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Thomas Bentham: a Case Study in the Problems of the Early Elizabethan Episcopate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

M. Rosemary O'Day
M. Rosemary O'Day
Affiliation:
Research Associate, School of Education, University of Birmingham
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Extract

After Elizabeth's accession the Church in England was in a confused condition. The queen envisaged a politique settlement which, although protestant, was not reformed, thereby enabling her to avoid both international conflict and open internal rebellion. This meant that the established Church must not follow too closely the radical changes in ceremony, doctrine and administration associated with the continental Reformed Churches. However, Elizabeth was compelled to recruit the necessary new bishops and chief ecclesiastical officers from amongst the returned exiles and other convinced Protestants.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , April 1972 , pp. 137 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

page 137 note 1 Collinson, P., The Elizabethan Puritan Movement, London 1967, 46Google Scholar.

page 137 note 2 Lambeth Palace Library MS. 2010, ‘Epistolae Virorum Doctorum’, no. 73, fol. 114. For exchanges see, B.M. Lansdowne MS. 156 fob. 382–3.

page 137 note 3 National Library of Wales MS. 4919D: The Letter Book ofbishop Thomas Bentham of Coventry and Lichfield.

page 138 note 1 See D.N.B., iv. 284.

page 138 note 2 Morrice MSS. ‘L’ xi. no. 2, pp. 3–4.

page 138 note 3 For which he has received much praise: Foxe, John, Actes and Monuments, ed. Pratt, J., London 1870, viii. 559Google Scholar; Knappen, M. M., Tudor Puritanism, Chicago 1965, 161–2Google Scholar; Collinson, P., The Elizabethan Puritan Movement, 1965 61, 67–8Google Scholar. His favour to the exiles should be noted.

page 138 note 4 Morrice MSS. ‘A’ N.L.P. fols. 145–92; The Seconde Porte of a Register …, (ed.) Peel, A., London 1915, i. 68–74Google Scholar; Knappen, op. cit., 245; Collinson, op. cit., 67–8.

page 138 note 5 Axton was not admitted to the rectory until 1580: Lambeth Palace Library, Reg. Grindal, ii. fol. 438. Axton's deprivation can be followed in Lichfield Record Office MSS. B/V/1/13, 31 August, 20 September, 21 November, 1582; B/C/3/10, 18 January 1583.

page 138 note 6 P. Collinson (ed.), ‘Letters of Thomas Wood, Puritan, 1566–77’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Special Supplement, no. 5, London 1960, 20.

page 139 note 1 Read, Conyers, Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth, New York 1960, 302–3Google Scholar; S.P. Dom. James 1, xliv, no. 82, 505.

page 139 note 2 Yet, as Philip Hughes has observed, many of the exiles were never truly ‘radical’, having supported the second prayer book of Edward vi. Bentham began a controversy over ceremonial in 1559, himself defending the above: Philip Hughes, The Reformation in England, London 1954, III. 147.

page 139 note 3 B.M. Harleian MS. 594.

page 139 note 4 Letter Book, fol. 95, 8 May 1561, Bentham to the queen.

page 139 note 5 Ibid.

page 140 note 1 Letter Book, fol. 61, 31 October 1560, Bentham to dean of Lichfield; fol. 6a, 31 October 1560, Bentham to Grindal; fol. 71, 24 December 1560, Bentham to dean and chapter.

page 140 note 2 Valor Ecclesiasticus, London 1817, iii. 128–30Google Scholar.

page 140 note 3 J. A. Berlatsky, ‘The Social Structure of the Elizabethan Episcopacy (sic)’, unpublished Northwestern University Ph.D. thesis, 1970, 112.

page 140 note 4 P.R.O., E 135/9/6.

page 140 note 5 Letter Book, fol. 40: Bentham to Nowell.

page 140 note 6 Ibid., fol. 34: 9 September 1560, Bentham to Lord Treasurer.

page 140 note 7 Ibid., fol. 54: September 1560, Bentham to Bailiffs of Lichfield; fol. 65: November 1560, Bentham to farmer of Densford, Northants; fol. 56: 3 October 1560, Bentham to Lichfield Bailiffs; fol. 65: 28 November 1560, Bentham to steward of Hanbury; fol. 56: 2 October 1560, Bentham to Mr. Marrowe.

page 141 note 1 Ibid.

