William Bradbridge (or Brodebridge) (1501–1578) was an English

bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell.

Life

He was born in London and took his B.A. degree at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, on 15 July 1528. In 1529 he became a fellow of his college, M.A. on 6 June 1532, B.D. on 17 June 1539. On 26 March 1565 he supplicated the university for a D.D. degree, but was not admitted. He was a Protestant, but remained in post in the reign of Queen Mary. In 1555, on the presentation of Ralph Henslow, he was appointed prebendary of Lyme and Halstock, Sarum. He was also a canon of Chichester, and in 1561 a dispensation was granted him on account of this as regarded part of his term of residence at Salisbury. He subscribed the articles as a member of the lower house of the

convocation of 1563 The Convocation of 1563 was a significant gathering of English and Welsh clerics that consolidated the Elizabethan religious settlement, and brought the ''Thirty-Nine Articles'' close to their final form (which dates from 1571). It was, more accu ...

, and when the reformist "six articles" of the same year were debated there, in common with other exiles, he signed them, but was outvoted by a majority of one. He also subscribed the articles of 1571. Bradbridge was collated to be

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

on 28 April 1562, and was allowed to hold the chancellorship ''

in commendam In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

'' with his bishopric. On

Low Sunday The Second Sunday of Easter is the day that occurs seven days after the Christian celebration of Easter. Those churches which give special significance to this day recognize it by various names. In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, this day ...

1563 he gave the annual Spittal sermon, and on 23 June of the same year, allowing himself conformable to the discipline which was then being established, was elected dean of Salisbury by letters from Queen Elizabeth, in the place of the Italian

Peter Vannes Peter Vannes (died 1563) was an Italian Catholic churchman who became a royal official in England, and Dean of Salisbury. Life Born at Lucca in northern Italy, he was son of Stephen de Vannes of that city. In one of his letters Erasmus calls him ...

. Here he was a contemporary of

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587), an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of '' Actes and Monuments'' (otherwise ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''), telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the su ...

and

Thomas Harding Thomas Harding (born 1448 in Cambridge, Gloucestershire, England and died at Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England, May 1532) was a sixteenth-century English religious dissident who, while waiting to be burnt at the stake as a Lollard in 1532, wa ...

. From 1568 to 1576 he was the prebendary of Horningsham at Heytesbury, Wiltshire. On 26 February 1571 the queen issued her significavit in his favour to the archbishop, and he was duly elected bishop of Exeter on 1 March. After a declaration of the queen's supremacy and doing homage, the temporalities of the see were restored to him on the 14th. His election was confirmed the next day, and he was consecrated at

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

on the 18th by 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 p ...

and Bishops Robert Horne and

Nicholas Bullingham Nicholas Bullingham (or Bollingham) (c. 1520–1576) was an English Bishop of Worcester. Life Nicholas Bullingham was born in Worcester in around 1520. He was sent to the Royal Grammar School Worcester. In 1536 he became a Fellow of All Souls ...

. More of a scholar than an administrator, he was given the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

to translate in 1572 for the new edition of the '' Bishop's Bible'', according to John Strype. He had trouble with Catholics and dissenters, and sent three Cornishmen who refused to attend church to the London authorities. His commissary Dr. Tremayn headed a party against him, but the bishop withstood him, and had Lord Burghley block a proposed commission in the diocese. He also asked Cecil in 1578 if he could return to Salisbury. He resided mostly at Newton Ferrers, Devon, and died suddenly there alone, at noon on 27 June 1578, aged 77. He was indebted to the queen in the amount of £1,400 for tenths and subsidies received in her behalf from the clergy, so that immediately after his death she seized all his goods. He was buried in

Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 140 ...

, on the north side of the choir near the altar, under a plain altar tomb.

References

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradbridge, William 1501 births 1578 deaths Bishops of Exeter Deans of Salisbury 16th-century Church of England bishops Anglican clergy from London Marian exiles 16th-century Protestants