William Piers
Encyclopedia
William Piers (c.1580 – 1670) was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1621 to 1624, Bishop of Peterborough
from 1630 to 1632 and Bishop of Bath and Wells
from 1632 to his death in 1670.
, Archbishop of York. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford
17 August 1599, and became student the same year. He graduated B.A. in 1600, M.A. in 1603, B.D. 1610, D.D. 1614. He became chaplain to John King
, and in 1609 he was presented by James I to the rectory of Grafton Regis
, Northamptonshire
, which he resigned in 1611 on his collation by Bishop King to Northolt
, which he held till 1632.
He was heavily influenced by John King, a bishop of London, who himself had been the chaplain to Archbishop Piers, when appointed as chaplain in 1612. At Oxford he followed Arminianism
and high church doctrine in William Laud
's circle. He was licensed to preach, became a prebendary of St Paul's, and a reader in Divinity.
In 1615 he added to his other preferments the rectory of St. Christopher-le-Stocks in the city of London, which he held till 1620. In January 1616 he was presented to the fifth stall as a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, which he exchanged for the eighth stall 16 December 1618, holding it in commendam
till 1632. In 1618 he received from his patron, Bishop King, the prebendal stall of Wildland in St. Paul's Cathedral, holding with it the office of divinity reader. As canon of Christ Church he resided chiefly at Oxford, and, though not the head of a house, served the office of vice-chancellor in 1621-4. As vice-chancellor he used his authority to oppose the Calvinist party in the university, and he secured a D.D. degree for the royalist Robert Sibthorpe
. He encouraged the Doctrine of Grace, which rejected predestination and moved towards a more universal truth and divine forgiveness. However in his early career he still held onto Calvinism.
It was the last of these Calvinist political Bishops John Williams of Lincoln, a former Lord Keeper, who appointed Piers to the deanery of Peterborough 9 June 1622. He was elevated in 1630 to the bishopric of Peterborough, being consecrated on 24 October. He obtained letters of dispensation to hold the rectory of Northolt and the canonry of Christ Church together with his bishopric in commendam; Northolt he soon resigned, taking the chapter living of Caistor
, 27 February 1632. In October 1632 he was translated from Peterborough to Bath and Wells, with William Laud
's backing. He enforced the orthodox ceremonies, and in 1633 issued orders for the positioning and railing of the communion table
, being obeyed in 140 churches of the diocese, but resisted by the majority.
The churchwardens of Beckington
refused to carry out the change, and were excommunicated for their contumacy
. Backed up by leading puritan laity in the clothier districts, they appealed to the court of arches, but in vain. A petition sent by parishioners to Laud was disregarded. The churchwarden then appealed to the king, but could get no answer. They were then imprisoned in the county gaol, where they remained for a year, being released in 1637 only on condition of submission and public acknowledgement of their offence. Later Laud, when in the Tower of London
in 1642, accepted the whole responsibility.
Piers also offended strict Sunday Sabbatarians; the judges of assize had forbidden unlawful Sunday meetings, and ordered that the prohibition should be read by the ministers in the parish church. These orders were reissued in 1632 by Justice Richardson, which Piers opposed the following year using the only available precedent St Gregory's Case. Laud, finding this interference with episcopal jurisdiction, wrote to Piers to obtain the opinion of some of the clergy of his diocese as to how the wake
s were conducted. However by 1636, only 140 of 469 in the Canterbury Province had complied with the ruling. In Somerset Fry and Wheeler, churchwardens refused to move and rail the altar. Laud excommunicated them, which deepened resentment against Arminianism.
Piers's reply to Laud upheld the old custom of wakes and [church ales or [parish ale]]s, basing the outcry against them on Sabbatarianism. He collected seventy-two signatures from clerics who supported wakes and church recreation. Opponents were accused of forming illegal puritan conventicles and alehouses. He proceeded to enforce the reading of the Declaration or Book of Sports in church, visiting the clergy who refused with censure and suspension, but earning widespread antipathy in many parishes of his see. Evidence however shows Piers also hunted recusants. Many lived in Somerset, but few were prosecuted.Piers also followed Laud's reforms of Wadham College, Oxford, founded by a Somerset squire, in his efforts of 1633 and 1637. Piers was a dedicated bishop, keeping meticulous accounts. He sued the previous bishop Walter Curll for allowing Wells Cathedral to fall into disrepair; although John Cosin called Piers to account for his time at Peterborough.
