Gilbert Bourne
Encyclopedia
Gilbert Bourne was the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Bath and Wells
, England.
. Entering the University of Oxford
in 1524, he became a Fellow
of All Souls
in 1531, proceeded in Arts in 1532, and in 1543 was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity
, having in 1541 been named prebendary
of Worcester
, on the suppression of the old monastic chapter there.
Moving to London in 1545, Bourne became a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral
, and in 1549 Archdeacon of Bedford with the benefice
of rector
of High Ongar
in Essex
. At the time, the holding of such preferments involved acceptance of the Church of England
as brought into being under King Henry VIII
and his son Edwarf VI
. Soon after Queen Mary
's accession, while preaching at St Paul's Cross
, Bourne narrowly escaped a dagger which a fanatic hurled at him on hearing him allude to Bishop Edmund Bonner
's recent sufferings under the previous reign. On being appointed to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells, Bourne received absolution from Cardinal Reginald Pole, the papal legate
, by letters dated 17 March 1554, from all censures incurred in the time of schism, and on 1 April was consecrated with five others by Bishop Bonner, assisted by Bishop Stephen Gardiner
and Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall
.
During Bourne's brief episcopate, he seems to have taken no part in the Marian Persecutions
, as Francis Godwin
admits, he always used kindness rather than severity. There is no record of religious executions in his diocese. Queen Mary showed her high esteem for him by naming him Lord President of the Council of Wales.
, appointed primate of the queen's new hierarchy. Although Queen Elizabeth
expressed herself content with his service, on his refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy
, which four Somerset
justices were commissioned on 18 October 1559 to administer, his deprivation of office quickly followed.
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For a few months Bourne was left in Somerset, apparently as a prisoner on parole; but on 31 May 1560 he received a summons to appear within twelve days before Parker and the Commissioners in London. He set out, as his reply to Parker shows, well knowing what to expect, and on 18 June was committed to the Tower of London
as a close prisoner, joining five other bishops already confined there. He remained in the Tower for three years, for most of that time in solitary confinement
, when an outbreak of the plague in September 1563 caused him and his companions to be for a time transferred into the keeping of certain of their Anglican
successors in office; Bourne himself was apparently committed to that of Bishop Nicholas Bullingham
of Lincoln.
There began that continual "tossing and shifting" of the deposed prelates "from one keeper to another, from one prison to another", which William Allen describes as one part of their "martyrdom". The Council, in June, 1565, sent them all back to the Tower, although a little later in a letter of Parker (January 1566), Bullingham is mentioned as though again for a time Bishop Bourne's actual or intended keeper, while all the captive prelates continue during the next two years to be referred to as then in the public prisons. After nearly ten years of this, Bishop Bourne died, at Silverton in Devonshire, having been there committed (apparently not long) to the custody of George Carew
, Archdeacon of Exeter and Dean of Windsor
. There he was buried in the church.
He is one of the "Eleven Bishops", a picture of whose prison was allowed by Pope Gregory XIII
to be erected in the English College church at Rome, amongst pictures of the English Saints and Martyrs
, with an inscription declaring that they "died for their confession of the Roman See and Catholic faith, worn out by the miseries of their long imprisonment".
Bishop of Bath and Wells
The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England.The present diocese covers the vast majority of the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in...
, England.
Life to the death of Mary I
Bourne was son of Philip Bourne, of WorcestershireWorcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. Entering the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1524, he became 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 All Souls
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....
in 1531, proceeded in Arts in 1532, and in 1543 was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity
Bachelor of Divinity
In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....
, having in 1541 been named prebendary
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
of Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, on the suppression of the old monastic chapter there.
Moving to London in 1545, Bourne became a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
, and in 1549 Archdeacon of Bedford with the benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
of rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of High Ongar
High Ongar
High Ongar is a village and civil parish in the County of Essex, England. It is located 0.85 north-east of Chipping Ongar, 8 miles west of Chelmsford and 6 miles north-west of Brentwood....
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...
. At the time, the holding of such preferments involved acceptance of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
as brought into being under King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
and his son Edwarf VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
. Soon after Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
's accession, while preaching at St Paul's Cross
St Paul's Cross
St Paul's Cross was a preaching cross and open air pulpit in the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London.-History:...
, Bourne narrowly escaped a dagger which a fanatic hurled at him on hearing him allude to Bishop Edmund Bonner
Edmund Bonner
Edmund Bonner , Bishop of London, was an English bishop. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonized by the Protestant reforms introduced by Somerset and reconciled himself to Roman Catholicism...
