Thomas Wynter
Thomas Wynter or Winter (c. 1510 – c. 1546) was the
Biography
Thomas Wynter's exact date of birth is unknown, but most scholars argue that he was born sometime around the year 1510.
Wynter supposedly grew up North of London in an area (now part of London) called Willesden.[8] In August 1518 at roughly age nine, Wynter matriculated to the University of Louvain.[1] He studied Latin, among other elements of classical education, under his first known tutor, Maurice Birchinshaw.[9] Within a few years, Wynter received dispensation to start holding clerical offices, and obtained three benefices by June 1522, including the lucrative prebend of Milton at Lincoln Cathedral.[10] Wynter would go on to obtain several more benefices in England over the next few years, despite the fact that he was studying abroad almost constantly until 1529. He became Archdeacon of York on 31 August 1523, which he held longer than any other benefice, before surrendering it in June 1540.[11] When his father, Wolsey, spoke of Wynter in his correspondence, he referred to him as the Dean of Wells, a position he received in January 1526.[12]
Although Wynter studied in Paris with some of the best Humanists in Europe, he never showed any serious aptitude beyond normal intelligence.[13] Wynter certainly made strong attempts at learning, attending public lectures, and often dedicating much of his time to studying.[14] However, Wynter was instead a surrogate for his father's influence, as well as a source of income. Scholars in Paris praised Wynter partly for his own skills, but also for Wolsey's sake.[15] Wynter would often entertain guests, and was forced to spend considerable sums of money on furniture and housing to befit the son of a Cardinal as important as Wolsey.[16] Besides his ecclesiastical income, Wynter also received the mineral rights to the bishopric of Durham, worth £185 per year, in 1528.[17] In total, Wynter's lands and benefices were worth about £1,575 per year in 1525, and would be worth £2,700 per year in November 1529.[18] Most of Wynter's income was siphoned off by Wolsey, who forwarded around £200 per year to Wynter in Paris, which helps explain Wynter's near constant requests for more money.[19] Despite his son's less than stellar intellect, Wolsey continued to try and bestow greater honours on Wynter, including a failed attempt to secure the Diocese of Durham in 1528.[20]
Historians have traditionally seen Wolsey's promotion of his son as an example of the corruption in
Cardinal Wolsey died in November 1530, and Wynter was left without a protector. He reached out and came under the patronage of two of the leading ministers in Henry VIII's government,
Wynter returned to England and court in July 1534 in poverty. He managed to get an audience with Henry VIII and Queen
Bodye purchased the rights to the archdeaconry for 35 years, for £30 per year, and a £150 down payment.[36] Over the next three years, Bodye received the rents and fees due to Wynter, slowly building up a resentment among the parishioners and the resident clergy. In 1540, Bishop John Vesey of Exeter brought suit against Wynter, citing that Wynter had "indulged in prohibited games and in other things contrary to the office of an archdeacon", largely as a front to nullify the lease between Wynter and Bodye.[37] Following this citation, Bodye was refused admittance into the Church in Cornwall and forcibly prevented from trying to collect payments from the parishioners. Bodye scuffled with John Harrys, the priest of the church, and threatened him with a knife. The chaos and lawsuits that followed lasted years as the people of Cornwall tried to remove Bodye, and Bodye sought to protect his rights.[38] Besides bringing suits in Chancery and Star Chamber, Bodye managed to convince Cromwell and the king to order Vesey and the dean and chapter of Exeter to confirm the lease under their episcopal and chapter seals.[39]
Over the course of the unfolding events and lawsuits involving William Bodye, Wynter resigned his positions as archdeacon of York.[40] Once the suits in Star Chamber settled in 1543, Wynter quietly resigned as archdeacon of Cornwall and provost of Beverly in exchange for a pension of £86 per year for the first five years, and diminishing to £30 per year after.[1][41] Wynter after his resignations falls into some obscurity, despite being no older than thirty-five. He may be the same Thomas Wynter who possessed a small prebend in tenure of Thame Abbey in Saunderton, Buckinghamshire, in the first half of 1535.[42] This Thomas Wynter held on to the prebend through the dissolution of the abbey, and had his ownership confirmed in 1546.[43]
