Thomas Rotherham
Roman Catholic | |
---|---|
Education | Eton College |
Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
Thomas Rotherham (24 August 1423 – 29 May 1500), also known as Thomas (Scot) de Rotherham, was an English
Life
Background
Thomas Rotherham was born 24 August 1423 in Rotherham, Yorkshire.[1] He is said to have been the eldest son of Sir Thomas Rotherham of Rotherham by his wife, Dame Alice. From the sixteenth century onwards he was also known by the alternate surname 'Scot', although that surname was not used by Rotherham himself or by his contemporaries. In his will, however, Rotherham does refer to his kinsman John Scott of Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, and it has been speculated that he was the son of Sir John Scott of Scot's Hall in Smeeth, Kent and Agnes Beaufitz.[2] However this claim is said to have been disproved.[3]
Education
He was first educated as a young boy by a teacher of grammar, who came, according to Thomas, "I know not by what fate save it was the Grace of God". Afterwards he was sent to the newly founded Eton College to prepare for university entrance.
Appointments to office
Rotherham was educated at
In 1467, King Edward IV appointed Rotherham as Keeper of the Privy Seal.[8] He was sent as ambassador to France in 1468 and as joint ambassador to Burgundy in 1471, and in 1475 was entrusted with the office of Lord Chancellor.[9] Between 1477 and his death, Rotherham was the owner of Barnes Hall in South Yorkshire.[10]
Involvement in intrigue
When Edward IV died in April 1483, Rotherham was one of the celebrants of the funeral mass on 20 April 1483.
On 13 June 1483, Rotherham was charged with being involved in a conspiracy between Lord Hastings and the Woodvilles against Richard and imprisoned in the Tower of London.[13] He was released in the middle of July.[14]
Retirement
Once again appointed Lord Chancellor in 1485,[9] he was shortly afterwards dismissed by Henry VII. After this he retired from most public work.
Death and memorial
Rotherham died of the plague in Cawood near York on 29 May 1500.[7] His remains were transferred to a magnificent marble tomb in York Minster in 1506.
Endowments
Rotherham built part of
In 1480 Rotherham endowed a Chapel of Jesus within Rotherham parish church, providing a priest to sing masses for the souls of his ancestors. He founded the College of Jesus in Rotherham as a memorial to his first teacher.[15] The foundations of the red brick College were laid at his birthplace in Brookgate in March 1482 and a licence was granted on 22 January 1483 "for the honour and glory of the name of Jesus Christ to found a perpetual College".
The statutes of the college were dated 1 February 1483. The College of Jesus was to consist of a Provost and three Fellows, all to be in Holy Orders, who must attend church on Sundays and Holy Days. The Fellows were to teach grammar and train the six choristers of Jesus in song and music. They were also to teach promising boys who did not aspire to the priesthood reading, writing, and reckoning, free of charge. If the boys continued to show merit, they should be taught the rudiments of grammar and music. The college was dissolved around 1550 by
The teaching of grammar to boys continued at Rotherham after the 1550s. The
Rotherham is still remembered in the name of Thomas Rotherham College, which is the post-1967 descendant of the Rotherham Grammar School for Boys.
Citations
- ^ Horrox 2004.
- ^ Berry, William, County Genealogies; Pedigrees of the Families of the County of Sussex, (London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper), 1830 p. 310 Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ^ Bennett, Henry Leigh, Archbishop Rotherham, (Lincoln: J.W. Ruddock, 1901), pp. 6-7 Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ^ "Rotheram, Thomas (RTRN443T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Fryde et al. 1996, p. 268
- ^ Fryde et al. 1996, p. 256
- ^ a b Fryde et al. 1996, p. 282.
- ^ Fryde et al. 1996, pp. 95–96.
- ^ a b Fryde et al. 1996, p. 88.
- ISBN 1 84306 049 3, pp. 51 & 52
- ^ Ross & Edward IV, p. 417
- ^ Ross & Richard III, p. 76
- ^ Ross & Richard III, p. 42
- ^ Davies 1995, p. 142.
- ^ a b Ross & Edward IV, p. 268
References
- Davies, Richard G. (1995). "The Church and the Wars of the Roses". In Pollard, A. J. (ed.). The Wars of the Roses. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-12697-2.
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
- Horrox, Rosemary (2004). "Rotherham, Thomas (1423–1500)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24155. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 0-520-02781-7.
- ISBN 0-520-04589-0.