William Fitzwilliam (Dean of Wells)

Last updated

William Fitzilliam or Fitzjames was Dean of Wells Cathedral from 1540 to his resignation and surrender of the Deanery in late 1547. [1]

Contents

Early life

William Fitzwilliam was most likely born in 1522 in Yorkshire. His parents are unknown, but he was probably born into the Fitzwilliam family of Yorkshire. [2] The Fitzwilliam’s were a minor gentry family, gaining most of their wealth in the 1460s due to Edmund Fitzwilliam’s service to Richard, Duke of York and his son, Edward IV. [3] The family did not exercise much authority outside Yorkshire until one William Fitzwilliams was added to the household of Henry VIII c. 1500. [4] This William Fitzwilliam would serve Henry VIII as an ambassador, Privy Councilor, Treasurer of the Household, and Lord Admiral, among a host of other offices. The Earl of Southampton was the major patron to William Fitzwilliam, future Dean of Wells, and was the most likely cause of Fitzwilliam’s preferments. [5]

Fitzwilliam first occurs in the historical record as a gentleman servant to the Earl of Southampton in 1538. Being a "servant" of Southampton did not mean that Fitzwilliam was a domestic servant in Southampton's employment. Instead, Fitzwilliam was considered an "honourable" servant, or one who works by choice for someone of higher social standing. In the muster of 1539, Fitzwilliam was listed as one of 24 gentlemen in Southampton's service. [6] Fitzwilliam's service to Southampton was both in deference to the Earl's rank and also given with the expectation of Southampton's influence and patronage in future. [7] Fitzwilliam served as a witness and was able to sign his own name on depositions and confessions collected by Southampton in 1538. Southampton was investigating reports of unrest in Surrey and Kent as a result of rumors about new taxes on cattle. With the Pilgrimage of Grace fresh in their minds, Thomas Cromwell and Southampton were quick to identify the source of the rumors and prevent any further disturbances. [8] Fitzwilliam signed his name on at least three documents submitted to Cromwell as a result of Southampton’s investigation. [9] Southampton trusted Fitzwilliam, and engaged him as a courier to pick up £1000 from Cromwell for financing the construction of Calshot Castle and forts in East and West Cowes. [10] Fitzwilliam may also have gone to Ireland in 1539 on Southampton's order. [11]

Dean of Wells

Fitzwilliam's service to the Earl of Southampton paid off in December 1540. The Chapter of the Cathedral of Wells had appointed Thomas Cromwell as their dean in October 1537, at the behest of King Henry. Cromwell's fall from grace and execution in 1540 left several offices in government open, as well as the Deanship of Wells. [12] The Earl of Southampton was able to acquire Cromwell's position as Lord Privy Seal, which augmented his influence with the King. Cromwell was executed in July 1540, but the sub-dean of Wells, William Bowreman, did not request permission from Bishop John Clerk until 2 November. Southampton was well placed to promote his client and servant, William Fitzwilliam, to the well funded position as Dean of Wells, but Fitzwilliam was only 18 at the time, and was listed as a scholar at Oxford. Through Southampton's influence, Fitzwilliam secured a dispensation from Archbishop Cranmer. [13] Fitzwilliam's dispensation granted him the ability to hold ecclesiastical office for seven years without taking orders, and permitted non-residence so that he could continue to study at Oxford. The day after the dispensation was granted, the Bishop Clerk, who was in London with the Archbishop at the time, granted the Chapter of Wells permission to elect a dean. Fitzwilliam was elected soon after, and wrote to the King for permission to elect a Bishop two months later. [14]

