Richard Layton
Encyclopedia
Richard Layton was an English
churchman, jurist and diplomat, dean of York
and a principal agent of Henry VIII
and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries
.
, one of a very large family. He was kinsman of Robert Aske
, leader of the northern rebellion, and of George Joye, a prebendary of Ripon. He was educated at Cambridge, where he proceeded B.C.L. in 1522, and afterwards LL.D., and he took holy orders. According to Gilbert Burnet
he was in the service of Thomas Wolsey at the same time as Cromwell.
In 1522 Layton received the sinecure rectory of Stepney
; on 9 May 1523 he became prebendary of Kentish Town; he was admitted an advocate 5 June 1531. On 4 July 1531 he seems to have been living at East Farnham in Hampshire
, but on 1 September 1533, became dean of the collegiate church of Chester-le-Street
, County Durham
. He was made chaplain of St. Peter's in the Tower of London 15 March 1534, but this preferment required residence, and he resigned it in 1535. He was installed archdeacon of Buckingham 27 October 1534; but continued to live in London and had difficulties with his bishop, John Longland
. In 1535 Layton became rector of Sedgefield
in Durham, and soon afterwards rector of Brington
, Northamptonshire
, a clerk in chancery, and clerk to the privy council
. On 1 April 1535 he had lodgings in Paternoster Row
.
Meanwhile Cromwell had used Layton as an agent in executing his ecclesiastical reforms. He was employed at Syon Abbey
in December 1533, and he administered interrogatories to Thomas More
and John Fisher
in 1535, but he was more ambitious. Directly after the execution of More in July 1535 he was sent with John ap Rice to make a visitation of the university of Oxford. They only stayed a few weeks in July, but returned for a few days in September, and effected changes in the order of studies and discipline of the university, founding new lecturerships and noting down non-resident clergymen who (they thought) were better at their parsonages than in Oxford. They were favourable to the new learning and against scholasticism
.
On 1 August 1535 Layton and Thomas Legh
began visiting monasteries at Evesham Abbey
, and then passed to Bath (7 August) and the west. At first Legh found Layton lenient, but he grew stricter in the administration of the oaths of the royal supremacy. He passed to Bruton Abbey
, Glastonbury Abbey
, and Bristol, back to Oxford (12 September) On 26 September 1535 he was at Waverley
in Sussex
, and proceeded to Chichester, Arundel, Lewes, and Battle, and entering Kent, reached Allingborne on 1 October. On 23 October he was at Canterbury, and was nearly burnt to death in a fire at St Augustine's Abbey
. After returning to his lodgings in Paternoster Row, he was ordered, at his own request, to visit the northern houses. On the way he visited monasteries in Bedfordshire
, Northamptonshire
, and Leicestershire
. He collected confessions of every kind of iniquity, while enriching himself. On 22 December 1535 he met Legh at Lichfield
, reached York 11 January, and proceeded to the visitation of the Yorkshire houses. Layton afterwards traversed Northumberland
, and came back to London by way of Chester
. The reports of Layton and his companions, submitted with other similar material to the parliament which met 4 February 1536, sealed the fate of the smaller houses. The punishment of Layton was one of the demands of the Pilgrimage of Grace
.
In May 1536 Layton took part in the trial of Anne Boleyn
; through the autumn he was busy assisting in the repression of the northern rebels; and when the rising was over he was a commissioner to hear confessions. From December 1536 till the end of April 1537 he sat to try the prisoners. On 24 March 1537 he and Starkey received a summons from the king to confer with the bishops on the morrow (Palm Sunday) on theological points. Layton in 1537 was a commissioner to take surrenders of abbeys, and the work occupied him in the east and south of England during the year. Layton on 19 July 1537 asked Thomas Wriothesley
to recommend him for the registrarship of the Garter. On 21 July 1537 he was collated to the rectory of Harrow-on-the-Hill, where his recreations were hawking
and growing pears.
He was appointmented on 20 June 1539 to the prebend of Ulleskelf at York, and on 23 July 1539 to the deanery of York. At York he destroyed the silver shrine of St. William. With Richard Pollard and Thomas Moyle
he conducted the examination of Richard Whiting, abbot of Glastonbury in September 1539, and in the same year he interceded for the continuance of the sanctuary at Bewley
. In 1540 he was one of the divines appointed to examine the validity of the king's marriage with Anne of Cleves
.
