Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs.
Life
He was born at
Cottenham
Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Cottenham is one of the larger villages surrounding the city of Cambridge, located around five miles north of the city. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 6095. Cottenham ...
,
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...
, the son and grandson of Anglican clergymen, who were both named John Tenison; his mother was Mercy Dowsing. He was educated at
Norwich School
Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...
, going on to
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th centur ...
, as a scholar on Archbishop
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 ...
's foundation. He graduated in 1657, and was chosen fellow in 1659. For a short time he studied medicine, but in 1659 was privately ordained. As curate of
St Andrew the Great
St Andrew the Great is a Church of England parish church in central Cambridge. Rebuilt in late Gothic style in 1843, it is a Grade II listed building. The church has a conservative evangelical tradition and participates in the Anglican Reform mov ...
, Cambridge from 1662, he set an example by his devoted attention to the sufferers from the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
. In 1667 he was presented to the living of
Holywell-cum-
Needingworth
Needingworth is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Needingworth lies approximately east of Huntingdon and just west of the Prime Meridian. Needingworth is in the civil parish of Holywell-cum-Needingworth. Needingworth is situated within Hu ...
,
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...
, by the
Earl of Manchester
Duke of Manchester is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the current senior title of the House of Montagu. It was created in 1719 for the politician Charles Montagu, 4th Earl of Manchester. Manchester Parish in Jamaica was named afte ...
, to whose son he had been tutor, and in 1670 to that of
St Peter Mancroft
St Peter Mancroft is a parish church in the Church of England, in the centre of Norwich, Norfolk. After the two cathedrals, it is the largest church in Norwich. It was originally established by the then Earl of East Anglia, Ralph de Gael between ...
, Norwich.
In 1680 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and was presented by King
Charles II to the important London church of
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...
. Tenison, according to
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academi ...
, "endowed schools including
Archbishop Tenison's School, Lambeth, founded in 1685 and
Archbishop Tenison's School, Croydon, founded in 1714, set up a public library, and kept many curates to assist him in his indefatigable labours". Being a strenuous opponent of the Church of Rome, and "
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
lying within that parish, he stood as in the front of the battle all King James's reign". In 1678, in a ''Discourse of Idolatry'', he condemned the heathenish idolatry practised in the Church of Rome, and in a sermon which he published in 1681 on ''Discretion in Giving Alms'' was attacked by Andrew Poulton, head of the
Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
in the Savoy. Tenison's reputation as an enemy of Romanism led the
Duke of Monmouth to send for him before his execution in 1685, when Bishops
Thomas Ken
Thomas Ken (July 1637 – 19 March 1711) was an English cleric who was considered the most eminent of the English non-juring bishops, and one of the fathers of modern English hymnody.
Early life
Ken was born in 1637 at Little Berkhampstead, ...
and
Francis Turner refused to administer
holy communion
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...
; but, although Tenison spoke to him in "a softer and less peremptory manner" than the two bishops, he was, like them, not satisfied with the sufficiency of Monmouth's penitence.
Under King
William III, Tenison was in 1689 named a member of the ecclesiastical commission appointed to prepare matters towards a reconciliation of the Dissenters, the revision of the liturgy being specially entrusted to him. A sermon he preached on the commission was published the same year.
He strongly supported, at least in public, the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
, though not without some private misgivings, especially concerning the ejection of Archbishop
William Sancroft
William Sancroft (30 January 161724 November 1693) was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, and was one of the Seven Bishops imprisoned in 1688 for seditious libel against King James II, over his opposition to the king's Declaration of Indul ...
and the other "non-juring" bishops.
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon in his diary records some frank remarks made by Tenison on this subject at a dinner party in 1691:
He preached a funeral sermon for
Nell Gwyn
Eleanor Gwyn (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687; also spelled ''Gwynn'', ''Gwynne'') was a celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stag ...
in 1687, in which he represented her as truly penitent – a charitable judgment that did not meet with universal approval. The general liberality of Tenison's religious views won him royal favour, and, after being made
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.
