Bishop of Gloucester

“ BULLINGHAM, JOHN (d. 1598) , bishop of Gloucester, was a native of Gloucestershire. He was elected a probationer fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, July 1550, being then B.A. He was slow in embracing the tenets of the reformers. ”

“ The Bishop of Gloucester preached at the Abbey at the funeral of the Bishop of Hereford, brother to the Duke of Albemarle. It was a decent solemnity. There was a silver miter, with episcopal robes, borne by the herald before the hearse, which was followed by the Duke his brother, and all the bishops, with divers noblemen. ”

“ Ordained deacon and priest by the Bishop of Gloucester in 1828, he served successively the curacies of Weston-sub-Edge in Gloucestershire, and Messing and Peldon in Essex, and became rector of Leigh in Essex in 1837. ”

“ You must have read an attack upon me by the Bishop of Gloucester, [128] in the course of which he says that I have not been appointed to my situation as Canon of St. Paul's for my piety and learning but because I am a scoffer and a jester. Is not this rather strong for a Bishop, and does it not appear to you, Mr. Archdeacon, as rather too close an imitation of that language which is used in the apostolic occupation of trafficking in fish? Whether I have been appointed for my piety or not, must depend upon what this poor man means by piety. ”

“ The archbishop endeavoured to cheer her by assuring her that Lord Hastings had sent her a message, bidding her rely upon it that Gloucester was loyal, and was doing all for the best for the king. "Ah! woe worth him!" exclaimed the unhappy woman, "it is he who goeth about to destroy me and my blood." "Madam," said the arch-bishop, "be of good comfort; I assure you that if they crown any other king than your eldest son, whom they have with them, we will on the morrow crown his brother, whom you have with you here. ”

“ After this it was no small triumph to his party that, on the death of Wakeman, Bishop of Gloucester, May.Hooper was nominated, by Somerset's influence, as his successor, in the teeth of the whole Episcopal bench. It was understood that in his own person the prelate elect intended to resist the idolatrous usages. 'Hooper,' wrote Christopher Hales to Gualter, 'was appointed Bishop of Gloucester two days since, but under godly conditions. He will not allow himself to be called my lord, as we are wont to say; he will not receive the tonsure; he will not be made a magpie of ”

“ Thomson, when appointed bishop of Gloucester in 1861, made Jones his examining chaplain, and, when translated to York in 1863, presented him to the Grindal prebend in York Minster and the perpetual curacy of Haxby, substituting for the latter in 1865 the vicarage of Bishopthorpe, where the episcopal palace is situated. ”

“ The quarrel between the Duke of Gloucester and the bishop was kept, in some degree, subdued during this period, partly by the influence of the Duke of Bedford while he lived, and partly by Gloucester's mind being taken up to a considerable extent with other things, especially with his campaigns in France; for he was engaged during the period of the king's minority in many important military expeditions in that country. ”

“ Nothing speaks more strongly for the fact that the Protector, rather than the Chancellor, stood for the cause of good government than the undivided support which the long-headed, peace-loving burgesses of London gave to the former. In point of fact, both Gloucester and Beaufort were ambitious men, and neither was over-burdened with principles. Yet we must not forget that the Protectorate was in the hands of Gloucester, and that the Bishop, as Chancellor, was attacking a power which was legal, though to him obnoxious. ”

“ For this he was brought before the Council, but came out of the debate victorious, and was offered a bishopric which he refused, saying, “I cannot put on me a surplice and a cope. I cannot swear by created beings.” Even Edward’s Government found his eloquence inconvenient, and he was sent to the Fleet for his intemperate preaching. [544] He was at length consecrated Bishop of Gloucester, with the usual ceremonies, [Pg 374] but was afterwards allowed to discard the hated vestments of Episcopacy, “the rags of the harlot of Babylon,” as he described them. ”

“ The tiresome and monotonous domestic history of England during the next twenty years consisted of little else than quarrels between Gloucester and the lords of the council, of whom the chief was the duke’s half-uncle Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, the last to survive of all the sons of John of Gaunt. The duke and the bishop were both unscrupulous; but the churchman, with all his faults, was a patriotic statesman, while Gloucester cared far more for his own private ends than for the welfare of the realm. ”

