Lincoln. For fourteen years he governed his diocese with great wisdom and vigour, retiring every year a short time to Witham for his soul's health. His unworldly holiness gave him great influence, not only over Henry II., but also his successors Richard and John. He did not leave off his frank outspokenness of speech and his quick wit even in the presence of the king. Withal his charity was so remarkable that even the Jews of Lincoln are said to have wept at his funeral. All his life he had been notable for his love of birds, and at his residence at Stow, near Lincoln, he had a pet swan whose affection for its master appeared to beholders to be more than natural. The swan usually appears in representations of the saint. Soon after his accession to the episcopal throne he had begun with vigour the rebuilding of his cathedral, and he lived to see the completion of the choir and eastern transepts. But indeed, with the exception of the presbytery, the entire church, as it now dominates Lincoln, was conceived in the mind of Hugh's architect, and gradually perfected under his successors. Hugh visited his native country in 1200, and on his return journey was seized with illness, and died at London 16th November 1200. He was canonised in 1220, and for long miracles were wrought at his tomb, and his cult was almost as popular as that of St Thomas in the south.
• Both the Metrical Life of St Hugh of Avalon (1860) and the Magna Vita S. Hugonis (1864), the latter most likely written by his domestic chaplain, Adam, abbot of Evesham, were edited by the Rev. J. F. Dinock. A Life by Giraldus is printed in vol. vii. (1877) of the works of Giraldus Cambrensis. See also Canon Perry's Life of St Hugh of Avalon (1879).