John Longe (1548–1589) was an English-born

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

archbishop of Armagh In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

. He had a fondness for good living, which caused him to run up massive debts, but was also noted for his literary tastes.

Life

He was born in London; little seems to be known of his parents or his family background. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

where he was a King's Scholar. He later attended

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, where he was admitted a scholar on 13 August 1564; there is no record that he took a degree. After taking holy orders and holding many livings in England, he was promoted, from what was described as "a position of utter obscurity", to the see of Armagh and primacy of all Ireland in July 1584, on the nomination of

Sir John Perrot Sir John Perrot (7 November 1528 – 3 November 1592) served as Lord Deputy of Ireland, lord deputy to Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. It was formerly speculated that he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, t ...

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

, but against the inclination of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, who had a poor opinion of him. He seems to have done little to improve the abject condition of the

, although he was fully aware of it, remarking that he doubted that there were even forty Irish-born

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in the whole country. A plan to strictly enforce the laws against recusants was vetoed by the Queen personally: she pointed out that by his own account, the vast majority of the population was

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, and doubted that any good would come from provoking them. He moved in literary circles, being a friend of Edmund Spenser and Lodowick Bryskett. Bryskett recalled that he was present at Bryskett's cottage near Dublin on a well-known occasion in the late 1580s where Spenser confided to his friends that he had begun work on '' The Faerie Queene''. He was, rather belatedly, made a member of the

Irish Privy Council His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

in 1585 (the delay was apparently due to the Queen's low opinion of him). He died at

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

in 1589, being buried in Primate Octavian's vault at St Peter's Church, Drogheda. Lord Deputy William Fitzwilliam, in a letter dated 12 February 1589, to William Lyon,

Bishop of Cork The Bishop of Cork was a separate episcopal title which took its name after the city of Cork in Ireland. The title is now united with other bishoprics. In the Church of Ireland it is held by the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, and in the Roman C ...

, remarked that he "loved good cheer but too well". Due to his extravagant lifestyle, and the fact that his episcopal see produced little in the way of profit (the Queen had forbidden him to hold any other living in plurality), he accumulated very heavy debts, including one of £1000 to the Crown. At one point he was accused of resorting to

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...

to supplement his income. His widow Anne petitioned Fitzwilliam for redress for herself and her children, complaining that her husband's goods had been seized by the Crown to satisfy Longe's debts, despite his being "a good and faithful counsellor at this Board (i.e. the Irish Privy Council)". Although Fitzwilliam evidently did not share this high opinion of the Archbishop's services to the Crown, Anne's petition was granted, and the debt, despite its size, was written off.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Longe, John 1548 births 1589 deaths Anglican clergy from London People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Anglican archbishops of Armagh 16th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland British expatriate archbishops