Henry Cole ( – in Fleet Prison) was a senior English

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

churchman and academic.

Early life

Cole was born in

Godshill Godshill is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, with a population of 1,459 at the 2011 Census. It lies between Newport and Ventnor in the southeast of the island. History Godshill is one of the ancient parishes that exis ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. He was educated at

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 ...

and New College, Oxford, where he was admitted as a perpetual fellow there (1523), and received the degree of B.C.L. (1525). He then went to Italy for seven years, residing chiefly at

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

Career

After his return from Italy, Cole began a rapid rise in the English church during the reign of Henry VIII. Successively he was the

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of th ...

of Yetminster, Dorset (1539);

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 ...

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

(1540); prebendary in London of

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

, Sweting (1541) and Wenlakesbarn (1542);

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

of New College, Oxford (1542–51), and rector of Newton Longueville in Buckinghamshire. In 1540 Cole was awarded a

Doctor of Civil Law Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees. At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...

at Oxford but he resigned his fellowship the same year. As a result of the English Reformation, Cole initially conformed to Anglicanism, but returned to Catholicism in about 1547 resigning all his preferments (titles of religious office) in the newly-formed

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. In July 1553, after the Catholic

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

took the throne of England, Cole was given senior roles in the English Catholic Church. He became Archdeacon of Ely, a canon of

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

(1554), a

vicar-general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

Primate of All England 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 Justi ...

Cardinal Reginald Pole (1557), and a judge at the archiepiscopal Court of Audience at Canterbury Cathedral. This was an ecclesiastical court where the Archbishop of Canterbury exercised authority on behalf of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. In the 17th century, it was superseded by the

Court of Arches The Arches Court, presided over by the Dean of Arches, is an ecclesiastical court of the Church of England covering the Province of Canterbury. Its equivalent in the Province of York is the Chancery Court. It takes its name from the street-level ...

. Cole was one of the commissioners who restored

Cuthbert Tunstall Cuthbert Tunstall (otherwise spelt Tunstal or Tonstall; 1474 – 18 November 1559) was an English Scholastic, church leader, diplomat, administrator and royal adviser. He served as Prince-Bishop of Durham during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edwar ...

and

Edmund Bonner Edmund Bonner (also Boner; c. 15005 September 1569) was Bishop of London from 1539 to 1549 and again from 1553 to 1559. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonised by the Protestant reforms intro ...

to their bishoprics, and was disputant against

Thomas 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 ...

, Nicholas Ridley, and

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...

at Oxford (1554). He preached the sermon on the occasion of Cranmer's burning in 1556, where he had "the job of explaining why a repentant sinner should still be burnt at the stake for heresy". On 13 July 1554, Cole was appointed as Archdeacon of Ely and Provost of Eton College, a post which he had vacated by 5 July 1559. He was made

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of St Paul's Cathedral in 1556, judge of

Prerogative Court In law, a prerogative is an exclusive right bestowed by a government or state and invested in an individual or group, the content of which is separate from the body of rights enjoyed under the general law. It was a common facet of feudal law. The ...

circa 1548-58 and

dean of the arches The Dean of the Arches is the judge who presides in the provincial ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This court is called the Arches Court of Canterbury. It hears appeals from consistory courts and bishop's disciplinary tribun ...

in 1557/8. He was a delegate for the visitation of Oxford (1556), and Visitor of

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

in 1558, in which year he received the rectory of

Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 and M26 motorways. History The name first occurs as ''U ...

Final senior clerical role

In 1558, just months before the death of Mary I, Cardinal Pole commissioned Cole (as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral) to suppress the heresy of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. During his journey to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, he spent the night at a hostelry in Chester where he was visited by Lawrence Smith, the Mayor of Chester. Cole showed the mayor a leather box, which contained his letters of authority from Cardinal Pole, saying "Here is what will lash the heretics of Ireland!" This was overheard by the hostelry owner, a Mrs Mottershead, who had a brother in Dublin. Concerned for his safety, she surreptitiously replaced the commission letter with a pack of cards with the Knave of Clubs on top. Cole only discovered the deception when he opened the box to much surprise at an assembly in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...

in front of the Lord Deputy of Ireland Thomas Radclyffe and members of his Privy Council. He was told to go back to London immediately and only return when he had the correct letters of authority. However. Mary I died on his journey back. The Protestant queen, Elizabeth I, was said to be so impressed by Mrs Mottershead's ingenuity, she awarded her an annual pension of £40 (£15,000 in 2023).

Death

Cole returned to England from Ireland shortly after

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

took the throne in November 1558. His benefactor, Cardinal Pole had also died in London, during an influenza epidemic on 17 November 1558 just 12 hours after Queen Mary's death. Pole appointed Cole as one of the executors of his Will. Cole remained true to his Catholic faith despite the new queen immediately changing the country's religion back to Protestantism. He was part of the Catholic delegation which took part in the Westminster Conference in March 1559 which resulted in the authorisation of the 1559 ''Book of Common Prayer''. However the oppression of Catholicism in England had started. Only six weeks after the end of the conference, Cole was fined 500

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 ...

for being a practising Catholic, deprived of all his Church preferments (ie titles, positions, prestige), and sent to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

on 20 May 1560. A month later he was moved to Fleet Prison on 10 June where he remained for the next twenty years until his death .

Works

He wrote: * Letters to Dr. Starkey and Sir Richard Morison (or Morysin) from Padua, 1530, and Paris, 1537; * "Disputation with Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer at Oxford", in Foxe's "Acts and Monuments"; * "Sum and effect of his sermon at Oxford when Archbishop Cranmer was burnt", in Foxe's "Acts and Monuments"; * "Answer to the first proposition of the Protestants at the disputation before the Lords at Westminster 1559", in Burnet's "Hist. Reform. Records"; * "Copie of a Sermon at Paule's Crosse 1560" (London, 1560); * "Letters to John, Bishop of Sarum" (London, 1560); * "Answers to certain parcels of the Letters of the Bishop of Sarum", in

John Jewel John Jewel (''alias'' Jewell) (24 May 1522 – 23 September 1571) of Devon, England was Bishop of Salisbury from 1559 to 1571. Life He was the youngest son of John Jewel of Bowden in the parish of Berry Narbor in Devon, by his wife Alice Bel ...

's works.

References

;Attribution

External links

Illustration from ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs'' showing Cole
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Henry Year of birth missing 1580 deaths People educated at Winchester College Alumni of New College, Oxford Wardens of New College, Oxford 16th-century scholars 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests Prisoners in the Tower of London English people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention Clergy from the Isle of Wight Archdeacons of Ely Inmates of Fleet Prison Deans of St Paul's Provosts of Eton College