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John Carpenter (bishop)
Encyclopedia
John Carpenter was an English Bishop
, Provost
and University Chancellor.
and his wife Christina of London
. John Carpenter the bishop was also known as John Carpenter the elder. He had three siblings, Margery, John the younger, and William. His two brothers were baptised in Hereford. He was baptised on 4 May 1399 in St Peter's Church, Westbury on Trym
, Bristol
, England
. He had a notable uncle also called John Carpenter, town clerk of London
.
According to Douglas-Smith, John Carpenter was Warden of St. Anthony's Hospital, London and Rector of St. Mary Magdalen. A Master John Carpenter, then King's clerk, is referred to in Patent Rolls
of 17 March 1433 and 9 July 1435, the first being a grant for life of the wardenship.
, Oxford from 1428 to 1444, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford
in 1437. Carpenter was nominated on 20 December 1443 and consecrated as Bishop of Worcester
on 22 March 1444. He resigned the see in July of 1476. Carpenter died in 1476 in Northwick, Worcestershire, England, and was buried in Westbury on Trym.
in 1476. He had been baptised at the same church, which at that time was dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. Soon after Carpenter became bishop he sought to raise the status of St Peter's to that of a joint cathedral with Worcester, and styled himself "Bishop of Worcester and Westbury". He had the building rededicated to the Holy Trinity. Carpenter added a chancel, and a chapel dedicated to St Oswald, to the fabric. He also refounded and rebuilt Westbury College
.
Carpenter was buried in the crypt underneath the altar. His memorial was originally a cadaver tomb
, with the bishop in full episcopal attire above an enclosure containing a sculpture of a cadaver or skeleton. This tomb was broken up in 1646, during the Civil War
, by soldiers from the Bristol garrison. In 1851 the stone cadaver was found in the crypt of the chapel. This was incorporated in 1853 into a new canopied memorial of Purbeck marble, marked on top with a bishop's crozier.
Over the porch entrance doorway is a statue of Bishop Carpenter, of unknown date. At some time headless, the statue was restored in the early 20th century.
The coat of arms used by Bishop John Carpenter were those of the Hereford branch of the Carpenters.Bishop John Carpenter's basic Arms appear to be of French or Norman heritage, "Paly, azure and gules, a chevron argent charged with three crosslets or, in chief a mitre or."[11] – "less the "in chief a mitre or." are often referred to as the Hereford Arms, named for the later ancestral home of the Carpenter Family in Hereford, England. The Crest, supporters & motto apparently has changed several times over the centuries. A more current motto is: "Per acuta belli". See: "Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine" vol. 16, Number 2, April 1925, Page 60-70, article by J. Hatton Carpenter – "The Carpenter Family of England and the United States."
A second representation of the arms was mounted in a window of 1477 in the Old Library at Balliol College, Oxford. The arms are described as "Paly, azure and gules, a chevron argent charged with three crosslets or, in chief a mitre or."
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
, Provost
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
and University Chancellor.
Chancellor (ecclesiastical)
Two quite distinct officials of some Christian churches have the title Chancellor.*In some churches, the Chancellor of a diocese is a lawyer who represents the church in legal matters....
Early life
Bishop Carpenter's father was John Carpenter the elder, born c. 1362 to Richard or Renaud Carpenter of CambraiCambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
and his wife Christina of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. John Carpenter the bishop was also known as John Carpenter the elder. He had three siblings, Margery, John the younger, and William. His two brothers were baptised in Hereford. He was baptised on 4 May 1399 in St Peter's Church, Westbury on Trym
Westbury on Trym
Westbury-on-Trym is a suburb and council ward in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England. Westbury-on-Trym has a village atmosphere. The place is partly named after the River Trym that flows...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
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...
. He had a notable uncle also called John Carpenter, town clerk of London
John Carpenter, town clerk of London
John Carpenter, the younger , was a noted Town Clerk of London. He was elected as Town Clerk to the City of London during the reigns of Henry V and Henry VI. He was the author of the first book of English common law, called Liber Albus . He was a member of the English Parliament from London in 1425...
.
According to Douglas-Smith, John Carpenter was Warden of St. Anthony's Hospital, London and Rector of St. Mary Magdalen. A Master John Carpenter, then King's clerk, is referred to in Patent Rolls
Patent Rolls
The Patent Rolls are primary sources for English history, a record of the King of England's correspondence, starting in 1202....
of 17 March 1433 and 9 July 1435, the first being a grant for life of the wardenship.
Bishop and chancellor
Carpenter was Provost of Oriel CollegeOriel College
Oriel College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford...
, Oxford from 1428 to 1444, and Chancellor of 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 1437. Carpenter was nominated on 20 December 1443 and consecrated as Bishop of Worcester
Bishop of Worcester
The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. He is the head of the Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury...
on 22 March 1444. He resigned the see in July of 1476. Carpenter died in 1476 in Northwick, Worcestershire, England, and was buried in Westbury on Trym.
The Church at Westbury on Trym
Bishop Carpenter was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Westbury on TrymHoly Trinity Church, Westbury on Trym
- External links :* *...
in 1476. He had been baptised at the same church, which at that time was dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. Soon after Carpenter became bishop he sought to raise the status of St Peter's to that of a joint cathedral with Worcester, and styled himself "Bishop of Worcester and Westbury". He had the building rededicated to the Holy Trinity. Carpenter added a chancel, and a chapel dedicated to St Oswald, to the fabric. He also refounded and rebuilt Westbury College
Westbury College Gatehouse
Westbury College Gatehouse is a 15th-century gatehouse to the 13th-century College of Priests located in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, England, and now a National Trust property. It is a grade I listed building.- History :...
