Peter Vannes

Peter Vannes (died 1563) was an Italian Catholic churchman who became a royal official in England, and Dean of Salisbury.

Life

Born at

Silvestro Gigli, another native of Lucca who was bishop of Worcester, recommended Vannes to Wolsey, and Lorenzo Campeggio in 1521 sought Vannes's influence to secure his promotion to the see of Worcester. On 12 November 1521 Vannes was presented to the living of Mottram in the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, and in 1523 he was incorporated B.D. at Cambridge.^[1]

In 1526 an unsuccessful effort was made to secure for Vannes the

Emperor Charles V, to discover the real causes of Campeggio's failure to proceed with the divorce question, and to make inquiry into the authenticity of the brief produced by Catherine removing all the disabilities found in the original dispensation for her marriage granted by Pope Julius II

. If all other means failed, Vannes was 'to inquire whether the pope will dispense with the king to have two wives, making the children of the second marriage legitimate as well as those of the first, whereof some great reasons and precedents appear, especially in the Old Testament.' Vannes reached Florence on 9 January 1529, and was at Rome on the 28th; the mission was, however, a complete failure, and in October following Vannes returned to England.

Vannes maintained friendly relations with Wolsey after his fall, which did not interfere with his advancement; on 4 Dec. 1529 he was collated to the prebend of Bedwyn in

Wheathamstead, Hertfordshire

. On 17 July 1533 he was appointed collector of papal taxes in England, an office soon to become a sinecure; and in the same year he was sent on the king's business to Rome, Avignon, and Marseilles.

On 12 May 1534 Vannes was made

Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford

.

Vannes apparently gave up his deanery during Edward VI's reign, but retained his Latin secretaryship, the grant of which was confirmed to him on 12 December 1549. On 19 May 1550 he was sent ambassador to Venice, where he arrived in August; his salary was forty shillings a day. In September 1551 he urged the Council of Ten to restore to Sebastian Cabot the property claimed by him, and on 16 Oct. was given credentials to the senators of his native city Lucca. Sir John Mason described Vannes's conduct as timid; but he was retained in that post by Queen Mary, who also restored to him the deanery of Salisbury. Vannes was at Venice when Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, died there, and he sent the queen an account of that event. He was recalled in September 1556.

He retained his preferments under Elizabeth and died early in 1563. By his will, dated 1 July 1562, and proved 1 May 1563, he left considerable property to his heir, Benedict Hudson alias Vannes. John Leland commemorated his friendship in an ode.

References

"Vannes, Peter" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Notes

^ "Vannes, Peter (VNS513P)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Vannes, Peter". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

[1] "Vannes, Peter (VNS513P)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[1]

v t e Deans of Salisbury
High Medieval	Walter Osbert Robert Serlo Roger Azo Robert of Chichester Henry de Beaumont John of Oxford Jordan Eustace Richard Poore Adam William de Wanda Robert de Hertford Robert Wickhampton Walter Scammel Henry Brandeston Simon de Micham
Late Medieval	Peter of Savoy William Rufati Reymund de Fargis Bertrand de Fargis Reynold Orsini James Orsini Robert Braybrooke Thomas Montagu John Chandler Simon Sydenham Thomas Brunce Nicholas Bildeston Adam Moleyns Richard Leyot Gilbert Kymer James Goldwell John Davison Edward Cheyne
Early modern	Thomas Ruthall William Atwater John Longland Cuthbert Tunstall Richard Pace Peter Vannes William Bradbridge Thomas Cole Edmund Freke John Piers John Bridges John Gordon John Williams John Bowle Edmund Mason Richard Baylie Ralph Brideoake Thomas Pierce Robert Woodward Edward Young John Younger John Clarke Thomas Greene Rowney Noel John Ekins
Late modern	Charles Talbot Hugh Pearson Francis Lear Henry Hamilton J. C. Ryle George Boyle Allan Webb William Page Roberts Andrew Burn John Randolph Edward Henderson Henry Robins Robert Moberly Kenneth Haworth Fenton Morley Sydney Evans Hugh Dickinson Derek Watson June Osborne Ed Probert (Acting) Nick Papadopulos