Reynold Pole

, sometimes a Student in S. Mary Magd. coll. afterwards a Cardinal, and elected twice to the Papacy, was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in the latter end of 1555. 1558 and died in fifteen hundred fifty and eight; under which year you may see more of him among the writers. After him succeeded in the said Archiepiscopal See Matthew Parker, who was born in the City of Norwych 6. of Aug. 1504. Son of Will. Parker, who died 16. of Jan. 1516. by Alice Monings his Wife, who died 20. of Sept. 1553. Which Will. Parker, who was an honest poor Man (as a Schismatical (a)(a) The publisher of The life of the 70. Archb. of Canterb. Printed in (Holland) 1574. in oct. p. 28. in marg. writer tells you) and a scowrer or calender of worsteds in Norwych, was the Son of John Parker, and he the Son and Heir of Nich. Parker a Notary Publick of the dioc. of Norwych, principal Registrary belonging to the Archb. of Canterbury, and keeper of the Registers belonging to the Court thereof. As for Matthew Parker, after he had been trained up in Grammar learning at home, he was sent to the University of Cambridge at about 17 years of age; and being placed in Corp. Ch. coll. became soon after one of the Bible-Clerks in the said house. Afterwards he took the degrees in Arts, was made Fellow thereof, took holy Orders, and became a noted Preacher, not only in the University, but also in other publick places in the Kingdom. Whereupon his fame being spred abroad, he was sent for to the Court, and made chaplain to Q. Anne about 1534. by whose favour and endeavours he was soon after made Dean of Stoke near to Clare in Suffolk, and some time after Prebendary of Ely. In 1538. he was made Doct. of div. about which time by letters of commendation from the King, (to whom he was chaplain,) he was elected Master of C. C. coll. before-mentioned, now known by the name of Bennet college; the Fellows of which, soon after, presented him to the Rectory of Landbeach near to Cambridge. In 1545. he was Vicechanc. of the said Univ. and in 1549. he took to Wife Margaret the daughter of Rob. Harleston of Norfolk, (born 23. Jun. 1519.) by whom he had Issue, (1) Joh. Parker, born 5. May 1548. who married Joan daughter of Dr. Rich. Coxe B. of Ely. (2) Matthew who died young; and thirdly, another Matthew, who married Frances dau. of W. Barlow Bishop of B. and Wells, and afterwards of Chichester, but this Matthew dying 28. Jan. 1574. she was afterwards married to Dr. Tob. Matthews Dean of Durham, the same who was afterwards Archb. of York. In 1548. the said Dr. M. Parker was again elected Vicechanc. of Cambridge, and in 1552. he was made by K. Edw. 6. (to whom he was chaplain) Dean of Lincoln in the place of Dr. Joh. Tayler promoted to the See of Lincoln. But soon after, when Q. Mary came to the Crown, losing all his spiritualities, because he was married, he retired in private, and spent all her Reign within the house of one of his Friends. His headship of C. C. coll. was thereupon bestowed on Dr. Laur. Mapted, and his Deanery on Dr. Franc. Mallet, an. 1554. he being then Canon of Windsore, Confessor to Q. Mary, and Master of Michael-house in Cambridge, of which University he had before been at least twice Vicechancellour. This Mallet, by the way it must be known, was the same person who translated into English, Erasmus’s Paraphrase on John, who dying in the latter end of Decemb. 1570. had for his Successor in that Deanery Dr. Joh. Whitgift, afterwards Archb. of Canterbury. When Q. Elizab. came to the Crown Dr. Parker, tho a married man (for his Wife died not till 17. of August 1570.) was nominated to the See of Canterbury, after several persons had refused it; whereupon being consecrated thereunto in the Archb. chappel at Lambeth 17. of Dec. 1559. (after a Sermon, invocation of the Holy Ghost, and celebration of the Eucharist had been performed) by the laying on of the hands of three Bishops, viz. Will. Barlow B. of B. and Wells, Joh. Scorey of Chichester, and Miles Coverdale of Exeter, (assisted also by Joh. Hodgeskyn Suffragan Bishop of Bedford,) sate there with great honour to the time of his death. He was a religious and a learned man, and of modest manners and behaviour. He was well read in English history, and