Fitzwilliam rarely resided at the cathedral during his tenure as Dean, and the sub-dean handled most of the day-to-day operations. Fitzwilliam was likely studying at Oxford at this time. Fitzwilliam did not possess any other benefices besides those that accompanied his deanship, and so the position was his only means of supporting himself at Oxford. The practice of using a benefice to fund study at Oxford or Cambridge was common in the early sixteenth century, and had precedents in the Catholic Church under Rome. Archbishop Cranmer granted near identical dispensations under the Act Concerning Peter's Pence and Dispensations passed by parliament in 1534. [15] Fitzwilliam dispensed patronage of his own during his absence from the deanery. In 1542, he presented a Thomas Slatter to the vicarage of Wedmore. [16] He granted a James Dyer the office of steward Bempstone, and appointed a George Pygott as Bailiff of Bempstone and keeper of Wedmore park. [17] Fitzwilliam received his Bachelor of Arts from Oxford on 7 April 1544. [18] He received his degree as a "compounder", which was one who paid double the normal fee for a degree, and was, according to Anthony Wood, "usually done by rich dignitaries". This likely meant that Fitzwilliam was a "grand compounder", which was one whose father or sponsor (likely Southampton) was worth more than 40£ per year. [19]

Surrender of Deanery and Post-Dean Career

Soon after the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Fitzwilliam and the Deanery fell into disarray. By March, the recently created Duke of Somerset, Edward Seymour sought to augment his holdings in the county Somerset and surrounding areas. The previous Archdeacon of Wells, Polydore Vergil, had surrendered the lands of the Archdeaconry to the crown in 1546. Now Somerset seized lands from the Bishop and persuaded Fitzwilliam to surrender the lands of the Deanery. [20] The Deanery was in limbo between March 1547 and January 1548, as the lands had been granted to Somerset in July, but the offices and Cathedral still existed. The Chapter even elected Polydore Vergil and two others in October 1547 to represent the chapter in Convocation. [21] Fitzwilliam's dispensation expired when he turned 25, which would be sometime in late 1547 or early 1548. He had to either take Holy orders, or surrender his position as Dean. Fitzwilliam decided to do the latter, and for his surrender of both the lands and office, he was rewarded with an annual pension of about 400 marks (266£, 20d). No contemporary source records the pension, but an incomplete audit conducted in 1552 of the crown's finances includes the pension in its list of expenses for the year 1550-1551. [22]

In January 1548, John Goodman was appointed to serve as Dean, and the Deanery was re-founded as a "Crown donative." The first parliament of Edward VI granted lands from the Archdeaconry and various benefices to re-create the Deanery with reduced lands and funds. The Dean's house was taken by Somerset, and then regranted to the Bishop, William Barlow. [23] Fitzwilliam disappears from the historical record after the report of the 1552 commission, and it not known where he resided after his surrender of the church lands.

Note on Names and Aliases

As Tobias Hug remarked, "forenames as well as surnames were very fluid," in early modern England. [24] Aliases were uncommon but not unheard of in Tudor England, and these aliases were not necessarily a nefarious way to avoid identification. William Fitzwilliam was known by at least two other names during his time as Dean of Wells: William Fitzjames and Thomas Fitzwilliam. Thomas Fitzwilliam only occurs once, in the patent rolls of Edward VI, stating "Thomas Fitzwilliams, late dean of Wells has placed his deanery in the king's hands and retired." [25] All other records refer to him as either William Fitzwilliam or William Fitzjames. The alias of Fitzjames was first applied by Anthony Wood in his Athenae Oxoniensis. [26] It is not clear what source Wood was using in his list of graduates of Oxford, but later antiquarians and historians followed his lead. Antiquarians John Le Neve, Bishop White Kennett, John Hutchins, and Joseph Foster followed Wood in listing Fitzwilliams as Fitzjames. [27]

Contemporary sources tend to refer to Fitzwilliam by that name. The records of his association with the Earl of Southampton, his dispensation in the records of the Faculty Office Register, documents in the Cathedral Chapter Act Books at Wells, the register of Bishop Knight, the register of the University of Oxford, and the record of his pension in the Commission Report of 1552 all use the name William Fitzwilliam. [28] Two seventeenth-century historians also prefer the name Fitzwilliam over Fitzjames: Francis Godwin in 1616, and Henry Wharton, publishing at the same time as Wood in 1691. [29] Most modern historians, including William Page, Phyllis Hembry, Derrick Bailey, L. S. Colchester, and the modern editors of Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae use Fitzwilliam in their works. [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Northburgh</span> 14th-century Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and Treasurer of England

