The Cathedral Church of Oxford: A description of its fabric and a brief history of the Episcopal seeDearmer, Percy
History
The Cathedral Church of Oxford: A description of its fabric and a brief history of the Episcopal see
Dearmer, Percy
Christ Church Cathedral (Oxford, England)
=John Bancroft= (1632-1641), Master of University College, and nephew of
the Archbishop of Canterbury of that name, was a great benefactor to the
see. Being a single man he devoted his money to this purpose; and besides
many financial acquisitions, he built an episcopal palace at Cuddesden
at the suggestion of Archbishop Laud. This palace, the first since the
time of Edward VI., was finished in 1634, and burnt down ten years later
by Colonel Legg, to prevent its becoming useful to the parliamentary
forces. It lay in ruins till the time of Bishop Fell.
=Robert Skinner= (1641-1663) was translated from Bristol. He was
imprisoned in the Tower by the Puritan party, and remained in obscurity
during the Commonwealth; but he was one of the few who continued to
ordain. At the Restoration, being then over seventy, he was translated
to Worcester.
=William Paul= (1663) and =Walter Blandford= (1665) did nothing memorable.
=Hon. Nathaniel Crewe= (1671-1674) entered into holy orders in 1664; in
the short space of five years he was Dean of Chichester, and two years
after that Bishop of Oxford. He was an ambitious and restless man: in
1673 he had the boldness to perform the marriage ceremony between the
Duke of York and Mary of Este, in defiance of the House of Commons. As
a reward for this act, the Duke procured him the see of Durham, whither
he was translated in 1674. At the Revolution, as a consequence of his
political intrigues, he was excepted from the general pardon, and obliged
to fly to Holland. But he afterwards made his peace; and, on the death
of his elder brother, becoming Lord Crewe, he was the first man to be
summoned to Parliament both as baron and bishop. He lived on till 1722.
=Hon. Henry Compton= (1674-1675), son of the Earl of Northampton, who died
fighting by the king at Hopton Heath in 1644, was after the Restoration
a cornet in the army before he took orders. He was conspicuous throughout
his long life for his efforts to reconcile the dissenters with the Church
of England, and for his opposition to Rome; he was the first to sign the
declaration for the Prince of Orange on William's arrival in London. But
at Oxford he was a bird of passage, being translated to London in 1675.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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