Frances Matthew born Frances Barlow also known as Frances Parker (1550 – 1629) was an English benefactor of

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

. Her father, her first father-in-law, her second husband and her sister's husbands were bishops.

Life

She was the daughter of Agatha (born Wellsborne) and William Barlow,

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's seat ...

. Her father was said to have been the first bishop to marry and her mother was a religious woman and it was a rumour that she was once a nun. Children of clergy were a novelty and they would have been called "priest's bastards" by conservative commentators. She married Matthew Parker who was the son of

Matthew Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a p ...

the Archbishop of Canterbury on 29 December 1569. Her father had been one of the four consecrators and the principal consecrator of the archbishop of Canterbury in 1559. Her husband died in 1575 leaving her pregnant. The child was born and was also called Matthew but he died too within months. After her first husband's death she married

Tobias Matthew Tobias Matthew (also Tobie and Toby; 13 June 154629 March 1628), was an Anglican bishop who was President of St John's College, Oxford, from 1572 to 1576, before being appointed Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1579 to 1583, and Matthew ...

, the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

. Their son,

Tobie Matthew Sir Tobie Matthew (also sometimes spelt Mathew; 3 October 157713 October 1655), born in Salisbury, was an English member of parliament and courtier who converted to Roman Catholicism and became a priest. He was sent to Spain to promote the pr ...

was an MP and later a convert to Roman Catholicism. Her husband, Tobias, left his fortune not to his sons or the church but to his wife. Amongst his possessions were 600 books and they were valued then at £300 and Frances give them all to York Minster. These books are the basis of the library (now at

Old Palace, York The Old Palace in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England, is also known as the Minster Library and is in Dean's Park. It houses York Minster’s library and archives as well as the Collections Department and conservation studio. Its name i ...

). Frances had been his wife for over fifty years and she died the following year and she was buried in York Minster's lady chapel.

References

1550 births 1629 deaths British philanthropists {{Improve categories, date=October 2022