Roger Northburgh was a cleric, administrator and politician who was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1321 until his death. His was a stormy career as he was inevitably involved in many of the conflicts of his time: military, dynastic and ecclesiastical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Lake (bishop)</span> Bishop of Bath and Wells

Arthur Lake was Bishop of Bath and Wells and a translator of the King James Version of The Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gisa (bishop of Wells)</span> 11th-century Bishop of Wells

Gisa was Bishop of Wells from 1060 to 1088. A native of Lorraine, Gisa came to England as a chaplain to King Edward the Confessor. After his appointment to Wells, he travelled to Rome rather than be consecrated by Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury. As bishop, Gisa added buildings to his cathedral, introduced new saints to his diocese, and instituted the office of archdeacon in his diocese. After the Norman Conquest, Gisa took part in the consecration of Lanfranc, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, and attended Lanfranc's church councils. His tomb in Wells Cathedral was opened in the 20th century and a cross was discovered in his tomb.

John of Tours or John de Villula (died 1122) was a medieval Bishop of Wells in England who moved the diocese seat to Bath. He was a native of Tours and was King William I of England's doctor before becoming a bishop. After his consecration as bishop, he was either given or purchased Bath Abbey, a rich monastery, and then moved the headquarters of the diocese from Wells, to the abbey. He rebuilt the church at Bath, building a large cathedral that no longer survives. He gave a large library to his cathedral and received the right to hold a fair in Bath. Not noted for his scholarship, he died suddenly in 1122.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald (bishop of Moray)</span>

Archibald was a Scottish prelate best known for involvement in a dispute with the Pope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Stewart (bishop of Moray)</span> Scottish prelate and administrator

Andrew Stewart was a 15th-century Scottish prelate and administrator.

Michael Ochiltree [Ouchtre] was a 15th-century Scottish prelate and administrator. A close associate of King James I of Scotland, from the late 1410s he rose in rank from canon to Dean of Dunblane and then Bishop of Dunblane. He was responsible for the coronation of King James II of Scotland, and he obtained a grant from the crown which allowed the comparatively small diocese of Dunblane to attain historically unprecedented viability.

William of Bitton was a medieval Bishop of Bath and Wells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William of Louth</span> 13th-century Bishop of Ely

William of Louth, also known as William de Luda was a medieval Bishop of Ely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean of Exeter</span> Head of the Chapter of Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, England

The Dean of Exeter is the head of the Chapter of Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, England. The chapter was established by William Briwere, Bishop of Exeter (1224–44) who set up the offices of dean and chancellor of Exeter Cathedral, allowing the chapter to elect those officers. The deanery is at 10 The Close, Exeter. The current dean is Jonathan Greener.

Thomas Wynter or Winter was the Archdeacon of York, Richmond, Cornwall, Provost of Beverley, Dean of Wells Cathedral and the illegitimate son of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Peter's Collegiate Church</span> Church

St Peter's Collegiate Church is located in central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate church was central to the development of the town of Wolverhampton, much of which belonged to its dean. Until the 18th century, it was the only church in Wolverhampton and the control of the college extended far into the surrounding area, with dependent chapels in several towns and villages of southern Staffordshire.

William Kingsmill alias William Basyng (?–1549) was Prior of St. Swithun's Priory, Winchester until the Dissolution of the Monastery in 1539; it was a Benedictine monastic house and its shrine to the saint popularly associated with determining the entire period of pre-harvest weather was a place of pilgrimage. He was appointed as the first Dean of Winchester Cathedral at the foundation of the new chapter in 1541.

