Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

27 January 1501 A.D. Thomas Langton Dies—Archbishop-Elect, the 67th of 105 Archbishops of Canterbury; He Died Before Consecration


27 January 1501 A.D.  Thomas Langton Dies—Archbishop-Elect, the 67th of 105 Archbishops of Canterbury;  He Died Before Consecration

No author. “Thomas Langton.”  Tudor Place.  N.d.  http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasLangton(ABishop).htm.  Accessed 27 May 2014.

Thomas LANGTON
(Archbishop of Canterbury)
http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Objetos/chalicelight.gif

Died: 1501

Buried: Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire, England



Chaplain to King Edward IV & King Richard III; Ambassador to France & Rome. Bishop of Winchester from 1493-1501, during his episcopate the Channel Islands became part of the diocese. Shortly before his sudden death, he was elected Archbishop of Canterbury.

Successively Provost of the Queen's College, Oxford and Bishop of St. David's, Salisbury and Winchester, Langton, a northerner, had been in favour with Richard III and one of his immediate entourage. Langton was at Bosworth Field. His was the effusive praise of Richard: 'He contents the people where he goes best that ever did prince, for many a poor man that hath suffered wrong many days have been relieved and helped by him and his commands now in his progress. And in many great cities and towns were great sums of money given him which all he hath refused. On my truth I never liked the conditions of any prince so well as his'. Langton must have trimmed his sails to Henry's wind, but he had a Yorkist background, had not been guilty of treason, and might have proved a witness to the truth.

If Henry was acting under diplomatic or political pressure, the need for haste might account for some lack of plausibility in his story as recounted by Sir Thomas More. But the time may also have seemed propitious at last, for some eminent servants of the church and state who might have had an inkling of the truth and had recently died, including Archbishops Morton and Rotherham (Hastings' fellow conspirators) and John Alcock, tutor to Edward V when Prince of Wales and successively Bishop of Rochester, Worcester and Ely. Most relevant may have been Thomas Langton. Not only was he restored by Henry VII, but in 1500 he was nominated by the crown to succeed John Morton as Archbishop of Canterbury but died of the plague before his translation could be perfected. The King then persuaded the chapter of Canterbury to put up Henry Dean as the next Archbishop of Canterbury. They did so and the Pope was quick to acquiesce. The year was 1501.

No comments: