William Barlow (bishop of Chichester)

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William Barlow
William Barlow
John Barlow
Margaret Overton
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William Barlow (also spelled Barlowe; c. 1498 – 13 August 1568) was an English Augustinian

Lutheran tract and a supposed recantation under Mary I. He was one of the four consecrators and the principal consecrator of Matthew Parker
, as archbishop of Canterbury in 1559.

Life

William Barlow was born in

Essex, England in about 1498 to Robert Barlow, merchant and deputy customs officer of Colchester and his wife Anna.[3]
Details of his childhood and early education are still unknown. Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities have laid claim to Barlow, but there is no extant evidence.

An Augustinian

Cardinal Wolsey in 1528,[9][1][10] and Barlow was granted a yearly pension of 40 shillings.[11]
Already by 1526 he was in contact with the literature of the Protestant reformers, and he may have been the courier who brought a work of Johannes
Bugenhagen to Thomas More.[12] After 1528, Barlow spent some time on the continent and became familiar with the reformist doctrines of Martin Luther and others, many of whom he met. He also experienced the new social organisation brought about by the reformers. His written account was published initially in 1531.[13]

Court circles

There is little factual evidence to suggest that Barlow played a major role in the Court of Henry VIII. The main reference linking him with a courtly position is contained in one of Henry's letters to James V of Scotland. This letter of October 1535 introduces "our trusty and right welbeloved Counsaillour Mr Barlowe, Clerke, Pryour of the Monastery of Bisham, being sufficiently instructed in the specialities of certain grete and weighty causes."[14] Much has been made of his supposed involvement with the king's 'great matter'; his desire to rid himself of Queen Catherine by getting his marriage to her annulled. However, a careful study of all the available communications and other documents suggests that it was William's brother John Barlow who played the major role. It was certainly he who was closely associated with the Bullen (Boleyn) family, not William.

What is apparent is that William Barlow was appointed as prior of

diocese of St David's, a suggestion supported by John Barlow, but the bishop Richard Rawlins, soon to be a troublesome opponent, rejected him.[16]

William experienced hostile opposition to his reformist ideas and teaching and, with the support of

Bisham Priory in Berkshire. This he handed over to the king in 1536; but it was briefly a candidate to be upgraded to an abbey.[17] His brothers Roger and Thomas Barlow were purchasers or grantees of Haverfordwest Priory in 1546, after its dissolution in 1536. Roger Barlow was married and founded the Barlow family of Slebech. He had been a merchant and a companion of Sebastian Cabot[18] voyaging to South America; Thomas Barlow remained unmarried and was rector of Catfield.[9][19]

Missions to Scotland

William Barlow, then Prior of the Monastery of Bisham, was sent to Scotland in October 1534. He went again to James V of Scotland with William Howard in February 1536. Barlow wrote to Cromwell discussing the miseries of the English border people who were not well served by the judiciary, and compared their situation to the rule of a corrupt Abbot whose officers live in luxury and support his power whilst the brothers live in grievous wretchedness. In Edinburgh, Barlow encountered the suspicions of the King's Catholic advisors, who feared he had come to preach or take away Henry VIII's sister Margaret Tudor. Howard in his letter of 25 April 1536 referred to Barlow as 'My Lord of Saint David,' and regretted that Barlow could not advise him during his meeting with James V at Stirling Castle on Good Friday.[20]

Howard and Barlow were in Edinburgh in May 1536, and learnt of a plan for James V to marry his mistress

Lot to pass out of Sodom.[21]

Bishop in Wales

In 1536, he was successively

Lord Spiritual of the House of Lords. However, the Lambeth Registers (ff. 179–182) mention that he was elected in 1535 and his consecration took place on 22 February 1535, while Henry Wharton in his Anglia Sacra states that he was consecrated on 23 February 1535.[24]

He was involved in quarrels with his chapter, who sent up a series of articles addressed to the President of the

St Dogmaels Abbey was a particular target, mentioned in his correspondence with Cromwell; the abbey was suppressed in 1536.[26][27][28]

In despair of the western district around

St David's, he sought to transfer his see to relatively central Carmarthen. He established the later custom of the bishops residing at Abergwili, a village within two miles of Carmarthen; but the see did not move. He alienated the rich manor of Lamphey from the see. He tried to maintain a free grammar school at Carmarthen, and succeeded in obtaining the grant of some suppressed religious houses for the foundation of Christ College, Brecon, and of a grammar school there (19 January 1542).[1][15][29][30]

Barlow also took part in general ecclesiastical politics. He signed the articles drawn up in 1536. He shared in composing the