George Chandler (1779?–1859) was an Anglican priest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Man</span>

Henry Man was an English clergyman who served as the Bishop of Sodor and Man in the 16th century.

Thomas Tuttebury was the Dean of Wells at the beginning of the fifteenth century. He was also simultaneously Archdeacon of Buckingham.

William Cosyn was priest, a JP for Somerset from 1506–1516, and Dean of Wells Cathedral from 1498–1525.

John Goodman was Dean of Wells Cathedral from 1548 to 1550, and again from 1554 to 1561.

Benjamin Heydon or Haydon (1567–1607) was the Headmaster at Winchester College from 1596 to 1601/1602, a JP for Somerset, and Dean of Wells Cathedral from 1602 until his death in 1607.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Marston</span> English priest

Nicholas Marston was a 16th century English priest. It is uncertain whether his appointment as Archdeacon of Cornwall in 1574 took effect. He was one of three brothers, who had ecclesiastical careers in the Cathedral church of Exeter, and in that diocese within Cornwall and Devon. Their father was a wealthy citizen Haberdasher in the city of London who gave financial support to the early career of his wife's brother William Bradbridge, later bishop of Exeter. Thomas's daughters made advantageous City marriages, and the network of their mercantile patronage and relations with the bishops, deans and chapters of Exeter and of Bath and Wells, and with the University of Oxford, spanned several decades of the Tudor and early Stuart period.