a diligent and curious collector of antient Mss. that had been scatter’d at the dissolution of Monasteries, which he gave to the coll. wherein he had been educated. He is also reported to have been a person of great charity, a noted benefactor to the publick, and an eminent ornament to the places which gave him birth and education. The chief book which he wrote and published (assisted therein, as ’tis said, by his servant or chaplain Joh. Jostine) was that intit. De antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae, & privilegiis Ecclesiae Cantuariensis, cum Archiepiscopis ejusdem 70. Lond. 1572-3. fol. Most of the copies of this impression that were commonly fold, conclude with the life of Reynold Pole Archb. of Canterbury, who died 1558. The other copies which remained, and were to be bestowed on publick Libraries, or else to be given to special Friends, had in the year 1574, added to them, (1) The life of the author Matthew Parker, containing 29 pages. (2) A catalogue of such books which he gave to the common Library at Cambridge, containing 4 pages. (3) A cat of Chancellours, Vicechancellours, Proctors of, and Doctors of all Faculties that took their degrees in, Cambridge, from the year 1500. to 1571. containing 6 pages. Before which catalogue are the Arms of every college and hall there, with the area or platform of the common Schools, the Arms and Seal of the University, and Seal of the Chancellour thereof. (4) A cat. from 1500 to 1571. of all the Bishops that have been educated in Cambridge; among which have been divers that have been bred in Oxon, who have only taken one degree, and perhaps that neither, there. (5) The titles of such Charters that have been granted to that University by divers Kings and Queens, from Hen. 3. to the 13. or 14. of Q. Elizab. (6) An account of the particulars that are successively delivered to the Magistrates and Servants of the said University, when they enter into their respective places. (7) The foundation of each coll. and hall in Cambridge, with the building of the publick Schools, and an enumeration of the old hostles. All which contained under this seventh head, were involved in the first book of the History of the Vniversity of Cambridge, written by Dr. Jo. Cay, printed at Lond. 1574. in qu. As for the life of the said Matthew Parker, mentioned under the first head, it was, as soon as it peeped into the World, translated into English, under this title, The life of the 70tie. Archbishop of Canterbury, presently sitting, Englished, &c. This number of seventy is so compleat a number, as it is great pitty there should be one more, &c. Printed (in Holland) in a Dutch character 1574. in oct. It was translated by a thro-paced Separatist, with very vile notes added in the margin, endeavouring thereby to bring an odium on the Archbishop, and make him ridiculous for erecting his monument while he lived. At length paying his last debt to nature on the 17. of May 1575. was buried in the chappel where he was consecrated; situate and being within his Pallace at Lambeth in Surrey. It must be now known that in the times of usurpation, when the Bishops were put down and their lands sold, the said Pallace was inhabited by several Lay-persons, of whom Tho. Scot one of the Regicides, and one Hardyng were two. Which last having the chappel allotted to him, as part of his share, he divided it into two rooms, making the upper part towards the east a dining-room, on the bottom of which he laid joysts and on them a floor of boards. At length, he hearing that the corps of Archb. Parker had been there interr’d, he took up the floor, and pavement under it; and having so done, dug up the corps, which was put into cerecloth of many doubles in a coffin of lead. The coffin he sold to a Plummer, and after he had caused the cerecloth to be cut open to the flesh, (which he found fresh, as if newly dead,) he conveyed the corps into an out-house where he kept Poultrey, and there privately tumbled it into an hole. About the time of the restauration of K. Ch. 2. that base fellow the Brute that removed it, was forced to discover where he had laid it; whereupon it was brought into the chappel, and buried just above the Litany-desk, near the steps ascending to the Altar.