William Tooker (or Tucker) (

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, 1557 or 1558 – 19 March 1621) was an English churchman and theological writer, who was archdeacon of Barnstaple and later dean of Lichfield.

Life

Born at

in 1557 or 1558, he was the third son of William Tooker of that town by his wife Honora, daughter of James Erisey of

Erisey Erisey was a manor on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK and is the surname of the family that built the house. The manor was originally in the civil parish of Grade, and since 1934, Grade-Ruan. The Grade II listed building was built by Richard E ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. He was admitted to

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

in 1572, and became a scholar at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, in 1575, graduating B.A. on 16 Oct. 1579 and M.A. on 1 June 1583, and proceeding B.D. and D.D. on 4 July 1594. In 1577 he was elected to a perpetual fellowship, and in 1580 was appointed a canon of Exeter. In 1584 he was presented to the rectory of

Kilkhampton Kilkhampton ( kw, Kylgh) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in northeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is on the A39 road#Atlantic Highway, A39 about four miles (6 km) north-northeast of Bude. Kilk ...

in Cornwall, and in the following year resigned his fellowship on being collated

archdeacon of Barnstaple The Archdeaconry of Barnstaple or Barum is one of the oldest archdeaconries in England. It is an administrative division of the Diocese of Exeter in the Church of England. History The Diocese of Exeter was divided into four archdeaconries in No ...

on 24 April. In 1588 he was appointed chaplain to

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 ...

and rector of West Dean in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. In 1590 he became rector of

Clovelly Clovelly () is a privately-owned harbour village in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The settlement and surrounding land belongs to John Rous who inherited it from his mother in 1983. He belongs to the Hamlyn family who have managed th ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, but resigned the charge in 1601. On 16 February 1605 he was installed

dean of Lichfield The Dean of Lichfield is the head (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the chapter of canons, the ruling body of Lichfield Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and S ...

, resigning his archdeaconry. According to

Thomas Fuller Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...

, James I intended the bishopric of Gloucester for him, and actually issued the ''

congé d'élire ( , ; fro, label=Law French, congé d'eslire, lit=leave/permission to choose) is a licence from the Crown in England issued under the great seal to the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of a diocese, authorizing them to elect a bishop o ...

'', but afterwards revoked it. Tooker died at

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

on 19 March 1620 or 1621, and was buried in the cathedral. He left a son Robert, who in 1625 became rector of

Vange Vange is a former village and civil parish now subsumed within the urban area of the Basildon borough of Essex. As it is much smaller than Basildon, Laindon and Pitsea, it does not have its own town centre or railway station. The London Road (B14 ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Works

Tooker was a good scholar, and, according to Fuller, 'the purity of his Latin pen procured his preferment.' He was also a skilful courtier in his choice of topics. In 1597 he published ''Charisma sive Donum Sanationis'' (London), a historical vindication of the power inherent in the English sovereign of curing the

king's evil The disease mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis, also known as scrofula and historically as king's evil, involves a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis as well as nontuberculous (atypical) mycobacteria. Disea ...

. This work won him especial regard from Elizabeth I, whose possession of the power was a proof of the validity of her succession. Tooker traced the healing power back to (the legendary)

Lucius of Britain Lucius (Welsh: Lles map Coel, Lleirwg, Lleufer or Lleufer Mawr) was a supposed 2nd-century king of the Britons traditionally credited with introducing Christianity into Britain. Lucius is first mentioned in a 6th-century version of the '' Liber P ...

; but he rejected the contemporary beliefs about

touch pieces A touch piece is a coin or medal believed to cure disease, bring good luck, influence people's behaviour, carry out a specific practical action, etc. What most touch pieces have in common is that they have to be touched or in close physical contac ...

as superstitions.

Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch (; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on Medieval France ov ...

, ''The Royal Touch: Monarchy and miracles in France and England'', p. 23 and p. 182. In 1604 he published a treatise entitled ''Of the Fabrique of the Church and Churchmens Livings'' (London), dedicated to James I, whose chaplain he was, in which he attacked the tendency of

puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

ism towards ecclesiastical democracy, on the ground that it paved the way for spiritual anarchy. Besides the works mentioned, he was the author of ''Duellum sive Singulare Certamen cum Martino Becano Jesuita'' (London, 1611), written against

Martin Becanus Martinus Becanus (6 January 1563 – 24 January 1624) was a Dutch-born Jesuit priest, known as a theologian and controversialist. Life He was born ''Maarten Schellekens'' in Hilvarenbeek in North Brabant; Schellekens is a patronymic and he adop ...

in the

allegiance oath controversy The Oath of Allegiance of 1606 was an oath requiring English Catholics to swear allegiance to James I over the Pope. It was adopted by Parliament the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (see Popish Recusants Act 1605). The oath was proclaimed l ...

, in defence of the ecclesiastical authority of the English king, to which Becanus replied in ''Duellum Martini Becani Societatis Jesu Theologi cum Gulielmo Tooker de Primatu Regis Angliae'', Mainz 1612.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tooker, William 1558 births 1621 deaths Deans of Lichfield Archdeacons of Barnstaple Alumni of New College, Oxford People educated at Winchester College Clergy from Exeter English religious writers 16th-century English male writers 17th-century English male writers