List of Offices and Benefices
Office or Benefice | Date of Assumption | Date of Resignation |
---|---|---|
Canon and Prebend of Timsbury | Unknown | 7 December 1529[44] |
Prebend of Bedwyn | 25 March 1522[45] | 4 December 1529[45] |
Prebend of Milton Ecclesia | 1 April 1522[46] | 1 December 1529[46] |
Prebend of Palishal at Overhall | 2 June 1522[47] | 2 August 1522[47] |
Prebend of Norwell at Overhall | 2 August 1522[47] | before 12 December 1529[48] |
Prebend of Fridaythorpe | 30 September 1522[49] | 9 January 1523[50] |
Prebend of Strensall | 9 January 1523[51] | 20 December 1529[51] |
Archdeacon of York | 31 August 1523[52] | 26 June 1540[52] |
Rector of Winwick | c. 1525[53] | 24 November 1529 |
Dean of Wells Cathedral | c. January 1526[1][54] | before November 1529[55] |
Prebend of St. Peters, Beverley | before 28 February 1526[56] | before 1535[57] |
Archdeacon of Richmond | 24 March 1526[58] | 7 December 1529[58] |
Rector of St. Matthew's, Ipswich | before 26 March 1526[54] | before or c. 26 June 1528[59] |
Prebend of Lutton | before 26 March 1526[54] | before November 1529[60] |
Prebend of Odiham | before 26 March 1526[54] | c. February 1530[61] |
Chancellor of Diocese of Salisbury | before 26 March 1526[54] | 4 February 1530[62] |
Rector of Rudby | before 26 March 1526[54] | after 7 April 1533[63] |
Provost of Beverley | before 26 March 1526[54] | after July 1540[64] |
Archdeacon of Suffolk | 12 November 1526[65] | before 25 April 1529[66] |
Prebend of Rampton | after 30 October 1527[67] | 8 November 1540[68] |
Warden of St. Leonard's Hospital | 17 July 1528[69] | 11 December 1529[70] |
Archdeacon of Norfolk | before 23 August 1528[71] | 1 March 1530[72] |
Vicar of Atwick | before 1535[73] | after or c. 1535[73] |
Vicar of Ratcliffe-on-Soar | before 1535[74] | after or c. 1535[74] |
Prebend of Saunderton | before 1535[42] | c. 1546[43][75] |
Archdeacon of Cornwall | 8 October 1537[76] | before 25 May 1543[76] |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g [1] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online (ODNB), "Thomas Wynter" by Julian Lock.
- ^ Peter G. Bietenholz and Thomas B. Deutscher, eds. Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, 3 volumes (Toronto, Canada: 1985-7) 3:455-6.
- ^ Stella Fletcher, Cardinal Wolsey: A Life in Renaissance Europe, (London, U.K.: 2009) pp. 7, 17.
- ^ Peter Gwyn, The King's Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey, (London, U.K.: 1990) pp. 301–302.
- ^ Charles G. Nauert, Jr. and Alexander Dalzell, eds. Collected Works of Erasmus, Volume 11: Letters 1535–1657, (Toronto, Canada: 1994) p. 235 (Letter No. 1595).
- ^ Calendar of State Papers, Spanish, 1529–1530, (London, U.K.: 1879) No. 194, p. 304.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers, Milan, 1385–1618, (London, U.K.: 1912) No. 817, p. 540.
- ^ A. F. Pollard, Wolsey: Church and State in Sixteenth-Century England, (New York, NY: 1929) p. 308.
- ^ Bietenholz and Deutscher, eds. Contemporaries, 1:148.
- ^ John Le Neve, et al., Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 1300–1541, 12 volumes (London, U.K.: 1962–1967) 1:92; Pollard, Wolsey p. 309.
- ^ Le Neve, et al. Fasti, 1300–1541, 6:19.
- ^ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII (L&P), 37 volumes in 21 (London, U.K.: 1862–1920) Volume 4, nos. 2054, 4521, 4824.
- ^ Thomas F. Mayer, Thomas Starkey and the Commonweal: Humanist Politics and Religion in the Reign of Henry VIII, (Cambridge, U.K.: 1989) pp. 47–48.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, nos. 3955, 4015, and 4294.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 2805.
- ^ Wynter furnished the house and entertained the Duke of Suffolk and the Earl of Southampton during their stay in Paris in 1529. L&P, Volume 4, nos. 5598, 3955, 4015.
- ^ Pollard, Wolsey, p. 309; L&P, Volume 4, no. 4229 (7).
- ^ Nauert and Dalzell, Collected Works of Erasmus, Volume 11, p. 235; Pollard, Wolsey, p. 311;[2] Edward Herbert, The Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth, (London, U.K.: 1649) p. 270.
- ^ Pollard, Wolsey, p. 311; ODNB, "Wynter" by Lock.
- ^ [3] Arthur F. Leach, Memorials of Beverley Minster: The Chapter Act Book of the Collegiate Church of St. John of Beverley, 1286–1347, Volume 2, (Durham, U.K.: 1903) p. xcvii; L&P, Volume 4, no. 4824.
- ^ Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament, 1529–1536, (Cambridge, U.K.: 1970) p. 85.
- ^ Gwyn, King's Cardinal, p. 302.
