Edward Rainbowe
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
clergyman and a noted preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
.
Life
He was born on 20 April 1608 at BlytonBlyton
Blyton is a village and civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is north-east of Gainsborough. From Blyton the village of Laughton lies to the north, and Pilham to the south-east, while the course of the River Trent is nearby to the west.Blyton had a population...
in Lindsey
Lindsey
Lindsey was a unit of local government until 1974 in Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, where his father Thomas Rainbowe was vicar. His mother, Rebecca, daughter of David Allen, rector of the neighbouring parish of Ludborough
Ludborough
Ludborough is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies at the end of the A18 road. Ludborough has a population of 760 people. The Prime Meridian passes to the east of the village....
, was educated in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Edward's godfather, Edward Wray of Rycot, was second son of Sir Edward Wray of Glentworth in Lincolnshire. The Wrays possessed influence, and the connection proved important to the young Rainbowe.
After spending a short time at Queen Elizabeth's High School
Queen Elizabeth's High School
Queen Elizabeth's High School is an 11-18 co-educational selective state grammar school, based in Gainsborough in western Lincolnshire, England.The school is selective; pupils wishing to enter at age 11 must sit and pass the Eleven Plus exam prior to entry...
, Gainsborough
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. At one time it served as an important port with trade downstream to Hull, and was the most inland in England, being more than 55 miles from the North...
, he was sent in April 1620 to Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, to be under Dr. John Williams, then one of the prebendaries, and an old friend of his father. When, in the following year, Williams was preferred to the deanery of Westminster and bishopric of Lincoln, Rainbowe moved to Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
. From Westminster he proceeded in July 1623 to Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
, as scholar, but in 1625 he received from Frances, dowager countess of Warwick, a nomination to one of the scholarships founded at Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
, by her father, Sir Christopher Wray. He graduated B.A. in 1627, M.A. in 1630, B.D. in 1637, and D.D. in 1643. He was elected a fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of Magdalene in 1633 and Master in 1642. While in statu pupillari he was suddenly called on by the vice-chancellor to act as terræ filius in place of one who was deprived of the office on account of his scurrility. Rainbowe was facetious but acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his auditors.
In July 1630 he accepted the mastership of a school at Kirton-in-Lindsey, but soon moved with some Cambridge contemporaries to London, settling first in Fuller's Rents, and afterwards at Sion College
Sion College
Sion College, in London, is an institution founded by Royal Charter in 1630 as a college, guild of parochial clergy and almshouse, under the 1623 will of Thomas White, vicar of St Dunstan's in the West....
, so as to make use of the library. He took holy orders, and preached his first sermon in April 1632. After making an unsuccessful application for the chaplaincy to the society of Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, he was appointed curate at the Savoy Hospital.
In November 1633 he was recalled to Cambridge. The master and fellows of Magdalene College elected him to a by-fellowship on the foundation of Dr. Goch, with a promise of the first open founder's fellowship that should fall vacant. He became a successful tutor, numbering among his pupils two sons of the Earl of Suffolk
Earl of Suffolk
Earl of Suffolk is a title that has been created four times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, in tandem with the creation of the title of Earl of Norfolk, came before 1069 in favour of Ralph the Staller; but the title was forfeited by his heir, Ralph de Guader, in 1074...
, with whom he became intimate, and two of Francis Leke, baron Deincourt. Noble families of Northumberland, Warwick, and Orrery also showed him favour. In 1637 he accepted the small living of Childerley
Childerley
Childerley, also known as Great Childerley and Little Childerly, was a small rural village in the county of Cambridgeshire in the East of England, United Kingdom.-Village history:...
, near Cambridge; in 1637 he became dean of Magdalene; and in 1642 Master, by the gift of the Earl of Suffolk. From the mastership he was dismissed, by order of parliament, in 1650. In 1652 he accepted from the Earl of Suffolk the small living of Little Chesterford
Little Chesterford
Little Chesterford is a small village and civil parish in Uttlesford Essex, eastern England and close to the Cambridgeshire border. It is built principally along a single sunken lane to the east of a tributary of the River Cam or Granta...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. He became rector of Benefield
Benefield
Benefield is a civil parish in East Northamptonshire, England, along the A427 road and about east of Corby and west of Oundle.-History:The name has evolved from Benefield ; Banefield, Benifeld ; Beningfelde, Benefilde, Berifelde, Benetfeld, Benifeud, Beningfeud ; Benyngfielde alias Benefielde...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
in 1658, by the presentation of the Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick is a title that has been created four times in British history and is one of the most prestigious titles in the peerages of the British Isles.-1088 creation:...
, after the Earl of Orrery
Earl of Orrery
Earl of Orrery is a title in the Peerage of Ireland that has been united with the earldom of Cork since 1753 . It was created in 1660 for the soldier, statesman and dramatist Roger Boyle, 1st Baron Boyle, third but eldest surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork...
had obtained for him induction without the intervention of the ‘Tryers.’
On the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
in 1660, Rainbowe was restored to his mastership at Cambridge, and appointed chaplain to the king. In the following year he was made Dean of Peterborough, and moved there; but he returned to Cambridge on being appointed vice-chancellor in November 1662. In 1664 he was elected bishop of Carlisle, on the translation of Dr. Richard Sterne to York. Rainbowe was consecrated in July 1664, in London, by Gilbert Sheldon
Gilbert Sheldon
Gilbert Sheldon was an English Archbishop of Canterbury.-Early life:He was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 July 1598, the youngest son of Roger Sheldon; his father worked for Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford; he...
, Archbishop of Canterbury, and in September in the same year he arrived at his palace of Rose Castle
Rose Castle
Rose Castle is a fortified house in Cumbria, England, on a site that was home to the bishops of Carlisle from 1230 to 2009. It is within the parish of Dalston, from Dalston itself...
, near Dalston, in Cumberland. He had to borrow money to for the charges of his consecration, first-fruits, and his journey and settlement in his diocese; and the ruined state of his palace involved him in building, and in litigation about dilapidations with his predecessor and metropolitan, Sterne. Rainbowe found his diocese required reform. Negligent clergy publicly affronted their bishop, and his outspoken denunciation of immorality appears to have offended some great lady about the court. In years of scarcity, when his own stores were exhausted, he bought barley and distributed it to the poor. To the poor at Carlisle and Dalston he made regular allowances. He paid for the education of poor boys at Dalston school, and for putting them out as apprentices; he supported poor scholars at the universities; he subscribed largely to the French protestants and to foreign converts.
Rainbowe died on 26 March 1684, and was buried, by his own request, at Dalston (1 April), under a plain stone, with a simple inscription. His wife Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Henry Smyth (his predecessor as master of Magdalene), whom he married in 1652, survived him. After his death she resided chiefly at Dalemain with her sister's son, Sir Edward Hasell. She died in 1702, and was also buried in Dalston churchyard.