Piers was an equally determined enemy to the 'lectureships'. Secularizing preachers gave a ministry for free; but they lacked uniformity. Piers further ordered that catechising should take the place of lectures, and according to William Prynne
, he boasted that, 'thank God, he had not one lecture left in his diocese'. Piers argued that Feast Days, much to puritan anger, were good for the people to enjoy at Thanksgiving and Christmas. According to Raleigh a new type of precisian puritan objected feasts on the Sabbath. Historian Jonathan Barry has demonstrated that ritualism in Somerset linked some clergy and women in outdoor ceremonies to alleged witchcraft; ministers of ejected livings dabbling with Shamanism.
The Personal Rule
's policies made Piers very unpopular. Ship Money
in 1635 collected inland became bitterly resented in puritan villages of North Somerset. In 1636 he decided to appoint his son William Piers as Rector of Buckland St Mary. An argument ensued with puritan noble Sir Francis Popham
who owned the advowson
, and did not want a high church cleric in his parish.
On Laud's fall a petition was presented to the House of Commons against Piers. Within a few days of the committal of Laud to the Tower on 18 December 1640. Piers, together with Bishop Matthew Wren
, was impeached before the House of Lords, and bound to appear at the bar on 30 December. The 'Articles of Association, 8' (printed in 1642), in fifteen heads, closed with a denunciation of Piers. A committee was appointed to investigate the charges; its scope was widened to embrace the clergy generally. Piers was one of the twelve bishops who signed the protest against the legality of parliamentary proceedings in their enforced absence, for which they were accused of high treason
and committed to the Tower in December 1641.
At the beginning of their imprisonment he preached to his brother prelates two sermons on 2 Cor. xii. 8-9, which were later published. Having been liberated on bail by the Lords, he and the other were again imprisoned by the Commons. Piers was deprived of his bishopric, but recovered his liberty, and lived on an estate of his own in the parish of Cuddesdon
in Oxfordshire
, where he married a second time. In 1660 he was restored to his bishopric. At the end of his life he left Wells and settle at Walthamstow
in Essex
. Here he died in April 1670, in his ninetieth year, and was buried in the parish church. He left two sons by his first wife: William, who became a D.D., and was appointed by his father to the archdeaconry of Bath, and John, a lay prebendary of Wells, who inherited the family estate at Cuddesdon.
Bishop of Peterborough
The Bishop of Peterborough is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Peterborough in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the counties of Northamptonshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire...
from 1630 to 1632 and Bishop of Bath and Wells
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...
from 1632 to his death in 1670.
Life
The son of William Piers or Pierse, was born at South Hinksey Oxford, and baptised in the parish church of All Saints 3 September 1580; his father was John PiersJohn Piers
John Piers was Archbishop of York between 1589–1594. Previous to that he had been Bishop of Rochester and Bishop of Salisbury.-Life:...
, Archbishop of York. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
17 August 1599, and became student the same year. He graduated B.A. in 1600, M.A. in 1603, B.D. 1610, D.D. 1614. He became chaplain to John King
John King (bishop)
John King was an English churchman, patron of the Church of Pertenhall in Bedfordshire....
, and in 1609 he was presented by James I to the rectory of Grafton Regis
Grafton Regis
Grafton Regis is a village and civil parish in the south of the English county of Northamptonshire. The village is east of the A508 road, on which it has a short frontage and two bus stops. It is ca. south of Northampton and north of Milton Keynes....
, 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,...
, which he resigned in 1611 on his collation by Bishop King to Northolt
Northolt
Northolt is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, England. The town has London Underground and Network Rail stations and is on the A40 road...
, which he held till 1632.