's recent sufferings under the previous reign. On being appointed to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells, Bourne received absolution from Cardinal Reginald Pole, the papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
, by letters dated 17 March 1554, from all censures incurred in the time of schism, and on 1 April was consecrated with five others by Bishop Bonner, assisted by Bishop Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner was an English Roman Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.-Early life:...
and Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall
Cuthbert Tunstall
Cuthbert Tunstall was an English Scholastic, church leader, diplomat, administrator and royal adviser...
.
Marian Persecutions
The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
, as Francis Godwin
Francis Godwin
Francis Godwin was an English divine, Bishop of Llandaff and of Hereford.-Life:He was the son of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, born at Hannington, Northamptonshire...
admits, he always used kindness rather than severity. There is no record of religious executions in his diocese. Queen Mary showed her high esteem for him by naming him Lord President of the Council of Wales.
Under Elizabeth
At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign Bourne was kept away from London by illness and official duties, and he is only mentioned once as present in the Parliament. For this reason he was one of the last bishops to be deposed, and he was even named amongst those first commissioned to consecrate Matthew ParkerMatthew Parker
Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
, appointed primate of the queen's new hierarchy. Although Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
expressed herself content with his service, on his refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy
Oath of Supremacy
The Oath of Supremacy, originally imposed by King Henry VIII of England through the Act of Supremacy 1534, but repealed by his daughter, Queen Mary I of England and reinstated under Mary's sister, Queen Elizabeth I of England under the Act of Supremacy 1559, provided for any person taking public or...
, which four Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
justices were commissioned on 18 October 1559 to administer, his deprivation of office quickly followed.
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
as a close prisoner, joining five other bishops already confined there. He remained in the Tower for three years, for most of that time in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
, when an outbreak of the plague in September 1563 caused him and his companions to be for a time transferred into the keeping of certain of their Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
successors in office; Bourne himself was apparently committed to that of Bishop Nicholas Bullingham
Nicholas Bullingham
Nicholas Bullingham was an English Bishop of Worcester.-Life:Nicholas Bullingham was born in Worcester in around 1520. He was sent to the Royal Grammar School Worcester, after which he entered Oxford University. In 1543, he became a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford...
of Lincoln.
There began that continual "tossing and shifting" of the deposed prelates "from one keeper to another, from one prison to another", which William Allen describes as one part of their "martyrdom". The Council, in June, 1565, sent them all back to the Tower, although a little later in a letter of Parker (January 1566), Bullingham is mentioned as though again for a time Bishop Bourne's actual or intended keeper, while all the captive prelates continue during the next two years to be referred to as then in the public prisons. After nearly ten years of this, Bishop Bourne died, at Silverton in Devonshire, having been there committed (apparently not long) to the custody of George Carew
George Carew (dean)
-Life:He was the third son of Sir Edmund Carew. He graduated B.A. at Broadgates Hall, Oxford in 1522.Carew was archdeacon of Totnes from 1534 to 1549, becoming precentor of Exeter in 1549, and was archdeacon of Exeter from 1556 to 1569. He was dean of Bristol from 5 November 1552, but he was...
, Archdeacon of Exeter and Dean of Windsor
Dean of Windsor
The Dean of Windsor is the spiritual head of the Canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Dean chairs meetings of the Chapter of Canons as primus inter pares.-List of Deans of Windsor:* William Mugge, 1348* Walter Almaly, 1380...
. There he was buried in the church.
He is one of the "Eleven Bishops", a picture of whose prison was allowed by Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII , born Ugo Boncompagni, was Pope from 1572 to 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake for the Gregorian calendar, which remains the internationally-accepted civil calendar to this date.-Youth:He was born the son of Cristoforo Boncompagni and wife Angela...
to be erected in the English College church at Rome, amongst pictures of the English Saints and Martyrs
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of men and women who were executed for treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1535 and 1679...
, with an inscription declaring that they "died for their confession of the Roman See and Catholic faith, worn out by the miseries of their long imprisonment".
Further reading
- Allen, Defence of Catholics (Ingolstadt, 1584)
- Bridgett, Queen Elizabeth and the Catholic Hierarchy (London, 1889)
- Bridgewater, Concertatio (August, Trev. 1588)
- Gairnder, English Historical Review (April, 1906) 377
- Godwin, Francis Catalogus Episcoporum Bathon. Et Wellen, (1594), in MS. Trin. Coll. Camb.
- Phillips, Extinction of the Ancient Hierarchy (London, 1905)
- Sanders, Report to Card. Morone, 1561 (Cath. Record society, 1905), I
- Sanders, De visibili Monarchia (Louvain, 1571)
- Rishton-Sanders, Rise of Anglican Schism Continued, tr. Lewis (London, 1877)