Thomas Thirlby (or Thirleby; –1570), was the first and only
bishop of Westminster (1540–50), and afterwards successively
bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher.
The see is in ...
(1550–54) and
bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of north- ...
(1554–59). While he acquiesced in the
Henrician schism, with its rejection in principle of the
Roman papacy, he remained otherwise loyal to the doctrine of the
Roman Catholic Church during the
English Reformation.
Life
Thomas, was the son of John Thirleby,
scrivener and
town clerk
A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a Tow ...
of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge becam ...
, and Joan his wife, and was born in the
parish of
St. Mary the Great, Cambridge, in or about 1506. He received his education at
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduated
bachelor of the civil law in 1521, was elected a
fellow of his college, and proceeded
doctor of the civil law in 1528, and
doctor of the canon law in 1530. It is said that while at the university he, with other learned men who were the favourers of the
gospel, though they afterwards relapsed, received an allowance from Queen
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
, the
Earl of Wiltshire
The title Earl of Wiltshire is one of the oldest in the Peerage of England, going back to the 12th century. It is currently held by the Marquess of Winchester, and is used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the marquess.
The earldom was fi ...
, her father, and
Lord Rochford, her brother. In 1532 he was official to the
archdeacon of Ely
The Archdeacon of Cambridge is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Ely. The archdeacon is responsible for some clergy discipline and pastoral care in the Archdeaconry of Cambridge.
The archdeaconry has existed, as the Archdeaconry of ...
. He appears to have taken a prominent part in the affairs of the university between 1528 and 1534, and is supposed to have held the office of commissary. In 1534 he was appointed
provost of the
collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by ...
of St. Edmund at
Salisbury.
Archbishop Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's ...
and
Dr. Butts, physician to the
king, were his early patrons. Cranmer "liked his learning and his qualities so well that he became his good lord towards the king's majesty, and commended him to him, to be a man worthy to serve a prince, for such singular qualities as were in him. And indeed the king soon employed him in embassies in France and elsewhere: so that he grew in the king's favour by the means of the archbishop, who had a very extraordinary love for him, and thought nothing too much to give him or to do for him."
In 1533 he was one of the king's chaplains, and in May communicated to Cranmer "the king's commands" relative to the sentence of divorce from
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previousl ...
. In 1534 he was presented by the king to the archdeaconry of Ely, and he was a member of the convocation which recognised the
king's supremacy in ecclesiastical matters. Soon afterwards he was appointed
dean of the chapel royal
The Dean of the Chapel Royal, in any kingdom, can be the title of an official charged with oversight of that kingdom's chapel royal, the ecclesiastical establishment which is part of the royal household and ministers to it.
England
In England, ...
, and in 1536 one of the members of the
council of the north
The Council of the North was an administrative body first set up in 1484 by King Richard III of England, to improve access to conciliar justice in Northern England. This built upon steps by King Edward IV of England in delegating authority in the ...
. On 29 September 1537 the king granted to him a
canonry
A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule.
Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...
and
prebend in the
collegiate church of St. Stephen, in the
palace of Westminster, and on the 15th of the following month he was present at the
christening of Prince Edward (afterwards
Edward VI) at
Hampton Court. On 2 May 1538 a royal commission was issued to
Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner (27 July 1483 – 12 November 1555) was an English Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I and King Philip.
Early life
Gardiner was b ...
,
Sir Francis Brian, and Thirlby, as ambassadors, to treat with
Francis I, king of France, not only for a league of friendship, but for the projected marriage of the
Princess Mary to the
Duke of Orleans
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
. The three ambassadors were recalled in August 1538. Thirlby was one of the royal commissioners appointed on 1 October 1538 to search for and examine
anabaptist
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
s. On 23 December 1539 he was presented to the mastership of the
hospital of St. Thomas à Becket in Southwark, and on 14 January 1539/40 he surrendered that house, with all its possessions, to the king. At this period he was
prebendary of Yeatminster in the
cathedral church of Salisbury, and
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
Ribchester
Ribchester is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, northwest of Blackburn and east of Preston.
The village has a long history with evidence of Bronze ...
,
Lancashire. In 1540 he was
prolocutor A prolocutor is a chairman of some ecclesiastical assemblies in Anglicanism.
Usage in the Church of England
In the Church of England, the Prolocutor is chair of the lower house of the Convocations of Canterbury and York, the House of Clergy. The P ...
of the
convocation of the province of Canterbury, and signed the decree declaring the
nullity of the king's marriage with
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves (german: Anna von Kleve; 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of ...
. In the same year he was one of the commissioners appointed by the king to deliberate upon sundry points of religion then in controversy, and especially upon the doctrine of the sacraments.
By
letters patent dated 17 December 1540 the king erected the
abbey of Westminster into an
episcopal see, and appointed Thirlby the first and, as it happened, the last bishop of the new
Diocese of Westminster. He was
consecrated on 29 December in St. Saviour's Chapel in the cathedral church of Westminster. Soon afterwards he was appointed by the convocation to revise the translation of the
epistles of
St. James,
St. John, and
St. Jude
Jude ( grc-gre, Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου translit. Ioúdas Iakóbou) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Thaddeus ( grc-gre, Θαδδαῖος; cop, ⲑⲁⲇⲇⲉⲟⲥ; ...