References

  1. ↑ John Le Neve, et al. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 1541-1857, 12 volumes (London, U.K.: 1969-2007), 5:5.
  2. ↑ Joseph Hunter, South Yorkshire: The History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster in the Diocese and County of York, 2 volumes (London, U.K.: 1828-1831) 1:242, 251, 2:54-57.
  3. ↑ P. A. Johnson, Duke Richard of York, 1411-1460 (Oxford, U.K.: 1988) p. 222, 231; Robert Somerville, History of the Duchy of Lancaster, Volume 1: 1265-1603, (London, U.K.: 1953) p. 529.
  4. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of Biography Online (ODNB Online), "William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton" by William B. Robison.
  5. ↑ "Sir William Fitzwilliam (c. 1490-1542)" by S. R. Johnson in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, 3 volumes, edited by S. T. Bindoff (London, U.K.: 1982) 2:142-145.
  6. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII (L&P), 26 volumes in 37 parts (London, U.K.: 1862-1932) 14.1, No. 522 (p. 295).
  7. ↑ Rosemary Horrox, "Servitude", in Fifteenth-Century Attitudes: Perceptions of Society in Late Medieval England edited by idem (London, 1994) pp. 61-72; Ann Kussmaul, Servants in Husbandry in Early Modern England (Cambridge, U.K.: 1981), pp. 3-8.
  8. ↑ Adam Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700, (Oxford, U.K.: 2000), p. 356.
  9. ↑ L&P, 13.1, Nos. 392, 440, 475.
  10. ↑ H. M. Colvin, ed. The History of the King's Works, 6 volumes (London, U.K.: 1963-1982), 4:527-530.
  11. ↑ L&P, 14.2, Nos. 309, 710, 782 (p. 327).
  12. ↑ Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life, (New York, NY: 2018) pp. 420, 506-527.
  13. ↑ D. S. Chambers, ed. Faculty Office Registers, 1534-1549: A Calendar of the First Two Registers of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Faculty Office, (Oxford, U.K.: 1966) p. 226; C. W. Boase, ed. Register of the University of Oxford, Volume 1: 1449-1463, 1505-1571, (Oxford, U.K.: 1885) p. 207.
  14. ↑ Historical Manuscripts Commission, Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Dean and Chapter of Wells (Cal. Mss. Wells), 2 volumes (London, U.K.: 1907-1914) 2:252-253.
  15. ↑ Stanford Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament, 1529-1536 (London, U.K.: 1970) p. 192; Statutes of the Realm, 11 volumes (London, U.K.: 1810-1828) 3:464-471.
  16. ↑ Henry Maxwell-Lyte, ed. The Registers of Thomas Wolsey, John Clerk, William Knyght, and Gilbert Bourne, Bishops of Bath and Wells, (London, U.K.: 1940) pp. 95-96.
  17. ↑ Cal. Mss. Wells, 2:260; List and Index Society, Exchequer, Augmentation Office, Calendar of Ancient Deeds, Series B, 4 volumes, (London, U.K.: 1973-1976) Vol. 2, No. 7573.
  18. ↑ Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses: An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops...of Oxford...1500-1690, 2 volumes (London, U.K.: 1691-1692) 1:698; Anthony A. Wood and Philip Bliss, eds. Fasti Oxonienses; or Annals of the University of Oxford, 1500-1691, 2 volumes (London, U.K.: 1815-1820) 1:120.
  19. ↑ James McConica, ed. The History of the University of Oxford, Volume 3: The Collegiate University, (Oxford, U.K.: 1986) p. 553; Andrew Clark, ed. Register of the University of Oxford, Volume 2: 1571-1622, 4 parts (Oxford, U.K.: 1887-1889) 1:63-64.
  20. ↑ ODNB Online, "Edward Seymour, First Duke of Somerset" by Barrett L. Beer; Victoria County History of Somerset, Volume 2, edited by William Page (London, U.K.: 1911) p. 48; Phyllis M. Hembry, The Bishops of Bath and Wells, 1540-1640: Social and Economic Problems, (London, U.K.: 1967), pp. 105-123.
  21. ↑ Cal. Mss. Wells, 2:264.
  22. ↑ W. C. Richardson, ed. The Report of the Royal Commission of 1552, (Morgantown, WV: 1974) pp. 89-91; J. D. Alsop, "The Revenue Commission of 1552", 'The Historical Journal', Vol. 22, No. 3 (September 1979) pp. 511-533.
  23. ↑ Derrick S. Bailey, The Canonical Houses of Wells, (Gloucester, U.K.: 1982) p. 104; idem, ed. Wells Cathedral Chapter Act Book, 1666-1683, (London, U.K.: 1973), p. v.
  24. ↑ Hug, Impostures in Early Modern England: Representations and Perceptions of Fraudulent Identities, (Manchester, U.K.: 2009) p. 25.
  25. ↑ Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward VI, 6 volumes (London, U.K.: 1921-1929), 1:192.
  26. ↑ Athenae Oxonienses 1:698.
  27. ↑ Le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae; or, An Essay Towards Deducing a Regular Succession...in each Cathedral, Collegiate Church or Chapel... (London, U.K.: 1716) p. 36; A Catalogue of the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 volumes (London, U.K.: 1819) p. 243; Hutchins, ed. History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, 3rd edition, 4 volumes (London, U.K.: 1861-1870) 4:129; Foster, ed. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714, 4 volumes (London, U.K.: 1891) 2:504.
  28. ↑ L&P, 13.1, Nos. 392, 475; Chambers, Faculty Office Registers, p. 226; Cal. Mss. Wells 2:253-266; Maxwell-Lyte, ed. Registers of Bath and Wells, pp. 95-96; Boase, ed. Register of the University of Oxford, p. 207; Richardson, ed. Royal Commission of 1552, p. 91.
  29. ↑ Godwin, De Praesulibus Angliae Commentarius, (London, U.K.: 1616) p. 449; Wharton, Anglia Sacra, Sive Collectio Historiarum..., (London, U.K.: 1691) 1:590.
  30. ↑ Victoria County History of Somerset, Volume 2, p. 48; Hembry, The Bishops of Bath and Wells, p. 117; Bailey, Wells Cathedral Chapter Act Book, p. v; Colchester, ed. Wells Cathedral: A History, (Wells, U.K.: 1982), p. 46; Le Neve, et al. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 5:5.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.