The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal SeeSweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
History
The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See
Sweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
Peterborough Cathedral
It is remarkable that of the two queens buried at Peterborough, the body
of one has been removed to Westminster by the orders of her son, and
that a similar removal had been previously designed for the body of the
other. Queen Katherine's daughter, Queen Mary, left directions in her
will that "the body of the virtuous Lady and my most dere and
well-beloved mother of happy memory, Queen Kateryn, which lyeth now
buried at Peterborowh," should be removed and laid near the place of her
own sepulture, and that honourable monuments should be made for both. It
would have been a singular coincidence if this intention had been
carried out.
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE.
The Abbey Church was converted into the Cathedral of the newly-founded
diocese of Peterborough by deed bearing date September 4, 1541. The
counties of Northampton and Rutland were the limits of the new see. The
king's original plan for the establishment of bishoprics out of the
confiscated estates of monastic establishments was too generous to be
put into practice. He designed the foundation of no less than twenty-one
new sees. In this scheme Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire were
assigned to the diocese of Peterborough; and, considering the situation
of the new cathedral, this would have been a more satisfactory
arrangement than the one which was ultimately carried out. The only
change that has been made in the limits of the diocese is that, in the
year 1839, the county of Leicester was detached from the see of Lincoln
and joined to Peterborough.
As has been said above, the first bishop was =John Chambers=
(1541-1556). He was consecrated[35] in the minster on the 23rd of
October 1541, by Thomas (Thirlby), Bishop of Ely, Robert (Blyth), Bishop
of Down, last Abbot of Thorney, Suffragan of Ely, and Thomas (Hallam or
Swillington), Bishop of Philadelphia, Suffragan of Lincoln. Strype has
an account of his costly funeral. The two memorials to him in the church
had been erected by himself in his lifetime.
=David Pole= (1556-1559) is generally held to have been a relative (some
say a nephew) of Cardinal Reginald Pole. He was Dean of the Arches. He
was not consecrated till August 1557, and so held the bishopric less
than two years, being deprived by Queen Elizabeth in June 1559. He lived
quietly in London till his death in 1568.
=Edmund Scambler= (1560-1584) in the Roman index of books prohibited is
called Pseudo-Episcopus, no doubt because there was another Bishop of
Peterborough, Pole, still living. He alienated many of the lands and
manors of his bishopric to the queen and to her courtiers; and as a
reward he was translated to Norwich, where he died ten years later.
=Richard Howland= (1584-1600) was Master of Magdalene, and afterwards of
S. John's, Cambridge. He was present at the funeral of Mary Queen of
Scots. He was buried at the upper end of the choir, but no stone or
monument exists to his memory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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