Peter Mews
Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1669–1673) Dean of Rochester (1670–1673) Bishop of Bath and Wells (19 December 1672 {elected}–November 1684) | |
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Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford |
Ordination history of Peter Mews | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Peter Mews (25 March 1619 – 9 November 1706) was an English Royalist theologian and bishop. He was a captain captured at Naseby and he later had discussions in Scotland for the Royalist cause. Later made a bishop he would report on non-conformist families.
Life
Mews was born at
When the Civil War broke out in 1642, Mews joined the Royalist army, and, having been made a captain, was taken prisoner at Naseby; but he was soon released and in 1648 sought refuge in Holland. He became friendly with King Charles I's secretary, Sir Edward Nicholas, and being skilful at disguising himself was very useful to the Royalists during the rule of Oliver Cromwell, undertaking two journeys to Scotland in 1653. In August of that year, his friend Nicholas applied to Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, to use her influence to get Mews a post as reader in philosophy at the Orange College of Breda, but had a reply from Hyde that the place called for a man "that hath not bene a truant from his bookes".[3]
Before this Mews had been ordained. Taking the degree of
In 1667, when at
Mews resigned his presidency at Oxford University in 1673, and in 1684 he was elected Bishop of Winchester, a position which this "old, honest cavalier," as Thomas Hearne calls him, filled until his death. The bishop is buried in Winchester Cathedral.
Mews lent his carriage horses to pull the cannon at a critical moment during the Battle of Sedgemoor, where he was wounded whilst accompanying the royal army. He was, however, in sympathy with the Seven Bishops, and was only prevented by illness from attending their meeting; and as visitor of Magdalen College, Oxford, he supported the fellows in their resistance to James II, admitted their nominee, John Hough, to the presidency, and restored the ejected fellows in October 1688.[citation needed]
He took the oaths to
]A portrait is displayed in the Great Hall of the 15th-century manor house,
References
- ^ "Mews, Peter (1645–1699) (CCEd Person ID 7205)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ^ Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Mascall-Meyrick
- ^ William Holden Hutton, "Mews, Peter", in Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900), volume 37
- ^ "Previous Vice-Chancellors". University of Oxford, UK. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-137-30320-2, retrieved 5 May 2021
Further reading
- Stephen Hyde Cassan, Lives of the Bishops of Winchester, 1827.
- George F. Warner (ed.), Nicholas Papers, 1886–1897.
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mews, Peter". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 316–317. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- "Mews, Peter". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18633. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- "Mews, Peter (1645–1699) (CCEd Person ID 7205)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. Retrieved 28 March 2015.