The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...
in 1691, he was promoted to Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1694.
Archbishop of Canterbury
He attended Queen
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
during her last illness and preached her funeral sermon in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
. In 1695, when William went to take command of the army in the Netherlands, Tenison was appointed one of the seven lords justices to whom his authority was delegated. After Mary's death, Tenison was one of those who persuaded the King that his long and bitter quarrel with her sister Anne must be ended, as it had weakened the authority of the Crown. He was sworn in as a member of the
Privy Council of England
The Privy Council of England, also known as His (or Her) Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council (), was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England. Its members were often senior members of the House of Lords and the House of ...
in 1695 upon his appointment as
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
. This gave him the
Honorific Title "
The Right Honourable
''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The ter ...
" for Life.
Under Queen Anne
Along with
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academi ...
, he attended King William on his deathbed. He crowned William's successor,
Queen Anne, but during her reign was in very little favour at court: the Queen thought that he inclined too much to the Low Church, and clashed repeatedly with him over her sole right to appoint bishops. She entirely ignored his wishes when she appointed
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet (24 March 1650 – 19 July 1721) was an English Bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester. Trelawny is best known for his role in the events leading up to the Glorious Revolution which are s ...
, as
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except ...
: when he tried to remonstrate, the Queen cut him short with the cold remark that "the matter was decided." Only with great difficulty did he persuade her to appoint his nominee
William Wake
William Wake (26 January 165724 January 1737) was a priest in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 until his death in 1737.
Life
Wake was born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He took ...
, as
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.
The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...
.
Increasingly he lost influence to
John Sharp,
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 ...
, whom the Queen found far more congenial. He was a commissioner for the
Union with Scotland in 1706; but in the last years of the Queen's reign he was very much a secondary political figure, and from September 1710, though he was still nominally a member of the Cabinet, ceased to attend its meetings. A strong supporter of the Hanoverian succession, who shocked many by referring to Anne's death as a blessing, he was one of three officers of state to whom, on the death of Anne, was entrusted the duty of appointing a regent till the arrival of
George I, whom he crowned on 20 October 1714. For the last time at the
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...
of an English monarch, the Archbishop asked if the people accepted their new King: the witty
Catherine Sedley
Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, Countess of Portmore (21 December 1657 – 26 October 1717), daughter of Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet, was the mistress of King James II of England both before and after he came to the throne. Catheri ...
, former mistress of
James II, remarked: "Does the old fool think we will say no?". Tenison died in London a year later. He was instrumental in the last years of his life in the literary executorship of
Sir Thomas Browne
Sir Thomas Browne (; 19 October 1605 – 19 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a ...
's manuscript writings known as ''
Christian Morals
''Christian Morals'' is a prose work written by the physician Sir Thomas Browne as advice for his eldest children. It was published posthumously in 1716 and consists, as its title implies, of meditations upon Christian values and conduct.
The ...
''.
Other works
Besides the sermons and tracts above mentioned, and various others on the "Popish" controversy, Tenison was the author of ''The Creed of Mr Hobbes Examined'' (1670) and ''Baconia, or Certain Genuine Remains of Lord Bacon'' (1679). He was one of the founders of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518).
It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...
.
Family
He married Anne, daughter of
Richard Love
Richard Love (1596–1661) was an English churchman and academic, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, member of the Westminster Assembly, and Dean of Ely.
Life
He was son of Richard Love, an apothe ...
; but died without issue.
Edward Tenison (1673–1735) LL.B (Cantab.), his cousin, became
Bishop of Ossory
The Bishop of Ossory () is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Province of Leinster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has ...
(Ireland) (1730/1731-1735). Another relative,
Richard Tennison
Richard Tenison (1642 – 29 July 1705) was an Irish bishop of Killala, Clogher and Meath.
He was born the eldest son of Thomas Tenison of Carrickfergus and matriculated from Trinity College Dublin in 1659. Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbur ...
(1642–1705), became
Bishop of Meath
The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric.
History
Un ...
