Neville was elected Archbishop of Canterbury on about 24 September 1231 by the monks of Canterbury, but his election was quashed in early 1232 by Pope Gregory IX, on the grounds that Neville was an or illiterate, even though he had been found to be "literatus" in 1214 when appointed dean; "literatus" in this sense meant "learned" rather than "literate". Other concerns were that Simon Langton, the Archdeacon of Canterbury, described Neville as a courtier instead of a true priest, and claimed that Neville's goal was to free England from its feudal ties to the papacy.