Robert Parfew (or Robert Warton) (died 22 September 1557) was an English Benedictine abbot, at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, and bishop successively of St Asaph and Hereford.

Life

He was probably born in the late years of the fifteenth century. He is known by different names, variants of two.Parfew or Purefoy or Parfey, on the one hand; Warton, Wharton, or Warblington, on the other. In the records of his election assent, confirmation, and consecration at St. Asaph's, his name is given as Wartton. The arms the bishop used were those of the Parfews or Purefoys, and there were members of that family connected in various ways with the cathedral when Warton was bishop of St. Asaph. David Richard Thomas, cited in the DNB, concluded that the family name was Parfey or Parfew, and that the local name of Warton in various forms was adopted. He was a

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began ...

monk, and became Abbot of Bermondsey. In 1525 he is said to have proceeded B.D. at Cambridge. The list of supremacy acknowledgments does not include that of Bermondsey, but it seems clear, from his subsequent history, that Warton signed. On 8 June 1536 he was elected

bishop of St. Asaph The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph. The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is loca ...

, but retained his abbacy

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 ecclesiastica ...

till 1538, when the abbey was suppressed, and Warton received a substantial pension. Warton lived mostly at

Denbigh Denbigh (; cy, Dinbych; ) is a market town and a community in Denbighshire, Wales. Formerly, the county town, the Welsh name translates to "Little Fortress"; a reference to its historic castle. Denbigh lies near the Clwydian Hills. History ...

. He took part in 1537 in the drawing up of ''

The Institution of a Christian Man The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...

''. On 18 August 1538 he received the surrender of the

Carmelites , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount C ...

Denbigh Friary Denbigh Friary (also known as Henllan Friary) ( cy, Brodordy Dinbych) is a ruined monastic religious house located in Clwyd, Wales. It is situated in the valley of the River Clwyd, approximately east of Denbigh. Founded in 1343-50 (or be ...

, and in 1539 he cautiously commended confession as very requisite and expedient, though not enjoined by the word of God. He had a plan, the revival of a plan of 1282, for moving the seat of the cathedral and grammar school of his diocese to

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, and he wrote about it to

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

soon after his appointment. Afterwards he thought of Denbigh, where he was in 1538 made free of the borough. In 1537 he was present at the christening of Prince Edward and the funeral of

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

; in 1538 he was at the reception of

Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (german: Anna von Kleve; 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of ...

, the declaration of whose nullity of marriage he afterwards signed. He liked to reside in his remote diocese; when in London, even after the dissolution, he seems to have stayed at Bermondsey. In 1548 he was one of those who in the drawing up of the ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

'' represented the Bangor use. In 1551 he was placed on the Council for Wales. At the beginning of Queen Mary's reign he was retained and was made a member of the commission which expelled most of the bishops. He was on 1 March 1554 translated to the

diocese of Hereford The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England, and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales. The cathedral i ...

in place of John Harley, who had been deprived. He died on 22 September 1557.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parfew, Robert English Benedictines Bishops of Hereford Bishops of St Asaph Year of birth unknown 1557 deaths 16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Wales 16th-century English Roman Catholic bishops English bishops