Some time in 1543 he was employed in unravelling the conspiracy against Thomas Cranmer
, and in the same year was appointed to succeed William Paget
as English ambassador at Paris. The expectation of war with France, however, led to his transference to Brussels
, where he arrived 10 December 1543. While at Ghent
in February 1544 his health began to fail. He died at Brussels some time in June 1544. After his death it was found that he had pawned plate belonging to the chapter at York, and the chapter had to redeem it.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
churchman, jurist and diplomat, dean of York
Dean of York
The Dean of York is the member of the clergy who is responsible for the running of the York Minster cathedral.-11th–12th centuries:* 1093–c.1135: Hugh* c.1138–1143: William of Sainte-Barbe...
and a principal agent of 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 Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
.
Life
He was born about 1500, son of William Layton of Dalemain in CumberlandCumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, one of a very large family. He was kinsman of Robert Aske
Robert Aske (political leader)
Robert Aske was an English lawyer who became the leader of rebellion in York. He led the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and was executed by Henry VIII for treason in 1537.-Biography:...
, leader of the northern rebellion, and of George Joye, a prebendary of Ripon. He was educated at Cambridge, where he proceeded B.C.L. in 1522, and afterwards LL.D., and he took holy orders. According to Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet was a Scottish theologian and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was respected as a cleric, a preacher, and an academic, as well as a writer and historian...
he was in the service of Thomas Wolsey at the same time as Cromwell.
In 1522 Layton received the sinecure rectory of Stepney
Stepney (parish)
Stepney was an ancient civil and ecclesiastical parish in the historic county of Middlesex to the east and north east of the City of London, England.-Origins:...
; on 9 May 1523 he became prebendary of Kentish Town; he was admitted an advocate 5 June 1531. On 4 July 1531 he seems to have been living at East Farnham in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, but on 1 September 1533, became dean of the collegiate church of Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street is a town in County Durham, England. It has a history going back to Roman times when it was called Concangis. The town is located south of Newcastle upon Tyne and west of Sunderland on the River Wear...
, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
. He was made chaplain of St. Peter's in the Tower of London 15 March 1534, but this preferment required residence, and he resigned it in 1535. He was installed archdeacon of Buckingham 27 October 1534; but continued to live in London and had difficulties with his bishop, John Longland
John Longland
John Longland was the English Dean of Salisbury from 1514 to 1521 and bishop of Lincoln from 1521 to his death in 1547.He was King Henry VIII's confessor and was said to have been one of those who first persuaded the King that he should annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon.During the English...
. In 1535 Layton became rector of Sedgefield
Sedgefield
Sedgefield is a small town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It has a population of 4,534.Sedgefield has attracted particular attention as the Member of Parliament for the wider Sedgefield constituency was the former Prime Minister Tony Blair; he was the area's MP from 1983 to 2008,...
in Durham, and soon afterwards rector of Brington
Brington
Brington is a civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish population was 482 people.It contains three villages:*Great Brington*Little Brington*Nobottle-Notable people:...
, 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,...
, a clerk in chancery, and clerk to the privy council
Clerk of the Privy Council (United Kingdom)
The Clerk of the Privy Council is a civil servant in the government of the United Kingdom. He or she is the most senior civil servant in the Privy Council Office....
. On 1 April 1535 he had lodgings in Paternoster Row
Paternoster Row
Paternoster Row was a London street in which clergy of the medieval St Paul's Cathedral would walk, chanting the Lord's Prayer . It was devastated by aerial bombardment in The Blitz during World War II. Prior to this destruction the area had been a centre of the London publishing trade , with...
.
Meanwhile Cromwell had used Layton as an agent in executing his ecclesiastical reforms. He was employed at Syon Abbey
Syon Abbey
Syon Monastery , was a monastery of the Bridgettine Order founded in 1415 which stood until its demolition in the 16th c. on the left bank of the River Thames within the parish of Isleworth, in the county of Middlesex on or near the site of the present Georgian mansion of Syon House...
in December 1533, and he administered interrogatories to Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
and John Fisher
John Fisher
Saint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic scholastic, bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Church of England calendar of saints...
in 1535, but he was more ambitious. Directly after the execution of More in July 1535 he was sent with John ap Rice to make a visitation of the university of Oxford. They only stayed a few weeks in July, but returned for a few days in September, and effected changes in the order of studies and discipline of the university, founding new lecturerships and noting down non-resident clergymen who (they thought) were better at their parsonages than in Oxford. They were favourable to the new learning and against scholasticism
Scholasticism
Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context...
.