“ TEWKESBURY (Mitred Benedictine)
715, Monastery founded by two brothers, Oddo and Doddo, Dukes of Mercia, on the site of the cell inhabited by Theocus, a hermit—1102, Refounded and endowed by Robert Fitz-Hamon as a Benedictine abbey—Church and monastery built—1123, Church consecrated—1539, Dissolved. Annual revenue, £1598 1s. 3d.—Conventual buildings destroyed but church purchased by the parishioners—John Wakeman, last abbot, retires on a pension and becomes first Bishop of Gloucester—1875, Church restored by Sir Gilbert Scott. ”

“ At length, however, he came back to England, and there, when the king was about twenty years of age, the quarrel between him and the bishop's party broke out anew. The king himself was, however, now old enough to take some part in such a difficulty, and so both sides appealed to him. Gloucester made out a series of twenty-four articles of complaint against the bishop. The bishop, on the other hand, accused the duke of treason, and he specially charged that his wife had attempted to destroy the life of the king by witchcraft. ”

“ So too, Gloucester Cathedral was originally monastic, then Offa transferred it to the secular clergy, later it again became monastic.
Whether or not the cathedral church of a diocese was monastic, the bishop of a diocese was the head of the secular clergy and obedience was due to him from them; on the other hand, the monks owed their obedience directly to their abbot, from him to the head of their order, and ultimately to the pope. ”

“ Apart from this lapse from honour and wisdom in his government of the country as Protector, what shall we say of Gloucester’s action in home policy? To deny the evil effects of the struggle for power between himself and the Cardinal Bishop of Winchester would be to blind ourselves to a clear historical truth, but we must remember—and in the light of the modern judgment on Humphrey it cannot too often be reiterated—that the struggle did not originate with him. ”

“ The cathedral has a number of interesting ruins on the northern side. These include the remains of a Dominican monastery, founded in the ninth century and rebuilt in 1115, of which some arches and pillars remain. There are other buildings partially adapted for modern purposes.
Gloucester also possesses some churches of considerable interest, such as St. Mary de Lode, said to be the oldest in the city, with the Norman chancel and tower of the original building. In the churchyard stands a monument to Bishop Hooper, burnt alive on the spot in 1555. ”

“ No better example could be found of the emptiness of constitutional theory in those days of turbulence and violence.
Finding himself powerless to restore peace in Bedfordshire, Gloucester turned south, and by way of St. Albans reached London, where he prepared to welcome his old rival Beaufort on his return from the Continent. [734] This was the Bishop of Winchester’s first appearance in England as a cardinal, and he was met on September 1 outside London by the Mayor and citizens ‘reverently arrayed in red hoods and green vestments. The Abbot of St. ”

“ Bedford was to be Regent of the kingdom of France and the Duchy of Normandy; Gloucester was to be Regent in England, and no qualification of the latter’s power was so much as suggested. There is less unanimity amongst the chroniclers as to the personal guardians appointed for the young King, but Exeter, Warwick, and the Bishop of Winchester were all probably mentioned. With the prophetic instinct of approaching death Henry besought his hearers to give no cause of offence to the Duke of Burgundy, and to repeat this warning to Gloucester. ”

“ On September 28 Bishop Langley resigned the Chancellorship, and though in deference to his rank as premier peer then in England Gloucester was allowed to receive the Seal from the Bishop’s hands, he was obliged to do so at Windsor in the presence of the baby Henry, so that it might be emphasised that the act was his nephew’s, not his own. [422] Also, when the writs were issued for summoning Parliament, they were sealed ‘Teste Rege,’ not ‘Teste Custode,’ as had been the custom of Bedford and Gloucester when they had been regents for Henry V. ”

“ The truth is, that the former endeavoured after their own aggrandizement in every possible way, but had no inherent right of exemption from the fact of their being lords of parliament, or being invested with the mitre. Thus it appears from Dugd. Monast. that Gloucester, Winchcomb, and Tewkesbury were subject to the visitation and jurisdiction of the bishop of Worcester, till the Reformation; Croyland, Peterborough, Bardney, and Ramsey to the bishop of Lincoln; St. Mary in York, and Selby, to the archbishop of York, and Coventry to the bishop of Lichfield. ”