. Thomas is said to have advanced Richard in his career: in his
will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...
he left legacies to all of Richard's five sons.
In appearance, he was described as a large, brawny, "hulking" figure, very strong when young but afflicted with
gout
Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...
in later life.
Armorials
The personal
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
of Archbishop Tenison consists of the arms of the
see of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
impaled with the Tenison family arms. The former, placed on the
dexter
Dexter may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Dexter, the main character of the American animated series '' Dexter's Laboratory'' that aired from 1996 to 2003
* Dexter, a fictional character in the British web series ''Diary of a Bad Man''
* Dext ...
side of honour, are
blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The ...
ed as: ''
Azure, an archiepiscopal cross in pale
or surmounted by a
pall
Pall may refer to:
* Pall (funeral), a cloth used to cover a coffin
* Pall (heraldry), a Y-shaped heraldic charge
* Pall (liturgy), a piece of stiffened linen used to cover the chalice at the Eucharist
* Pall Corporation, a global business
* Pall. ...
proper charged with four
crosses patee fitchee sable
The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
''. The arms of Tenison, placed on the
sinister
Sinister commonly refers to:
* Evil
* Ominous
Sinister may also refer to:
Left side
* Sinister, Latin for the direction "left"
* Sinister, in heraldry, is the bearer's true left side (viewers' right side) of an escutcheon or coat of arms; see de ...
side of the
escutcheon are blazoned as: ''
Gules
In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple).
In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...
, a bend engrailed argent voided azure, between three
leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...
's faces or
jessant-de-lys azure''. In standard English: a red field bearing a white (or silver) diagonal band with scalloped edges, and a narrower blue band running down its centre. This lies between three gold
heraldic lion's faces, each of which is pierced by a
fleur-de-lys entering through the mouth.
Origin
These arms are a
difference, or variant, of the mediaeval arms of the family of Denys of
Siston, Gloucestershire, and may have been adopted by the Tenison family because its name signifies "Denys's or Denis's son". The arms were originally those of the Norman de Cantilupe family, whose feudal tenants the Denys family probably were in connection with
Candleston Castle
Candleston Castle (historically sometimes Candlestone Castle) is a 14th-century fortified manor house, in ruins since the 19th century. It is southwest of Merthyr Mawr, former Glamorgan, Wales, now Bridgend County Borough and just northwest o ...
in
Glamorgan
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Mot ...
.
St Thomas Cantilupe (died 1282), bishop of Hereford, gave a reversed (i.e. upside down) version of the Cantilupe arms to the
see of Hereford, which uses them to this day. A version of the Denys arms was also adopted by the family of the
poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, not known to have been a descendant of Archbishop Thomas Tenison.
Suspected discovery of his coffin
In 2016, during the refurbishment of the
Garden Museum
The Garden Museum (formerly known as the Museum of Garden History) in London is Britain's only museum of the art, history and design of gardens. The museum re-opened in 2017 after an 18-month redevelopment project.
The building is largely th ...
, which is housed at the medieval church of St Mary-at-Lambeth, 30 lead coffins were found; one with an archbishop's red and gold mitre on top of it. Two archbishops were identified from nameplates on their coffins; with church records revealing that a further three archbishops, including Tenison, were likely to be buried in the vault.
See also
*
Archbishop Tenison's School, Croydon
*
Archbishop Tenison's School, Lambeth
*
List of Archbishops of Canterbury
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
*
Edward Carpenter, ''Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury: His Life and Times'' (SPCK, 1948).
External links
Archbishop Tenison's papers at Lambeth Palace Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenison, Thomas
1636 births
1715 deaths
17th-century Anglican archbishops
18th-century Anglican archbishops
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Archbishops of Canterbury
Bishops of Lincoln
Chancellors of the College of William & Mary
Founders of English schools and colleges
People from Cottenham
Burials at St Mary-at-Lambeth
People educated at Norwich School
Members of the Privy Council of England
17th-century Church of England bishops
17th-century Anglican theologians
18th-century Anglican theologians