William Barons (also Barnes; died 1505) was the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

from 1504 to 1505. He was also

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales a ...

of the Court of Chancery from 1502 to 1504.

Life

Remarkably little is known of his family background and early life. The little information we have comes from the ''

Paston Letters The ''Paston Letters'' is a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impor ...

'', from which it is clear that he was related, though probably only distantly, to the Paston family. In 1504, on the death of Sir John Paston, he wrote to condole with the family on the death of "Cousin Paston". He took the degree of LL.D. at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. On the vacancy of the

archdiocese of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consist ...

in 1500, he became commissary of the chapter and of the prerogative court. That same year he obtained the livings of

East Peckham East Peckham is a village and civil parish in Kent, England on the River Medway. The parish covers the main village as well as Hale Street and Beltring. History The Domesday entry for East and West Peckham reads:- :'' The Archbishop himself ...

in Kent, and of

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

in Buckinghamshire; in 1501 that of Gedney in Lincolnshire; in 1502 that of Bosworth in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

; and in 1503 that of Tharfield in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon. In 1501, at the marriage of

Arthur, Prince of Wales Arthur, Prince of Wales (19/20 September 1486 – 2 April 1502), was the eldest son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York. He was Duke of Cornwall from birth, and he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in 1489. As ...

, and

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 previously ...

, when the

banns The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans" (from a Middle English word meaning "proclamation", rooted in Frankish and thence in Old French), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town cou ...

were asked in St. Paul's Cathedral, it was arranged that the king's secretary should 'object openly in Latin against the said marriage', alleging reasons why it could not be lawful, and that he should be answered by Barons, who was to produce the dispensation.Gairdner, ''Letters and Papers of Richard III and Henry VII'', i. 414. Barons, in high favour, was made master of the rolls on 1 February following (1502). On 24 January 1503 he assisted in laying the first stone of Henry VII's chapel at Westminster. On 3 August 1504, he was appointed by papal provision bishop of London on

William Warham William Warham ( – 22 August 1532) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1503 to his death. Early life and education Warham was the son of Robert Warham of Malshanger in Hampshire. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford ...

's translation to Canterbury, Henry VII having written to

Pope Julius II Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or th ...

in his favour on 8 July preceding. He received the temporalities on 13 November and gave up his office of Master of the Rolls the same day. He was consecrated on 26 November; he died on 9 or 10 October 1505.

Notes

References

Government Titles during Tudor Times
by Lara E. Eakins, retrieved December 2005

Attribution

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barons, William 15th-century births 1505 deaths Year of birth unknown Alumni of the University of Oxford Bishops of London 15th-century English clergy 16th-century English Roman Catholic bishops Masters of the Rolls