On 1 August 1535 Layton and Thomas Legh
Thomas Legh (lawyer)
Sir Thomas Legh was an English jurist and diplomat, a principal agent of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries.-Life:...
began visiting monasteries at Evesham Abbey
Evesham Abbey
Evesham Abbey was founded by Saint Egwin at Evesham in England between 700 and 710 A.D. following a vision of the Virgin Mary by Eof.According to the monastic history, Evesham came through the Norman Conquest unusually well, because of a quick approach by Abbot Æthelwig to William the Conqueror...
, and then passed to Bath (7 August) and the west. At first Legh found Layton lenient, but he grew stricter in the administration of the oaths of the royal supremacy. He passed to Bruton Abbey
Bruton Abbey
Bruton Abbey in Bruton, Somerset was originally founded as a Benedictine priory by Algar, Earl of Cornwall in about 1005. It was subsequently refounded as a house of Augustinian canons in 1135, by William de Mohun, who later became the Earl of Somerset. The village used the north aisle of the...
, Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....
, and Bristol, back to Oxford (12 September) On 26 September 1535 he was at Waverley
Waverley
Waverley is the name of several different things:*Waverley , a novel by Sir Walter Scott**The Waverley Novels, the series of which Waverley was the first**The Waverley Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, and proceeded to Chichester, Arundel, Lewes, and Battle, and entering Kent, reached Allingborne on 1 October. On 23 October he was at Canterbury, and was nearly burnt to death in a fire at St Augustine's Abbey
St Augustine's Abbey
St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Canterbury, Kent, England.-Early history:In 597 Saint Augustine arrived in England, having been sent by Pope Gregory I, on what might nowadays be called a revival mission. The King of Kent at this time was Æthelberht, who happened to be married to a...
. After returning to his lodgings in Paternoster Row, he was ordered, at his own request, to visit the northern houses. On the way he visited monasteries in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, 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,...
, and Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. He collected confessions of every kind of iniquity, while enriching himself. On 22 December 1535 he met Legh at Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
, reached York 11 January, and proceeded to the visitation of the Yorkshire houses. Layton afterwards traversed Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, and came back to London by way of Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. The reports of Layton and his companions, submitted with other similar material to the parliament which met 4 February 1536, sealed the fate of the smaller houses. The punishment of Layton was one of the demands of the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
.
In May 1536 Layton took part in the trial of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
; through the autumn he was busy assisting in the repression of the northern rebels; and when the rising was over he was a commissioner to hear confessions. From December 1536 till the end of April 1537 he sat to try the prisoners. On 24 March 1537 he and Starkey received a summons from the king to confer with the bishops on the morrow (Palm Sunday) on theological points. Layton in 1537 was a commissioner to take surrenders of abbeys, and the work occupied him in the east and south of England during the year. Layton on 19 July 1537 asked Thomas Wriothesley
Thomas Wriothesley
Sir Thomas Wriothesley was a long serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Garter King of Arms, John Writhe, and he succeeded his father in this office.-Personal life:...
to recommend him for the registrarship of the Garter. On 21 July 1537 he was collated to the rectory of Harrow-on-the-Hill, where his recreations were hawking
Hawking
- People :* Stephen Hawking, an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist- Fictional characters :* James "Jim" Hawking, a character from the anime series, Outlaw Star- Other uses :...
and growing pears.
He was appointmented on 20 June 1539 to the prebend of Ulleskelf at York, and on 23 July 1539 to the deanery of York. At York he destroyed the silver shrine of St. William. With Richard Pollard and Thomas Moyle
Thomas Moyle
Sir Thomas Moyle was a commissioner for Henry VIII in the dissolution of the monasteries, and speaker of the House of Commons in the Parliament of England from 1542 to 1544.-Life:...
he conducted the examination of Richard Whiting, abbot of Glastonbury in September 1539, and in the same year he interceded for the continuance of the sanctuary at Bewley
Bewley
Bewley is a surname originating in England around the 13th century. It is said to come from France from the spelling Beaulieu.- Bewleys of Cumberland :Some thousands of families today in the English-speaking world bear the surname of Bewley...
. In 1540 he was one of the divines appointed to examine the validity of the king's marriage with Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
.
Some time in 1543 he was employed in unravelling the conspiracy against Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...
, and in the same year was appointed to succeed William Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert , was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.-Early life:...
as English ambassador at Paris. The expectation of war with France, however, led to his transference to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, where he arrived 10 December 1543. While at Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
in February 1544 his health began to fail. He died at Brussels some time in June 1544. After his death it was found that he had pawned plate belonging to the chapter at York, and the chapter had to redeem it.