. In January 1540–1 he interceded with the crown for the grant of the university of the house of Franciscan friars at Cambridge. In 1542 he appears as a member of the
privy council, and was also despatched as
ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
to the
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (emp ...
in
Spain. He returned the same year. In April 1543 he took part in the revision of the "
Institution of a Christian Man", and on 17 June in that year he was one of those empowered to treat with the Scots ambassador concerning the proposed marriage of
Prince Edward with
Mary Queen of Scots. In May 1545 he was despatched on an embassy to the emperor, Charles V. He attended the
diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
of
Bourbourg
Bourbourg (; ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated in the maritime plain of northern France, in the middle of a triangle formed by Dunkirk, Calais, and Saint-Omer.
Population
In 1945 Bourbourg absorbed the fo ...
, and on 16 January 1546–7 he was one of those who signed a
treaty of peace at
Utrecht. He was not named an
executor by
Henry VIII and consequently was excluded from
Edward VI's privy council. He remained at the
court of the
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (emp ...
till June 1548, taking leave of
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
at
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
on the 11th. Thirlby took part in the important debates in the
House of Lords in December 1548 and January 1548–9 on the subject of the
sacrament of the altar
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 institut ...
and the
sacrifice of the mass. He declared that "he did never allow the doctrine" laid down in the communion office of the proposed first
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
, stating that he mainly objected to the book as it stood because it abolished the "elevation" and the "adoration". When
Somerset
Somerset ( , ; Archaism, archaically Somersetshire , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the so ...
expressed to Edward VI some disappointment at Thirlby's attitude, the young king remarked, "I expected nothing else but that he, who had been so long time with the emperor, should smell of the Interim." He voted against the third reading of the
act of uniformity on 15 January 1548–9, but enforced its provisions in his diocese after it had been passed. On 12 April 1549 he was in the commission for the suppression of heresy, and on 10 November in that year he was ambassador at Brussels with
Sir Philip Hoby and
Sir Thomas Cheyne. On 29 March 1550 Thirlby resigned the bishopric of Westminster into the hands of the king, who thereupon dissolved it, and reannexed the
county of Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbouri ...
, which had been assigned for its diocese, to the
see of London
The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England.
It lies directly north of the Thames. For centuries the diocese covered a vast tract and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the nor ...
. While bishop of Westminster he is said to have "impoverished the church."
On 1 April, following his resignation of the see of Westminster, he was constituted
bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher.
The see is in ...
.
Bishop 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 academic, ...
intimates that Thirlby was removed from Westminster to Norwich, as it was thought he could do less mischief in the latter see, "for though he complied as soon as any change was made, yet he secretly opposed everything while it was safe to do." In January 1550–1 he was appointed one of the commissioners to correct and punish all anabaptists, and such as did not duly administer the sacraments according to the Book of Common Prayer; and on 15 April 1551 one of the commissioners to determine a controversy respecting the borders of England and Scotland. On 20 May following he was in a commission to treat for a marriage between the
king and
Elizabeth, daughter of
Henry II of France. He was in 1551 appointed one of the
masters of requests, and he was also one of the numerous witnesses on the trial of
Gardiner,
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 dur ...
, which took place in that year. In January and March 1551–2 his name was inserted in several commissions appointed to inquire what sums were due to the king or his father for sale of lands; to raise money by the sale of crown lands to the yearly value of 1,000
£; and to survey the state of all the courts erected for the custody of the king's lands. In April 1553 he was again appointed ambassador to the Emperor Charles V, at whose court he remained until April 1554. On his return from
Germany he brought with him one Remegius, who established a
paper mill in this country—perhaps at
Fen Ditton
Fen Ditton is a village on the northeast edge of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. The parish covers an area of .
Fen Ditton lies on the east bank of the River Cam, on the road from Cambridge to Clayhithe, and close to junction 34 of the A ...
, near Cambridge.
At heart a Roman Catholic, Thirlby was soon high in
Queen Mary's favour, and in July 1554 he was
translated from Norwich to
Ely, the
temporalities of the latter see being delivered to him on 15 September. He was one of the prelates who presided at the trials of
Bishop Hooper,
John Rogers,
Rowland Taylor
Rowland Taylor (sometimes spelled "Tayler") (6 October 1510 – 9 February 1555) was an English Protestant martyr during the Marian Persecutions.
At the time of his death, he was Rector of Hadleigh in Suffolk. He was burnt at the stake at ne ...
, and others, for heresy; and in February 1554–5 he was appointed, together with
Anthony Browne, viscount Montague, and
Sir Edward Carne, a special ambassador to the pope, to make the queen's obedience, and to obtain a confirmation of all those graces which
Cardinal Pole
Reginald Pole (12 March 1500 – 17 November 1558) was an English cardinal of the Catholic Church and the last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558, during the Counter-Reformation.
