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The Episcopate of Thomas Bekynton, bishop of Bath and Wells, 1443–14651
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
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Thomas of Bekynton, the son of a weaver, a famous churchman of the fifteenth century, was born about 1390 at Beckington, a village three miles north of Frome in the county of Somerset. He was admitted to Winchester College under the election of 1403, proceeded to New College, Oxford, on 24 June 1406, was elected a fellow 25 June 1408, admitted B.C.L. in 1414 or 1415 and incepted D.C.L. in 1418. He resigned his fellowship in November 1420 in order to become chancellor of duke Humphrey of Gloucester until he became secretary to king Henry VI in 1437. He was ordained sub-deacon on 20 December 1421, and priest on 18 September 1423 at Salisbury on the title of his benefice of Sutton Courtney. Preferments rapidly followed, the most important being the archdeaconry of Buckingham to which he was collated on 15 October 1424. From that date he would be summoned to attend Convocation and he acted as prolocutor at the sessions in November 1433, 1434 and May 1438 (session 28 April to 18 October 1438, with prorogation). He was Dean of the Arches in 1422 (possibly earlier) and it is most likely that he carried on up to 1433 when in October he became Official and remained in that office until April 1438. Thus for nearly five years he held simultaneously the two most important offices of Prolocutor and Official of the Court of Canterbury, having for nearly eleven years been Dean of the Arches.
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References
page 153 note 2 Itineraria Symonis Simeonis et Willelmi de Worcestre, ed. Nasmith, , Cambridge 1778, 286Google Scholar; Official Correspondence of Thomas Bekynton, ed. Williams, G., Rolls Series, London 1872, ii. 324Google Scholar.
page 153 note 3 Reg. Fleming, Line, xvi., fo. 177.
page 153 note 4 Register of Henry Chichele, 1414–43, ed. E. F.Jacob, iv (Canterbury and York Society, 1947), 357. His ordination as deacon so far has not come to light.
page 153 note 5 Ibid., iii. 330, in the king's gift at this time in virtue of the temporalities of the see of Lincoln in his hands.
page 153 note 6 Ibid., iii. 246, 266.
page 153 note 7 Ibid., i. lxxxvii (note) and iii. 245, 265.
page 153 note 8 Wilkins's Concilia, iii. 407, 409 and Reg. Chic., iii. 86, 162. It is very difficult to fix with any certainty the dates of his appointment as Dean of the Arches: see Churchill, I. J., Canterbury Administration, London 1933, ii. 238Google Scholar, 240, 245 (note); Reg. Chic. i. lxxxvii note, and iii. 245, 265.
page 154 note 1 Ibid., cxxix-cxliv: James Gairdner, Lollardy and the Reformation, London 1908–13, i, 127–62.
page 154 note 2 For Bekynton's Journal, see Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, ed. N. H. Nicolas, 1835, v. 334–407, and chronological abstract xiii-xxx: on the Embassy, ibid., preface xxxiii-lxxxi. For the Embassy to Guienne see, A Journal by one of the suite of Thomas Bekynton, ed. Nicolas, N. H., London 1828Google Scholar; Corr. ii. 177–244; P. and O. of the Privy Council, v. xcv-cxx.
page 154 note 3 The Anglo-French Negotiations at Bruges, 1374–77, ed. Perroy, E., (Camden Miscellany, xix), London 1952, v–viiiGoogle Scholar. A great deal of research is necessary before a true estimate of his work as secretary can be made, especially on the following MSS.: British Museum, Cotton Tiberius B. xii; and Harleian 861 and 4763; Lambeth 211; and Bodleian, Ashmole 789 and 1114 (xi). Otway-Ruthven, J., The King's Secretary and the Signet Office in the fifteenth century, Cambridge 1939Google Scholar.
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page 155 note 1 In the Introductions to the Correspondence and the Register there are no references Bekynton's ordination as sub-deacon or priest. The following corrections and additions should be made to his preferments. He vacated the rectory of St. Leonard's, Hastings in July 1421, (New College, Lib. Alb., fos. 69, 244); D.N.B. is incorrect. He was rector of Bishop's Hatfield, Herts., 22 October 1423 until October 1424 and canon of Penkridge, alias Brenthall, 10 October 1424 (Reg. Chic., i. 329). He was collated to the prebend of Henfield on 15 October 1438, vac. 1443 (Sussex Records, iv. 200); prebend Stillington in York, 23 June 1435 until 1443 (Reg. J. Kempe, York xix, fos. 15, 50): canon of Lichfield and prebend of Longdon, 20 August 1436, vac. 1443 (Reg. Heyworth, fos. 64, 70): prebend of Calton in Exeter Castle, 13 December 1441, vac. 1443 (Reg. Lacy, Exeter, i. 267, 281). I am indebted to Dr. Rose Graham and Mr. A. B. Emden, M.A., for their help.
page 155 note 2 Register of Thomas Bekynton, 1443–63, ed. H. C. Maxwell-Lyte and M. C. B. Dawes (Somerset Record Society), 1934–5. First entry and Corr. i. cxix, cxx.
page 156 note 1 Reg., 3.