page 141 note 2 Ibid., fol. 64: 14 October 1560, Bentham to Mr. Vescott, bailiff of Lichfield.

page 141 note 3 Ibid., fol. 68: 16 December 1560, Bentham to Harcourt regarding Gnosall; fol. 35: 9 September 1560, concerning Hanbury; fol. 50: September 1560, Bentham to Mr. Throckmorton about Hanbury.

page 141 note 4 Ibid., fols. 33–8, 43, 44, 59, 60, 62, 63, 66–9, 77, 78.

page 141 note 5 Ibid., fol. 31.

page 141 note 6 Ibid., fol. 39.

page 142 note 1 Ibid., fol. 39: to Burleigh; fol. 40: to Dr. Haddon, Master of Requests; to Mistress Ashley; to Alexander Nowell.

page 142 note 2 Ibid., fol. 54: October 1560, to Mr. Egerton.

page 142 note 3 Ibid., fol. 46: 4 August 1560, to Mr. Lever.

page 142 note 4 Ibid., fol. 46: 5 August 1560, to Mr. Dudley.

page 142 note 5 Ibid., fol. 46: 12 August 1560, to Mr. Riley.

page 142 note 6 Ibid., fol. 70: 19 December 1560; fol. 65: 21 November 1560, Bentham to Lever: he assures Lever that he has not forgotten the debt.

page 142 note 7 Ibid., fol. 24: to ‘brother Cock'; fol. 56: ‘Mr. Lee'; fol. 54: to Egerton.

page 142 note 8 Ibid., fol. 76: 17 February 1560/61, Bentham to Lever.

page 142 note 9 Ibid., fol. 46: 4 August 1560, Bentham to Lever.

page 143 note 1 Ibid., fol. 90: 25 April 1561, Bentham to Throckmorton.

page 143 note 2 P.R.O. E 135/9/6.

page 143 note 3 Ibid., fol. 54: 2 October 1560, to Egerton; fol. 71:2 December 1560, to Sampson; fol. 77: 17 February 1560/1, to Lever.

page 143 note 4 Bateson, M. (ed.) ‘A Collection of Original Letters from the Bishops to the Privy Council, 1564 ….’ Camden Society (Miscellany ix, 1895) 39–41Google Scholar.

page 143 note 5 Cf. L.R.O. B/V/1/2; B/V/1/4; B/A/1/15.

page 144 note 1 Landor, W. N., ‘Staffordshire Incumbents and Parochial Records, 1530–1680’, Staffordshire Historical Collections, (1915), xliGoogle Scholar.

page 144 note 2 Ibid., xxxiii-xxxiv, 361–6.

page 144 note 3 Ibid.

page 144 note 4 Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, xii (i), 335; L.R.O. B/V/1/2.

page 144 note 5 Letter Book, fol. 57: summons to Henry Techoo issued in October 1560; fol. 58: 2 October 1560, to George Torperlaye concerning images in Shropshire churches; fol. 58: 12 October 1560, to George Lee.

page 144 note 6 L.R.O. B/A/1/15.

page 145 note 1 Letter Book, fol. 58: 12 October 1560, to George Torporlaye.

page 145 note 2 M.C. Loftus (ed.), ‘Strange News from Staffordshire,’ Staffordshire Catholic History, i (1961).

page 145 note 3 L.R.O. w.p. 3 September 1571.

page 146 note 4 Letter Book, fols. 46, 49 (a instances), 66.

page 146 note 5 Lambeth Palace Library MS. CM xiii/58.

page 146 note 6 B. M. Harleian MS. 594, fol. 173; Letter Book, fol. 42.

page 146 note 7 Letter Book, fols. 85, 86: 15 April 1561, to Richard Walker.

page 146 note 8 Ibid.

page 147 note 1 Collinson, P., ‘Episcopacy and Reform in England in the Later Sixteenth Century’ in Studies in Church History, Cambridge 1966, iii. 99Google Scholarff.

page 146 note 2 Ibid.

page 146 note 3 Ibid.

page 146 note 4 Letter Book, fob. 46, 48; cf. L.R.O. B/V/1/4.

page 146 note 5 Letter Book, fol. 57; fol. 98, Bentham actually took a case out of court because of excessive delay.

page 147 note 1 Ibid., fols. 48, 50, 59, 85.

page 147 note 2 Ibid., fol. 48.

page 147 note 3 Ibid., fols. 57 (2 instances), 75; 53; 94, 97 (2 instances); 64; 48, 49 (3instances).

