A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



attempt to improve the level of the clergy. He took interest in his ordina- 

 tions/^^ founded apparently a divinity lecture at the cathedral/'' strove to raise 

 the social status of the clergy/" and must have been gratified by the 

 chancellor's report of the improving condition of the incumbents in respect of 

 learning/^* It must be remembered, too, that the district was still unsettled"'* 

 and that more than one visitation of the plague fell in his episcopate. '°° One 

 episode of his time is the commission to inquire into charges against Dean 

 Whittingham, more particularly as regards his alleged Genevan ordination. 

 This brother-in-law of Calvin had defaced monuments in the cathedral, and 

 was in various ways obnoxious. Sandys, archbishop of York, had unsuccess- 

 fully tried to visit sede vacante, and the commission was issued by the presi- 

 dent of the council. Eventually the dean was allowed to remain.""^ 



Another long vacancy occurred after the death of Barnes. With the 

 prospect of a war against Spain, the queen was not unwilling to augment her 

 already considerable profit from the see,'°° and so kept it unfilled, despite the 

 earnest request of Dean Matthew for his own preferment.'"^ The new 

 bishop — the learned Matthew Hutton — was more impressive than his 

 immediate predecessors, and gave dignity to his tenure of office (1589—95).*°* 

 His occupation of the see was chiefly marked by the appearance of the 

 seminary priests in the north of England. Jesuits had been active before his 

 time,'°^ but now made themselves a strong influence. Commissions were 

 issued in i 591, and again next year."*"' These and other similar severe measures 

 are described in a letter from Durham about this time,'"' and indicate a policy 

 which so far had not been necessary since the rising of 1569. Other recusants 

 also were dealt with,'"* and the bishop wrote to Burghley an account of his 

 proceedings against them."" 



Dean Matthew became bishop in 1595. The see which he had coveted 

 proved no bed of roses. It would be difficult to find any period in the history 

 of the bishopric much more distressful. Matthew left a diary behind him 

 with a list of the sermons that he preached as dean, bishop, and finally as arch- 

 bishop. From this it appears that he was an active preacher, and tradition 

 asserts that he was a good one."" He was certainly a man of considerable wit, 

 and the distresses of his time probably sat rather lightly upon his mercurial 

 temperament. He found the see lands much attenuated by royal pillage,'" and 

 the constant leases let by his predecessors, and all through his episcopate there 



"' They are regular and improving in number of candidates, and are taken by the bishop himself. 



'"« S. P. Dom. Eliz. vol. 133, No. 3. "' Surtees Soc. Publ. vol. xxii, 62. 



»'« Ibid. 22,72. ''' Ibid, vi, 38. 



™Ibid.38, 83, 95. 



'"' The story is told by Hutchinson, Hist. Dur. i, 187. See too J. T. Fovirler, Rites of Durham (Surtees 

 Soc), passim. 



'"' Return of revenue, S. P. Dom. Eliz. Add. vol. 30, Nos. 45, 50, 54 ; cf. Mickleton MSB. vii, fol. 50, 55. 



"" MSB. Cott. Tit. B. ii, 286, etc. ^ Surtees Soc. Publ. xvii, p. xvi. 



"» Cal. Bord. Papers, i, 126. 



'■* S.P. Dom. Eliz. vol. 240, No. 66 ; ibid. 241, No. l6 ; list of priests (1593), ibid. Add. vol. 32, No. 64 ; 

 so too S.P. Dom. Eliz. vol. 24;, No. 24, &c. ; secret mass (1593), ibid. vol. 245, No. 131. 



"" Ibid. vol. 238, Nos. 143, 148 ; cf Lansd. MS. 64, for restraints. 



™ S.P. Dom. Eliz. Add. vol. 32. No. 89. 



"» Ibid. Eliz. vol. 244, No. 8. 



"° Hutchinson, Hist. Dur. 1, 585 ; Surtees, Hist. Dur. i, p. Ixxxv. 



'" List of retained lands, I 596 ; Cal. Bord. Papers, ii, 162. For an earlier list of leases assigned chiefly by- 

 Barnes, cf. Hutchinson, op. cit. i, 569. Notes as to ' decays in the bishopric,' S.P. Dom. Eliz. vol. 259, No. 3 ; CaL 

 Bord. Papers. 



38 



I 