page 156 note 2 Ibid., 4.
page 156 note 3 Register of Thomas Langley, ed. R. L. Storey (Surtees Society, 1956), i. xii.
page 156 note 4 Reg., 137.
page 156 note 5 Ibid., 926, 1619.
page 156 note 6 Reg. Langley, i. xxxiv.
page 156 note 7 Reg., 10, 627, 19, 121, 454, 593, 898.
page 157 note 1 Reg., 16, 30, 93, 400, 576, 744, 1065.
page 157 note 2 Ibid., 4. For the duties of the commissary-general in the province and diocese of Canterbury see Churchill, i. 55–9 and 574.
page 157 note 3 Ibid., 168, 1401.
page 157 note 4 Ibid., 1459, 1556.
page 157 note 5 See Churchill, i. 270 note, ii. 139: Reg., 16, 690, 1253, 1651.
page 157 note 6 Wells: A. Holes, collated 24 October 1449;Richard Owen, 1465 (died same year). Taunton: Adam Moleyns, LL.D. 1440; A. Holes, 13 February 1446; R. Stillington (the future bishop), 20 April 1450. Bath: Thomas Warde, 1427; William Sprevor, LL.D., 10 December 1449; H. Sugar (alias Norris) 26 February 1459; Richard Lichfield, June 1460.
page 158 note 1 Attendances at Parliament: Westminster, 25 February 1445, (Rot. Parl., v. 66, 67); Bury St. Edmund's, 10 February 1447, (ibid., 128, 129); Westminster, 12 February 1449, prorogued to Winchester from 7 May (ibid., 143); Westminster, 6 November 1450 (ibid., 210); Reading, 6 March 1453 (ibid., 227).
page 158 note 2 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1446–52 (18 June 1452), 558; 1461–7 (12 July 1461), 18.
page 158 note 3 For the episcopal manors, see Reg. Drokensford, ed. bishop E. Hobhouse (Somerset Record Society, 1887), 313. Thompson, A. Hamilton, The English Clergy and their organisations in the later Middle Ages, Oxford 1947, 45Google Scholar.
page 158 note 4 Wells Cathedral: its foundation, history and statutes, ed. H. E. Reynolds, Leeds 1881, 69.
page 159 note 1 Reg. N. Bubwith, ed. T. S. Holmes, S.R.S., xxix; Reg. J. Stafford (not yet transcribed); Regs. Stillington and Fox, ed. H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, S.R.S., Hi; Regs. King and Hadrian, ed. H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, S.R.S., liv.
page 160 note 1 Bristol, St. Mark Bonhommes or Gaunt's Hospital, was administered by St. Augustine's Abbey, Bristol, until 1232 when it became independent: Knowles, M. D. and Hadcock, R. N., Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales, London 1953, 258Google Scholar and reference to Dr. Rose Graham in V. C. H.
page 160 note 2 A. Hamilton Thompson, op. cit., 204–6.
page 160 note 3 A title subsequently to be held by Thomas Cornish, who lived to act as suffragan for the notorious absentee bishop, Hadrian de Castello (1504–18), having served Bekynton, Stillington, Fox and King.
page 160 note 4 Reg., 486.
page 161 note 1 Ibid., 629, 861, 911.
page 161 note 2 Wells MSS., ii. 675.
page 161 note 3 Reg., 455.
page 161 note 4 Ibid., 1019.
page 161 note 5 Ibid., 458, 898, 1276, 1134 (Pecock is called Reynold in the entry).
page 161 note 6 Knowles, M. D., The Religious Orders in England, Cambridge 1955, ii. 361.Google Scholar
page 161 note 7 Reg., 278, 279.
page 162 note 1 Reg., 578 (Taunton), 586 (Keynsham), 654 (Bruton), 957 (Keynsham), 936 (Muchelney), 937 (Athelney), 1131, 1159, 174, 176, 186. M. D. Knowles, op. cit., 216, 217, for the summary of the visitations. See also article by Knowles, M. D., “English monastic life in the later Middle Ages”, in History, xxxix (1954), 135Google Scholar.
page 162 note 2 Corr., i. 258–63.
page 162 note 3 Reg., 133.
page 162 note 4 Ibid., 1792.
page 163 note 1 ‘Ordinances and statutes of the cathedral church of Wells’ 98–109; statutes for the vicars-choral, 139–49, in Dean Cosyn and Wells Cathedral Miscellanea, ed. Dom Aelred Watkin, O.S.B., Somerset Record Society, 1941.
page 163 note 2 The Chaundler Manuscripts, ed. M. R. James, The Roxburghe Club, London 1916, 4. The New College MS., Bodleian 288, is referred to in this book. See also Corr., i. xiii.
page 164 note 1 Reg., 80; Weiss, op. cit., 75–77; Mitchell, E. J., John Tiptoft, London 1938, 91–3Google Scholar.
page 164 note 2 Reg., ii. xliv-xlvii.
page 164 note 3 Reg., 496, 830.
page 165 note 1 Corr., ii. 340–2 and 157–74.
page 165 note 2 Jacob, E. F., Essays in the Conciliar Epoch, Manchester 1953, 184Google Scholar.