Erastianism, which maintained that simple appointment by the monarch was enough, without episcopal consecration, to constitute a lawful bishop, he shared with Thomas Cranmer. But the other opinions he maintained—that confession was not enjoined by Scripture; that there were just three sacraments; that laymen were as competent to excommunicate heretics as bishops or priests; that purgatory was a delusion—were extreme and incautious for the end of Henry VIII's reign.[1] At this period he was one of Cranmer's few close allies on the evangelical wing of the bishops: they two with Hugh Latimer were the main clerical supporters of humanist education, and with Thomas Goodrich were the most advanced reformers on some matters of doctrine.[31][32] In 1547 he supported Cranmer's Homilies campaign, preaching at St Paul's Cross, early in the new reign.[33]

Bath and Wells

Early in the reign of

prebend of Wiveliscombe, Barlow deprived him. The dean in return attempted to prove him guilty of praemunire,[35] the deanery being a royal donative. Barlow had to accept the king's pardon, but the deprivation stood. Barlow was in complete sympathy with the rulers and reformers of the time, but Cranmer did not trust him.[1]

He was now married to Agatha Wellesbourne. This marriage or relationship apparently anticipated the formal lifting of the requirement of clerical celibacy; the subsequent tradition around the large family of the Barlows has been attributed to compensatory apologetics.[36]

Later life

When

Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby and Richard Bertie in Wessl, where he was elected pastor of the small English congregation there.[38] A year later, however, following disagreements between the English and the local council, the Countess and her husband left, taking Barlow with them, and travelled to Weinheim where they were offered refuge. An envoy sent by Queen Mary caught up with them. He carried documents which Barlow insisted on seeing to find out if they were letters or orders to return. After further discussions, the envoy was neither able to persuade nor coerce the party to return to England.[39] From Weinheim, the group travelled on to Poland.[40]
It is likely that Barlow's wife and children were with him in exile; Agatha Barlow's memorial in St Mary's Church, Easton in Hampshire, clearly states that she was "A Companione with him in Banishmente."

Under Elizabeth I he was bishop of Chichester. Almost immediately she compelled him by Act of Parliament to give up manors, including Selsey.[1][41]

Works

It has been argued that pamphlets by Friar Jerome Barlow (or Barlowe) were by William Barlow.[9][42][43] Scholars remain divided on the issue. It may be that the independent work of both men has been compounded as that of a single author[44]

A work A dialogue describing the originall ground of these Lutheran faccions, and many of their abuses from 1531, printed by William Rastell, was reissued in 1553. It takes Martin Luther to be a heretic, and in it Barlow explains that contact with Lutherans had led into a temporary apostasy.[45] George Joye accused Thomas More of being the real author.[46]

Family

His five daughters each married clergymen who were to become bishops:

Two sons lived to maturity:

