Life

He was born in 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...

, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge,
where he was elected to a scholarship in 1550. He proceeded B.A. in 1553, was elected a Fellow in 1553, and commenced M.A. in 1556. During the reign of Mary I of England

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...

 he remained unaffected. He was appointed senior fellow of his college on 22 July 1559. In 1563 he was elected one of the proctor

Proctor

Proctor, a variant of the word procurator, is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The word proctor is frequently used to describe someone who oversees an exam or dormitory.The title is used in England in three principal senses:...

s of the university. When Queen Elizabeth visited Cambridge in August 1564, he made a congratulatory oration in Latin to Sir William Cecil, chancellor of the university, on his arrival at St. John's College, and as proctor he took part in the disputation before the queen. In 1565 he proceeded B.D., and made a complaint against Richard Longworth

Richard Longworth (Cambridge)

Richard Longworth was an English churchman and academic, Master of St John's College, Cambridge and Dean of Chester.-Life:He was from Lancashire, and matriculated as a pensioner at St John's College in 1549. He graduated B.A. in 1553, M.A. in 1556, B.D. in 1563, and D.D. in 1567...

, the Master of his college, and William Fulke

William Fulke

William Fulke was an English Puritan divine.-Life:He was born in London and educated at St John's College, Cambridge graduating in 1557/58....

 one of the fellows, for non-conformity.

He was appointed dean of Chichester about November 1566, and installed in March 1567. Around that he was chaplain to the Queen and Archbishop Matthew Parker

Matthew 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....

. In 1569 it was suggested that he should become Archbishop of York

Archbishop of York

The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...

, but Archbishop Parker favoured Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...

. In the same year he was created D.D. by the university of Cambridge, being admitted in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster, by the Dean Gabriel Goodman

Gabriel Goodman

Gabriel Goodman was the Dean of Westminster and the re-founder of Ruthin School, in Ruthin, Denbighshire.-Early years:...

.

On the death of William Barlow, Bishop of Chichester

Bishop of Chichester

The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...

, Archbishop Parker wrote to Sir William Cecil

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...

 recommending Curteys for the vacant see. He was eventually elected to it, though not until April 1570. On 11 April 1571 he was presented by the queen to the vicarage of Ryhall

Ryhall

Ryhall is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is located close to the eastern boundary of the county, about 2 miles north of Stamford.-The Village:...

, with the members in Rutland

Rutland

Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....

.

His time as Bishop of Chichester was troubled. He engaged in a lawsuit with the Lord Admiral with respect to wrecks on the coast. In March 1577 he held a visitation, and cited and questioned the gentry of his diocese who were suspected Catholic sympathizers: about absenting themselves from divine service; of sending letters and money to, or receiving letters from Catholic fugitives; or of possessing the books of Thomas Harding

Thomas Harding (1516-1572)

Thomas Harding was an English Roman Catholic priest and controversialist.-Life:...

 and other Catholic authors. Three of the principal gentry involved complained, and commissioners prescribed conditions for his observance. In June 1577 he was obliged to procure a testimonial that he was not drunk at a private house. In 1579 he was called upon to deprive his brother Edmund of the vicarage of Cuckfield

Cuckfield

Cuckfield is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the southeast and Burgess...

 and of a canonry in Chichester as "a lewd vicar, void of all learning, a scoffer at singing of psalms, a seeker to witches, a drunkard, &c." The bishop ducked the task, and subsequently the Bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

 was directed to proceed to the deprivation of the delinquent.

He died in August 1582, very poor and greatly in debt to the Queen. He was buried in Chichester Cathedral

Chichester Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, otherwise called Chichester Cathedral, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in Sussex, England...

. The see remained vacant until January 1586.

Works

In addition to sermons preached before the queen and at St. Paul's Cross, he published An Exposition of certain Wordes of S. Paule to the Romaynes, entitled by an old writer, Hugo, a Treatise of the Workes of thre Dayes. Also another Worke of the Truthe of Christes naturall Bodye, London, 1577, 8vo ; a translation. It had a preface, signed by about forty preachers, commending him for the good he had done in his diocese, especially by suppressing "Machevils, papists, libertines, atheists, and such other erroneous persons."

A treatise by him, An Corpus Christi sit ubique? and his translation from English into Latin of the first part of Bishop John Jewel

John Jewel

John Jewel was an English bishop of Salisbury.-Life:He was the son of John Jewel of Buden, Devon, was educated under his uncle John Bellamy, rector of Hampton, and other private tutors until his matriculation at Merton College, Oxford, in July 1535.There he was taught by John Parkhurst,...

's answer to Thomas Harding's Confutation are among the manuscripts in the British Museum (Royal Collection, 8 D. vii., articles 1 & 2).