He was heavily influenced by John King, a bishop of London, who himself had been the chaplain to Archbishop Piers, when appointed as chaplain in 1612. At Oxford he followed Arminianism
Arminianism in the Church of England
Arminianism in the Church of England was a theological strand or tendency within the clergy of the Church of England particularly evident in the second quarter of the 17th century...
and high church doctrine in William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
's circle. He was licensed to preach, became a prebendary of St Paul's, and a reader in Divinity.
In 1615 he added to his other preferments the rectory of St. Christopher-le-Stocks in the city of London, which he held till 1620. In January 1616 he was presented to the fifth stall as a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, which he exchanged for the eighth stall 16 December 1618, holding it in commendam
In Commendam
In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...
till 1632. In 1618 he received from his patron, Bishop King, the prebendal stall of Wildland in St. Paul's Cathedral, holding with it the office of divinity reader. As canon of Christ Church he resided chiefly at Oxford, and, though not the head of a house, served the office of vice-chancellor in 1621-4. As vice-chancellor he used his authority to oppose the Calvinist party in the university, and he secured a D.D. degree for the royalist Robert Sibthorpe
Robert Sibthorpe
Robert Sibthorpe or Sibthorp was an English clergyman who gained notoriety during the reign of King Charles I of England for his outspoken defense of the divine right of kings.-Biography:...
. He encouraged the Doctrine of Grace, which rejected predestination and moved towards a more universal truth and divine forgiveness. However in his early career he still held onto Calvinism.
It was the last of these Calvinist political Bishops John Williams of Lincoln, a former Lord Keeper, who appointed Piers to the deanery of Peterborough 9 June 1622. He was elevated in 1630 to the bishopric of Peterborough, being consecrated on 24 October. He obtained letters of dispensation to hold the rectory of Northolt and the canonry of Christ Church together with his bishopric in commendam; Northolt he soon resigned, taking the chapter living of Caistor
Caistor
See Caistor St Edmund for the Roman settlement in Norfolk or Caister-on-Sea for the town in NorfolkCaistor is a town and civil parish situated in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. As its name implies, it was originally a Roman castrum or fortress...
, 27 February 1632. In October 1632 he was translated from Peterborough to Bath and Wells, with William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
's backing. He enforced the orthodox ceremonies, and in 1633 issued orders for the positioning and railing of the communion table
Communion table
A Communion table is used by many Protestant churches, particularly from Reformed, Baptist, Congregational, and non-denominational traditions, for the preparation of the Eucharist ....
, being obeyed in 140 churches of the diocese, but resisted by the majority.
The churchwardens of Beckington
Beckington
Beckington is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, across the River Frome from Lullington about three miles north of Frome...
refused to carry out the change, and were excommunicated for their contumacy
Contumacy
Contumacy is a stubborn refusal to obey authority or, particularly in law, the wilful contempt of the order or summons of a court The term is derived from the Latin word contumacia, meaning firmness or stubbornness....
. Backed up by leading puritan laity in the clothier districts, they appealed to the court of arches, but in vain. A petition sent by parishioners to Laud was disregarded. The churchwarden then appealed to the king, but could get no answer. They were then imprisoned in the county gaol, where they remained for a year, being released in 1637 only on condition of submission and public acknowledgement of their offence. Later Laud, when in the Tower of London
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...
in 1642, accepted the whole responsibility.
Piers also offended strict Sunday Sabbatarians; the judges of assize had forbidden unlawful Sunday meetings, and ordered that the prohibition should be read by the ministers in the parish church. These orders were reissued in 1632 by Justice Richardson, which Piers opposed the following year using the only available precedent St Gregory's Case. Laud, finding this interference with episcopal jurisdiction, wrote to Piers to obtain the opinion of some of the clergy of his diocese as to how the wake
Wake (ceremony)
A wake is a ceremony associated with death. Traditionally, a wake takes place in the house of the deceased, with the body present; however, modern wakes are often performed at a funeral home. In the United States and Canada it is synonymous with a viewing...
s were conducted. However by 1636, only 140 of 469 in the Canterbury Province had complied with the ruling. In Somerset Fry and Wheeler, churchwardens refused to move and rail the altar. Laud excommunicated them, which deepened resentment against Arminianism.