“ Beaufort gave a similar consent. [651] This Commission could not have been more fairly chosen. The Archbishop, if slightly inclined to resent the ambitions of his brother of Winchester, was eminently impartial and well versed in the art of pacification; the two Dukes each represented one of the rivals, for whilst Exeter was the brother of the Bishop, Norfolk was the friend of Gloucester; [652] Lord Cromwell was inclined to the Beaufort faction, [653] but the bishops were mostly impartial, though probably the Bishop of Bath was another of Beaufort’s followers. ”

“ Here then, before he had completed his twenty-first year, we see Whitefield returned to Gloucester, and such was already the fame of his piety and talents, that Dr. Benson, the bishop of the diocese, offered to dispense, in his favor, with the rule which forbids the ordination of deacons at so unripe an age. ”

“ Through life he maintained the cordiality of his relations with his old college friend, Samuel Wilberforce [q. v.] , successively bishop of Oxford and Winchester. He was curate to Thomas Keble [q. v.] at Bisley, Gloucestershire, from 1828 to 1834, when he was instituted on 25 Sept. to the perpetual curacy of Stinchcombe in the same county. He was rural dean of Dursley from 1852 to 1866, proctor of the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol from 1858 to 1865, archdeacon of Gloucester from 1865 to 1881, and honorary canon of Gloucester from 1859 until his death at Stinchcombe on 18 March 1893. ”

“ During the imprisonment of Heath, Bishop Hooper of Gloucester held the see in commendam, together with his own.
[A.D. 1554-1559.] Richard Pates, said to have been consecrated Bishop of Worcester in 1534, after the deprivation of Ghinucci, and to have been then removed to make way for Latimer. The proofs of this, however, are not evident, although Godwin asserts that Pates was present at the Council of Trent, and there signed himself Bishop of Worcester. He was, at any rate, placed in full possession of the see on the translation of Bishop Heath to York in 1554. ”

“ It was considered impossible for both to remain in office, and the day after the award (March 13) Beaufort resigned the Seal, and the Bishop of Bath followed on the 18th with his resignation of the Treasurership. [664] Thus Gloucester had secured a decided victory, and, for the time at least, he was free from Beaufort factions. A really strong man would never have permitted matters to reach the pitch they had attained, but we must not allow any of his later actions to colour our opinion of his behaviour at this time. ”

“ The seventh window is a memorial (by Hardman) to Rev. B. S. Claxson, D.D.
The eighth window is a memorial to Rev. John Luxmoore, D.D., who, after being Dean of Gloucester from 1800-1808, was Bishop of Bristol, later of Hereford, and finally of St. Asaph, where he died in 1830.
The ninth window is a memorial to the Ven. Henry Wetherell, B.D., a late Prebendary of Gloucester, who died in 1857.
The tenth and last window in this alley is by Clayton & Bell, and is in memory of Rev. E. Bankes, D.C.L., late Canon of the Cathedral, who died in 1867. ”

“ The north transept (into which the relics of the bishop were removed in 1287) was to all appearance built expressly for the reception of the Cantilupe shrine; and the further changes and additions during the early Decorated period may safely be assigned to the increase of riches and consequence which the possession of this shrine brought to the cathedral. In the same manner, at Gloucester (see that Cathedral) the possession of the remains of Edward II. was the cause of the entire alteration of the abbey church. ”

“ Grammar School, (taken down in 1836,) and a north walk never existed. (Hereford Cathedral, it should be remembered, had no monastic establishment attached to it; and this cloister, [Plate XII.] unlike that at Gloucester, was little more than an ornamental walk, connected with the Bishop’s Palace) . The cloister is of Perpendicular date, with window-openings which deserve notice. The south walk is more richly groined than the east. At the south-east corner is a square turreted tower, called the “Ladies’,” or “Ladye Arbour,” the original purpose of which is not clear ”