page 147 note 4 Ibid., fol. 66, December 1560, to summoner of Shrewsbury.

page 147 note 5 Ibid., fol. 59, 28 October 1560, ‘a letter to Mr. Sale concernyng a divorcement wherein because I have no skyll, I remytt the matter to his iudgement to be ordered as l a we wyll’.

page 147 note 6 Ibid., fol. 92.

page 147 note 7 Ibid., fols. 92, 93.

page 147 note 8 Ibid., fols. 62, 85.

page 148 note 1 Ibid., fols. 51, 52.

page 148 note 2 Ibid., fol. 77, 17 February 1560/61, to Lever; fol. 79, 27 February 1560/61, to Mr. Aston, parson of Mucklestone.

page 148 note 3 B.M., Add. MS. 29,546 fol. 52r.

page 149 note 1 Ibid.

page 149 note 2 Collinson, Elizabethan Puritan Movement, 172.

page 149 note 3 Bateson, op. cit., 39–41.

page 149 note 4 Ibid.

page 149 note 5 Thompson, A. Hamilton, ‘Diocesan Administration in the Middle Ages: Archdeacons and Rural Deans’, Proceedings of the British Academy (1943), 15Google Scholar.

page 150 note 1 P. Collinson, ‘The Puritan Classical Movement in the reign of Elizabeth’, London Ph.D. Thesis, 1957, 293, n.2. refers to Lever ‘ruling in the southern half of the diocese.'

page 150 note 2 Letter Book, fol. 76, 17 February 1560/61, to Lever, ‘they may not onelye be fervent, but allso constant to the end’.

page 150 note 3 Ibid., fol. 94, 7 May 1561, to Lever.

page 150 note 4 Inner Temple Library, Petyt MS 538/38, fols. 71–4. Lever's ‘Notes for some re-formacion of the mynistrye and mynisters … ‘.

page 150 note 5 J. Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, Oxford 1822, iii, pt. i, 169; C. H. Garrett, The Marian Exiles, Cambridge 1938, 74; L.R.O. B/A/1/15.

page 150 note 6 Bateson, op. cit., 39–41.

page 151 note 1 Letter Book, fol. 98, 29 May 1561, to Thomas Aston; to James Weston.

page 151 note 2 Ibid., 11 April 1561, to archbishop Parker.

page 151 note 3 B.M. Add. MS. 29, 546, fol. 52r.

page 151 note 4 Letter Book, fol. 97, 23 May 1561, to Bickley.

page 151 note 5 Ibid., fols. 90, 91, 26 April 1561, to Morweyn; fols. 94, 95, 7 May 1561, to Morweyn. Morweyn was B.A. of Magd. Coll., Oxford; he had been ordained priest at London in April 1560: Guildhall MS. 9535/1.

page 151 note 6 Letter Book, fol. 97, 18 May 1561, to dean of Lichneld; to registrar. These items suggest that Bentham placed a little too much reliance on the registrar concerning the examination of presentees to benefices.

page 151 note 7 When present.

page 151 note 8 According of J. Le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, i, the archdeacons were as follows:

Coventry: Thomas Lever: Compounded for first fruits, 1560.

Derby: Lawrence Nowell: succeeded 1558, d. 1576.

Salop: Nicholas Smith: occ. 1561.

Staffs: Richard Walker: collated 1547, d. 1567.

But there is no evidence that Nowell was archdeacon of Derby in 1560 and there is considerable evidence that Walker had both Staffs, and Derby in his jurisdiction at this time.

page 152 note 1 Collinson, Elizabethan Puritan Movement, 182.

page 152 note 2 Ibid.

page 152 note 3 Bateson, op. cit., 39–41; Knappen, op. cit., 161, Bernher is named as one of the London congregation under Mary and as ‘Latimer's faithfull Swiss servant’.

page 152 note 4 Collinsonj Elizabethan Puritan Movement, 183.

page 152 note 5 Ibid.

page 152 note 6 Marchant, R. A., The Church under the Law, Cambridge 1969, iii, 161Google Scholar, describes local courts of deans; Ibid., 14–15, discusses gradual elimination of rura l deans’ administrative an d disciplinary powers during the period up to 1640.

page 153 note 1 Worcester Record Office, 716.02. BA2056 no. 3.

page 153 note 2 Gloucester City Library, K4/1 (1).