.
Carpenter was buried in the crypt underneath the altar. His memorial was originally a cadaver tomb
Cadaver tomb
A cadaver tomb or transi is a church monument or tomb featuring an effigy in the macabre form of a decomposing corpse. The topos was particularly characteristic of the later Middle Ages....
, with the bishop in full episcopal attire above an enclosure containing a sculpture of a cadaver or skeleton. This tomb was broken up in 1646, during the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, by soldiers from the Bristol garrison. In 1851 the stone cadaver was found in the crypt of the chapel. This was incorporated in 1853 into a new canopied memorial of Purbeck marble, marked on top with a bishop's crozier.
Over the porch entrance doorway is a statue of Bishop Carpenter, of unknown date. At some time headless, the statue was restored in the early 20th century.
Coat of arms
- The Hereford Arms were granted in 1719 to Lord George Carpenter (1657–1732). He was a Lt. General and commander-in-chief of all the Crown's forces in Scotland where he was elevated to the peerage of Ireland, by patent dated 29 May 1719, as Baron Carpenter, of Killaghy, county Kilkenny, Ireland. See:"The Life of Lord George Carpenter", published 1736 in London. And – BRITISH NATIONAL RECORD ARCHIEVES: Historical Manuscripts Commission, UK National Register of Archives, George Carpenter (1657–1732) 1st Baron Carpenter Lieutenant General. – See link at: http://www.hmc.gov.uk/NRA/searches/PIdocs.asp?P=4953
- Please be aware that there is no direct male to male Carpenter descent connecting Lord George Carpenter & Sir William Boyd Carpenter. The family connection is by marriage through the females in the family.
- Sir William Boyd CarpenterWilliam Boyd CarpenterWilliam Boyd Carpenter KCVO was a Church of England clergyman who became Bishop of Ripon and court chaplain to Queen Victoria.-Family:William Boyd Carpenter was the second son of the Rev...
(1841–1918), an English Clergyman of the Established church of England, BishopBishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of RiponRiponRipon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...
, afterwards a Cannon of Westminster and Chaplain to the reigning sovereign of England, wrote in a letter dated 7 August 1907 that his family bore the Hereford Arms. Sir Noel Paton, upon painting the Family Arms, informed him that the supporters were originally was a round-handled sword, which in drawing over time became shortened, until nothing but the cross and globe were left beneath it. Those Hereford Arms were used by "John Carpenter, town clerk of London, who died 1442 A. D." See: "Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine" vol. 16, Number 2, April 1925, Page 60-70, article by J. Hatton Carpenter – "The Carpenter Family of England and the United States." His grandson John Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-CarpenterJohn Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-CarpenterJohn Archibald Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter PC was a British Conservative politician.-Early life:...
(1908–1998), continued the Arms into the new century by passing it down to his son, Thomas Boyd-Carpenter, who was himself knighted after a military career as a Lieutenant-General and in public service.
- NOTE: The Hereford Coat of Arms described above should not be confused with the Arms of Bishop Richard Carpenter (c1450s?-1503) presented in the "Visitations of the County of Oxford taken in 1566, 1574, and 1634, published in 1871, which describe the arms displayed in the buildings at the University in OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
– "In the Lyberarye of Baliall College." – as recorded by the officials performing the visitations in those years. The Visitations describe the arms of Richard Carpenter (theologian)Richard Carpenter (theologian)- Biography :He was probably born in Cornwall in 1575. A Richard Carpenter was baptized at Phillack, Cornwall, on 16 February 1575[/6], son of Thomas Carpenter. It is not certain, however, that he and this Richard Carpenter were the same person. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, on 28 May...
as: "Paly of nine Gu. and Az. on a chevron Arg. surmounted by a mitre Or, three cross crosslets of – nine pales alternating red and blue, with a silver chevron bearing three gold cross-crosslets. See: Visitations of the County of Oxford taken in 1566, 1574, and 1634, published in 1871.
A second representation of the arms was mounted in a window of 1477 in the Old Library at Balliol College, Oxford. The arms are described as "Paly, azure and gules, a chevron argent charged with three crosslets or, in chief a mitre or."
- The Westbury Harriers club have adapted Bishop John Carpenter's arms to use as their "crest."
- Pictures of the tomb of John Carpenter
- "The first photo shows the position of the tomb in the church and you can see why it is difficult to access it easily, being behind the altar rails and almost up against the two columns.The coats of arms are on the ends."
- "The second photo shows the two on the front end, ... The coat of arms of Bishop Carpenter is stated as "Paly of six gules and azure on a chevron argent three cross crosslet or; on the top of the chevron is a mitre wrought or", which would be the right hand one."
- "The third is more of a closeup to show the 'cadaver' statue inside.
External links
Further reading
- Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961
- Peasants And Landlords In Later Medieval England by Fryde, 1996. There is major material on Bishop John Carpenter within. The author says that, "He appears to have come from Westbury near Bristol and to have descended from a family of Episcopal tenants there." (p. 169)
- Lords and Peasants in a Changing Society: The Estates of the Bishopric of Worcester, 680–1540, Cambridge, 1980. by Dyer.
- Burton, Edwin. "Ancient Diocese of Worcester". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 23 Apr. 2009 < http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15703a.htm >.