George Carleton (1559 – May, 1628) was an English churchman,

Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of ...

(1618–1619). He was a delegate to the

Synod of Dort The Synod of Dort (also known as the Synod of Dordt or the Synod of Dordrecht) was an international Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618–1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy caused by the rise of Arminianism. The ...

, in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. From 1619 to 1628 he was

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...

Life

He was the son of Guy Carleton of Carleton Hall in Cumberland, born at

Norham Norham ( ) is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, It is located south-west of Berwick on the south side of the River Tweed where it is the border with Scotland. History Its ancient name was Ubbanford. Ecgred of Lindisfarne ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, where his father was warder of

Norham Castle Norham Castle (sometimes Nornam) is a castle in Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle saw much action during ...

. His early education was under

Bernard Gilpin Bernard Gilpin (1517 – 4 March 1583), was an Oxford theologian and then an influential clergyman in the emerging Church of England spanning the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane, Mary and Elizabeth I. He was known as the 'Apostle of the N ...

, the 'Apostle of the North', at the Royal Kepier Grammar School in

Houghton-le-Spring Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county. It is ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

. In 1576 he was sent to

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...

; in 1579 he took his M.A., and in 1580 was elected fellow of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...

. Here he won a reputation as a poet and orator, and a skilful disputant in theology, well read in the Church fathers and schoolmen. In 1589 he became vicar of Mayfield, Sussex, which he held till 1605, and in 1618 he was made bishop of Llandaff. In the same year he was selected by

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

, with three others, to represent the church of England at the synod of Dort. Here he protested against the adoption of the thirty-first article of the

Belgic Confession The ''Confession of Faith'', popularly known as the Belgic Confession, is a doctrinal standard document to which many of the Reformed churches subscribe. The Confession forms part of the Three Forms of Unity of the Reformed Church, which are still ...

, which affirmed 'that the ministers of the Word of God, in what place soever settled, have the same advantage of character, the same jurisdiction and authority, in regard they are all equally ministers of Christ, the only universal Bishop and Head of the Church.' Carleton maintained the doctrine of apostolical succession in opposition to this levelling article; his protest was ineffectual. When the English deputies returned home in the spring of 1619, the Dutch States, besides paying the expenses of their voyage and presenting each with a gold medal, sent a letter to the king in which commendation is made of Carleton as the foremost man of the company and a model of learning and piety. He was translated to Chichester in the same year. He died in May 1628. Carleton was the patron of Thomas Vicars, the noted theologian, who married his step-daughter. The bishop's son, Henry Carleton, represented

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much larg ...

in the parliament of 1640, and afterwards served in the parliamentary army.

Works

The following is an incomplete list of his works : *''Heroici Characteres'', Oxon. 1603, 4to. *''Consensus Ecclesiae Catholicae contra Tridentinos ...'' 1613, 8vo. *''Carmen panegyricum ad Eliz. Angl. Reg.'', in vol. iii. of John Nichols's ''Progresses of Queen Elizabeth'', p. 180. *''Vita Bernardi Gilpini ... apud Anglos Aquilonares celeberrimi,'' 1628, 4to. *''Life of Bernard Gilpin'', with the Sermon preached before Edward VI in 1552, London, 1636,8vo. *''Epistola ad Jacobum Sextum Brit. Regem in the ''Miscellany of the Abbotsford Club'' (i. 1 13), Edinburgh, 1837. *''Tithes examined and proved to be due to the Clergie by a Divine Right,'' 1606, 4to, second edit. 1611. *''Jurisdiction Regall, Episcopall, papall,'' 1610, 4to. *''Directions to know the True Church,'' 1615, 8vo. *''An Oration made at the Hague before the Prince of Orange and the States Generall of the United Provinces,'' 1619, 4to. *''A Thankful Remembrance of God's Mercy in an Historicall Collection of the ... Deliverances of the Church and State of England ... from the beginning of Q. Elizabeth,'' London, 1624, 4to. Several editions. *''Astrologomania, the Madnesse of Astrologes; or, an Examination of Sir Christopher Heydon's Booke, intituled, 'A Defence of Judiciarie Astrologie, London, 1624, 4to. *''An Examination of those Things wherein the Author of the late "Appeale" holdeth the Doctrine of the Church of the Pelasgians and Arminians to be the Doctrines of the Church of England.'', London, 1626, 4to. *''His Testimony concerning the Presbyterian Discipline in the Low Countries and Episcopall Government here in England'', London, 1642, 8vo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carleton, George Bishops of Llandaff Bishops of Chichester 17th-century Church of England bishops Participants in the Synod of Dort 1559 births 1628 deaths 16th-century English Anglican priests Fellows of Merton College, Oxford English Calvinist and Reformed theologians 16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians People educated at Kepier School 17th-century Welsh Anglican bishops People from Norham 16th-century Anglican theologians 17th-century Anglican theologians