page 153 note 3 Lambeth Palace Library, MS. CM XIII.

page 153 note 4 L.R.O. B/C/3/3, 21 April 1596, before bishop, dean, and chancellor.

page 153 note 5 L.R.O. B/A/1/15.

page 154 note 1 See D.N.B., xvi. 8.

page 154 note 2 Lever, Aston, Ashton, Nowell, Morweyn and Sale were all esconced in livings at this time, as was Bolt.

page 154 note 3 L.R.O. B/A/1/15; Letter Book, fol. 91, 26 April 1561, to Morweyn; on Bentham's instructions he was active in the court case against Comberford.

page 154 note 4 L.R.O. B/A/1/15.

page 154 note 5 Letter Book, fol. 48; L.R.O. B/A/1/15, fol. 31. 28 August 1560.

page 154 note 6 Letter Book, fol. 47, 20 August 1560, to Sir Ambrose Cave.

page 154 note 7 L.R.O. B/A/1/15, fol. 37v, 2 4 April 1560.

page 154 note 8 Letter Book, fol. 55, October 1560, to Dr. Weston.

page 154 note 9 L.R.O. B/A/1/15, fol. 35v, 3 July 1564.

page 155 note 1 Letter Book, fols. 57 (October 1560), 62 (November 1560), 72 (27 December 1560), to James Weston.

page 155 note 2 P.R.O. E 331, 2, fol. 4.

page 155 note 3 L.R.O. B/A/1/15.

page 155 note 4 Ibid.

page 155 note 5 B.M. Lansdowne MSS. 443, 444, fols. 114r, 124r, 147r, 157, 157r, 166r, 176r, 178r (2 instances), 206v, 216v, 253r, 254r.

page 155 note 6 Ibid. Ansley; Holy Trinity, Coventry; Napton; Stoneleigh; Foleshill; Exall; Grandborough.

page 155 note 7 Letter Book, fol. 94, 7 May 1561, to Sir William Cecil.

page 156 note 1 Ibid.

page 156 note 2 Letter Book, fol. 64; but cf. fol. 78, 22 February 1560/61, to archbishop of Canterbury, requesting patronage for his personal chaplain, Edward Hayle.

page 156 note 3 Ibid., fol. 62, 31 October 1560, to Grindal; fol. 78.

page 156 note 4 Ibid., fol. 88, to Walker; also, fol. 87, 23 April 1561, to dean of Lichfield.

page 156 note 5 R. Baxter, Reliquiae Baxterianae, 1696, 12; cf. evidence of L.R.O. B/A/4./18, and B/A/1/16.

page 157 note 1 Letter Book, fol. 94, 7 May 1561, to Peter Morweyn in London.

page 157 note 2 Ibid., fols. 85, 86, 15 April 1561, to Walker.

page 157 note 3 Visitation Articles and Injunctions of ? the Period of the Reformation, ed. W. H. Frere, (Alcuin Club Collections, xvi, London 1910) iii (1559–75), 166.

page 157 note 5 Morrice MSS. ‘W’ Life of Thomas Bentham by Roger Morrice, no. 9, 41.

page 157 note 6 Letter Book, fol. 46, 8 August 1560.

page 157 note 7 Ibid., fol. 49, September 1560, to Lever.

page 157 note 8 Ibid., fol. 64, 11 November 1560; fol. 55, 2 October 1560, Bentham to Richard Chambers; fol. 73, 3 January 1560/61, to dean of Lichfield, provides evidence of his attempts to control preaching and to prevent papists obtaining licences.

page 158 note 1 Lambeth Palace Library MS. 2003.

page 158 note 2 Letter Book, fol. 93, 6 May 1561, to Mr. Bolt; fol. 99, 29 May 1561, to Mr. Bolt concerning discharge of his office; fol. 88, 23 April 1561, to Walker, concerning appointment of Harcourt as collector ‘because that Mr. Bolt haithe not used me well’.

page 158 note 3 Letter Book, fol. 34, 9 September 1560, to Lord Treasurer.

page 158 note 4 Ibid., fol. 97, 18 May 1561, to dean ofLichfield; fol. 98, 26 May 1561, to Mr. Aston concerning the registrar.

page 158 note 5 Ibid., fol. 61, 31 October 1560, to dean of Lichfield; fol. 62, 31 October 1560, to Grindal; fol. 71, 24 December 1560, to dean and chapter.