- ^ G. W. Bernard, The Late Medieval English Church: Vitality and Vulnerability before the Break with Rome, (New Haven, CT: 2012) pp. 63–78.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 5749 (p. 2552).
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 6023 (p. 2683).
- ^ L&P, Volume 5, no. 1453.
- ^ James K. McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI, (Oxford, U.K.: 1965) pp. 52–54.
- ^ Jonathan Woolfson, Padua and the Tudors: English Students in Italy, 1485–1603, (Toronto, Canada: 1998), p. 286.
- ^ L&P, Volume 5, nos. 1210, 1452; Volume 6, no. 299; Volume 7, no. 100.
- ^ L&P, Volume 7, no. 280.; W. Gordon Zeeveld, Foundations of Tudor Policy, (Cambridge, MA: 1948) pp. 92–94.
- ^ Eric Ives, Anne Boleyn, (New York, NY: 1986) pp. 329–330.
- ^ L&P, Volume 10, no. 86.iii.
- ^ L&P, Volume 8, nos. 132, 511, 579; Volume 9, no. 101; Volume 10, nos. 418, 661.
- ^ A. L. Rowse, Tudor Cornwall: A Portrait of a Society, new edition (New York, NY: 1969), pp. 148.
- ^ John Le Neve, et al. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 1541–1857: Volume 12, Exeter, (London, U.K.: 2007) p. 26.
- ^ Rowse, Tudor Cornwall, p. 150.
- ^ [4] Frances Rose-Troup, The Western Rebellion of 1549, (London, U.K.: 1913) p. 60.
- ^ J. B. W. Chapman, List of Proceedings in the Court of Star Chamber, 1485–1558, (London, U.K.: 1901) pp. 23 ([5]), 45 ([6]); Barrett L. Beer, Rebellion and Riot: Popular Resistance in England during the Reign of Edward VI, revised edition, (Kent, OH: 2005), p. 46.
- ^ Historical Manuscripts Commission, Fifth Report, Appendix, (London, U.K.: 1876) p. 296.
- ^ Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 6:19; L&P, Volume 15, no. 861.
- ^ [7] Leach, Memorials of Beverley Minster, pp. xcviii–xcix.
- ^ a b John Caley and Joseph Hunter, eds., Valor Ecclesiasticus Temp. Henr. VIII, 6 Volumes (London, U.K.:1810–1834) 2:214.
- ^ a b L&P Volume 17, no. 881 (26); Volume 21, Part 2, no. 648 (25) (p.336)
- ^ Herbert Chitty, ed. Registrum Thome Wolsey, Cardinalis Ecclesie Wintoniensis Administratoris (Oxford, U.K.: 1926), pp. 63, 180; [8]Victoria County History of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Volume 4 (London, U.K.: 1911) p. 488.
- ^ a b [9] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 3:30.
- ^ a b [10] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 1:92.
- ^ a b c [11] A. F. Leach, ed. Memorials of Southwell Minster, (London, U.K.: 1891) p. 152.
- ^ Leach, Memorials of Southwell Minster, p. 158.
- ^ [12] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 6:52.
- ^ Leach, Memorials of Beverley Minster, p. xcv.
- ^ a b [13] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 6:82.
- ^ a b [14] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 6:19.
- ^ L&P Volume 4, Appendix no. 61;[15] Victoria County History of Lancashire, Volume 4, (London, U.K.: 1911) p. 127.
- ^ a b c d e f g L&P, Volume 4, no. 2054.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 6047 (p. 2697); Lehmberg, Reformation Parliament, pp. 80–81.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 2001.
- ^ Caley and Hunter, eds. Valor Ecclesiasticus, 5:132.
- ^ a b [16] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 6:27.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, nos. 4423, 4424.
- ^ [17] Held as Dean of Wells. Victoria County History of Somerset, Volume 2, (London, U.K.: 1911) p. 164.
- ^ Attached to the Chancellorship of Salisbury. Chitty, ed. Registrum, p. xxiv.
- ^ [18] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 3:18.
- ^ L&P, Volume 6, no. 314.
- ^ L&P, Volume 15, no. 861.
- ^ [19] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 4:34.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 5492.
- ^ Leach, Memorials of Southwell Minster, p. 159.
- ^ L&P, Volume 16, no. 275.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 4526.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 6091.
- ^ L&P, Volume 4, no. 4659.
- ^ [20] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 4:30.
- ^ a b Caley and Hunter, Valor Ecclesiasticus, 5:121.
- ^ a b Caley and Hunter, Valor Ecclesiasticus, 5:167.
- ^ [21]Victoria County History of Buckingham, Volume 3, (London, U.K.: 1925) pp. 94–95.
- ^ a b [22] Le Neve, Fasti, 1300–1541, 9:17.