Early life
Pole was born a ...
had granted in his name. He returned to London from Rome on 24 August 1555 with a
bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not Neutering, castrated) adult male of the species ''Cattle, Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., Cattle, cows), bulls have long been an important symbol i ...
confirming the queen's title to Ireland, which document he delivered to the
lord treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in ...
on 10 December. A curious journal of this embassy is printed in
Lord Hardwicke's ''State Papers''.
After the death of the lord chancellor,
Gardiner, on 12 November 1555, Mary proposed to confer on Thirlby the vacant office, but
Philip objected, and
Archbishop Heath was appointed. In January 1555–6 Thirlby took a part in the degradation of his old friend Archbishop Cranmer. "He was observed to weep much all the while; he protested to Cranmer that it was the most sorrowful action of his whole life, and acknowledged the great love and friendship that had been between them; and that no earthly consideration but the queen's command could have induced him to come and do what they were then about." On 22 March following he was one of the seven bishops who assisted at the consecration of Cardinal Pole 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 Jus ...
. In 1556 he was appointed to receive
Osep Napea Gregoriwitch (
ru), ambassador from the
emperor of Russia. Thirlby appears to have sanctioned the burning of
John Hullier for heresy in 1556, but only two others, William Wolsey and Robert Pygot of
Wisbech, suffered death in his diocese on account of their religion, and it has been said that "Thirleby was in no way interested therein; but the guilt thereof must be shared between Dr. Fuller, the chancellor, and other commissioners." In April 1558 Thirlby was sent to the north to inquire the cause of the quarrel between the
Earls of
Northumberland and
Westmoreland. He and Dr.
Nicholas Wotton were Queen Mary's commissioners to treat with France respecting the restoration of
Calais and the conclusion of peace.
Queen Elizabeth sent a new commission to them at
Cambray in January 1558–9, and instructed the
Earl of Arundel
Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The ea ...
to act in conjunction with them. The commissioners succeeded in concluding peace, and returned home in April 1559. The queen is said to have cast upon Thirlby the entire blame of the eventual loss of Calais. Queen Mary had appointed him one of her executors.
On the assembling of Queen Elizabeth's first parliament Thirlby sent his proxy, he being then absent on his embassy in France. On 17 April 1559 the bill for restoring ecclesiastical jurisdiction to the crown was committed to him and other peers. He opposed this measure on the third reading. He also dissented from the bill for uniformity of common prayer. He refused to take the
oath of supremacy, and for this reason he and Archbishop Heath were deposed from their sees on 5 July 1559 at the
lord-treasurer's house in
Broad Street.
According to
Bentham, Thirlby was a considerable
benefactor to the
see of Ely
See or SEE may refer to:
* Sight - seeing
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Music:
** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals
*** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See''
** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho
* Television
* ...
because by his interest he procured from the
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
for himself and his successors the patronage of the
prebends in the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominat ...
; but
Dr. Cox
Percival Ulysses "Perry" Cox, M.D., is a fictional character played by John C. McGinley on the American television comedy-drama '' Scrubs''. Dr. Cox appeared in every episode except " My Last Words", " My Comedy Show", and " My Full Moon", all ...
, his immediate successor, asserted that although Thirlby received
£500 from
Bishop Goodrich's executors for
dilapidation
Dilapidation is a term meaning a destructive event to a building, but more particularly used in the plural in English law for
# the waste committed by the incumbent of an ecclesiastical living
# the disrepair for which a tenant is usually liable ...
s, he left his houses, bridges,
lode
In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure (or crack) in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock.
The current meaning (ore vein) dates from the 1 ...
s, rivers,
causeway
A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...
s, and
banks
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
, in great ruin and decay, and spoiled the see of a stock of one thousand
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members
* Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel '' ...
, which his predecessors had enjoyed since the reign of
Edward III. He also alleged that Thirlby never came into his diocese.
After his deprivation Thirlby had his liberty for some time, but in consequence of his persisting in preaching against the Reformation, he was on 3 June 1560 committed to the
Tower, and on 25 February 1560–1 he was
excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
. In September 1563 he was removed from the Tower on account of the plague to
Archbishop Parker's house at
Beaksbourne. In June 1564 he was transferred to
Lambeth Palace, and Parker, who is said to have treated Thirlby with great courtesy and respect, even permitted him to lodge for some time at the house of one Mrs. Blackwell in
Blackfriars. He died in
Lambeth Palace on 26 August 1570. He was buried on the 28th in the chancel of Lambeth church, under a stone with a brief Latin inscription in brass. In making a grave for the burial of
Archbishop Cornwallis in March 1783, the body of Bishop Thirlby was discovered in his coffin, in a great measure undecayed, as was the clothing. The corpse had a cap on its head and a hat under its arm.
[ cites: ]Lodge
Lodge is originally a term for a relatively small building, often associated with a larger one.
Lodge or The Lodge may refer to:
Buildings and structures Specific
* The Lodge (Australia), the official Canberra residence of the Prime Minist ...
, ''Illustrations of British History'', ed. 1838, i. 73 n. His portrait is in the print of the delivery of the charter of
Bridewell
Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correc ...
.
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thirlby, Thomas
1506 births
1570 deaths
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Archdeacons of Ely
Bishops of Norwich
Bishops of Ely
16th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
Deans of the Chapel Royal