His wife Agatha died in 1595; there is a memorial to her in Easton, Hampshire.[50][51]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). "Barlow, William (d.1568)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ Chamber's Biographical Dictionary (1912).
  3. ^ Heather Dalton Merchants & Explorers, Roger Barlow, Sebastian Cabot & Networks of Atlantic Exchange 1500–1560 Oxford University Press (2016)
  4. ^ Victoria County Histories : "A History of the County of Norfolk Vol.2" (1906)
  5. ^ Glanmor Williams : entry for William Barlow in New Dictionary of National Biography (2015)
  6. ^ "Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Bromehill". A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2. Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1906. 374-375. British History Online Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  7. ^ The Works of John Bramhall, Vol.3, Page227 (1844)
  8. ^ E.G.Rupp : "Studies in the Making of the English Protestant Tradition" (1947)
  9. ^ a b c "Barlow, William (1499?-1568), Bishop.". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Bromehill". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  11. ^ Letters & Papers of Henry VIII, Volume 4, page 1864
  12. ^ Alistair Fox, Thomas More: History and Providence (1982), note p. 129.
  13. ^ Andrew Mclean : A noughtye and false lyeng boke : William Barlow and the Lutheran Factions : Renaissance Quarterly 31, No.2 (1978)
  14. ^ State Papers of Henry VIII, vol.7
  15. ^ a b "History of Pembrokeshire". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  16. ^ Letters & Papers of Henry VIII, Volume 8, page 160 and page 181
  17. ^ "Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Bisham". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  18. ^ Skelton, R. A. (1979) [1966]. "Cabot, Sebastian". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  19. ^ "Slebech Estate Records". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  20. ^ State Papers Henry VIII, vol. 5, part IV part 2 (1836) 7, 17–20, 36–38, 42
  21. ^ State Papers Henry VIII, vol. 5 part IV part 2, (1836), 46–49, Howard and Barlow to Henry VIII and Cromwell, 13 May 1536; 52, 23 May 1536.
  22. ^ Samuel Kinns, "Six hundred years"; or, Historical sketches of eminent men and women who have more or less come into contact with the abbey and church of Holy Trinity, Minories, from 1293 to 1893 (1898), pp. 196–9; PDF.
  23. ^ F.O. White, "Lives of the Elizabethan Bishops of the Anglican Church" (1898), p.8.
  24. ^ The Apostolical Succession of the English Clergy Traced from the Earliest Times, And, in the Four Dioceses of Canterbury, London, Norwich, and Ely, Continued to the Year M.DCCC.LXII. p. 8 (Google Books)
  25. ^ Duffy, p. 404.
  26. ^ http://www.shrinesofourlady.com/_eng/shrines/ceredigion.asp?cid=3&ccode=wal[permanent dead link]
  27. ^ http://www.welshabbey.org.uk/english/dissolution/[permanent dead link]
  28. ^ Robert Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell (2007), p. 161.
  29. ^ "Friends of Carmarthen Museum". Archived from the original on 14 August 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  30. ^ "Sir Henry Vaughans Company: Reenacting the Great Civil War at Carmarthenshire County Museum". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  31. ^ Maria Dowling, Humanism in the Age of Henry VIII (1986), p. 131.
  32. ^ Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life (1996), p. 294.
  33. ^ Duffy, p. 449.
  34. ^ Rambridge, Kate (2013). The Bishop's Palace. A guide to the palace and gardens. The Palace Trust. p. 10.
  35. ^ "Colleges: The cathedral of Wells." A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2. Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1911. 162-169. British History Online website Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  36. ^ Peter Sherlock, Monuments, Reputation and Clerical Marriage in Reformation England: Bishop Barlow's Daughters, Gender & History, Volume 16 Issue 1, Pages 57 – 82; Published Online: 12 May 2004.
  37. ^ "A brief discourse of the Troubles begun at Frankfort"
  38. ^ "Lambeth Palace Library :MS 2523 f.1"
  39. ^ "A Narrative of the Pursuit of English Refugees in Germany"
  40. ^ "Christina Garrett : The Marian Exiles"
  41. ^ "Selsey". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  42. ^ A. Koszul, Was Bishop William Barlow Friar Jerome Barlow? (1928).
  43. ^ Listed in the DNB article as: 1. 'The Treatyse of the Burial of the Masse.' 2. ' A Dialogue between the Gentyllman and the Husbandman.' 3. 'The Clymynge up of Fryers and Religious Persones.' 4. 'A Description of Godes Words compared to the Lyght.' 5. 'A Convicyous Dialoge against Saynt. Thomas of Canterberye. (unpublished).
  44. ^ "Jerome Barlowe". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  45. ^ Peter Marshall, Religious Identities in Henry VIII's England (2006), p. 39.
  46. ^ Rainer Pineas, George Joy's Controversy with Thomas More, Moreana No. 38 (June 1973), p. 31; PDF, p. 3.
  47. ^ Dictionary of National Biography
  48. ^ "William Barlow, Mathematician". www.barlowgenealogy.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  49. ^ Document 21M58/T123 at Hampshire Record Office, Winchester
  50. ^ Peter Sherlock, Monuments and Memory in Early Modern England (2008), p. 121.
  51. ^ "Southern Life – Latest News Around the World". Retrieved 2 April 2016.

References

  • Retha M. Warnicke
    (1991) The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII
  • Eamon Duffy (1992), The Stripping of the Altars

Attribution

Further reading

  • John Robert Lunn (1897), Bishop Barlowe's Dialogue
  • Arthur Stapylton Barnes (1922), Bishop Barlow and Anglican Orders: A Study of the Original Documents
  • Andrew M. McLean, "Detestynge Thabomynacyon" : William Barlow, Thomas More and the Anglican Episcopacy, Moreana, XLIX, 1976, 67–77
  • Andrew M. McLean (editor) (1981), The work of William Barlowe: including Bishop Barlowe's "Dialogue on the Lutheran factions"

External links

Church of England titles
Preceded by Bishop of St Asaph
1535–1536
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Bishop of St David's

1536–1549
Succeeded by
Preceded by
William Knight
Bishop of Bath and Wells
1548–1553
Succeeded by
Preceded by Bishop of Chichester
1559–1568
Succeeded by