Piers's reply to Laud upheld the old custom of wakes and [church ales or [parish ale]]s, basing the outcry against them on Sabbatarianism. He collected seventy-two signatures from clerics who supported wakes and church recreation. Opponents were accused of forming illegal puritan conventicles and alehouses. He proceeded to enforce the reading of the Declaration or Book of Sports in church, visiting the clergy who refused with censure and suspension, but earning widespread antipathy in many parishes of his see. Evidence however shows Piers also hunted recusants. Many lived in Somerset, but few were prosecuted.Piers also followed Laud's reforms of Wadham College, Oxford, founded by a Somerset squire, in his efforts of 1633 and 1637. Piers was a dedicated bishop, keeping meticulous accounts. He sued the previous bishop Walter Curll for allowing Wells Cathedral to fall into disrepair; although John Cosin called Piers to account for his time at Peterborough.
Piers was an equally determined enemy to the 'lectureships'. Secularizing preachers gave a ministry for free; but they lacked uniformity. Piers further ordered that catechising should take the place of lectures, and according to William Prynne
William Prynne
William Prynne was an English lawyer, author, polemicist, and political figure. He was a prominent Puritan opponent of the church policy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. Although his views on church polity were presbyterian, he became known in the 1640s as an Erastian, arguing for...
, he boasted that, 'thank God, he had not one lecture left in his diocese'. Piers argued that Feast Days, much to puritan anger, were good for the people to enjoy at Thanksgiving and Christmas. According to Raleigh a new type of precisian puritan objected feasts on the Sabbath. Historian Jonathan Barry has demonstrated that ritualism in Somerset linked some clergy and women in outdoor ceremonies to alleged witchcraft; ministers of ejected livings dabbling with Shamanism.
The Personal Rule
Personal Rule
The Personal Rule was the period from 1629 to 1640, when King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland ruled without recourse to Parliament...
's policies made Piers very unpopular. Ship Money
Ship money
Ship money refers to a tax that Charles I of England tried to levy without the consent of Parliament. This tax, which was only applied to coastal towns during a time of war, was intended to offset the cost of defending that part of the coast, and could be paid in actual ships or the equivalent value...
in 1635 collected inland became bitterly resented in puritan villages of North Somerset. In 1636 he decided to appoint his son William Piers as Rector of Buckland St Mary. An argument ensued with puritan noble Sir Francis Popham
Francis Popham
Sir Francis Popham was an English soldier and politician.Francis Popham was the only son of Sir John Popham and was educated at Balliol College, Oxford and the Middle Temple...
who owned the advowson
Advowson
Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish...
, and did not want a high church cleric in his parish.
On Laud's fall a petition was presented to the House of Commons against Piers. Within a few days of the committal of Laud to the Tower on 18 December 1640. Piers, together with Bishop Matthew Wren
Matthew Wren
"Matthew Wren" is also a British actor who appeared in BBC children's show Trapped!.Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman and scholar.-Life:...
, was impeached before the House of Lords, and bound to appear at the bar on 30 December. The 'Articles of Association, 8' (printed in 1642), in fifteen heads, closed with a denunciation of Piers. A committee was appointed to investigate the charges; its scope was widened to embrace the clergy generally. Piers was one of the twelve bishops who signed the protest against the legality of parliamentary proceedings in their enforced absence, for which they were accused of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and committed to the Tower in December 1641.
At the beginning of their imprisonment he preached to his brother prelates two sermons on 2 Cor. xii. 8-9, which were later published. Having been liberated on bail by the Lords, he and the other were again imprisoned by the Commons. Piers was deprived of his bishopric, but recovered his liberty, and lived on an estate of his own in the parish of Cuddesdon
Cuddesdon
Cuddesdon is an east Oxfordshire village about east of Oxford. It is notable as the location of Ripon College Cuddesdon....
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, where he married a second time. In 1660 he was restored to his bishopric. At the end of his life he left Wells and settle at Walthamstow
Walthamstow
Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...
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...
. Here he died in April 1670, in his ninetieth year, and was buried in the parish church. He left two sons by his first wife: William, who became a D.D., and was appointed by his father to the archdeaconry of Bath, and John, a lay prebendary of Wells, who inherited the family estate at Cuddesdon.