A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



in the augmentation of small livings, the maintenance of preachers, and 

 the provision of exhibitions at the Universities for poor scholars. The 

 cardinal lost no time in carrying out the intention of the statute and 

 relieving the conscience of his royal mistress. The royal warrant, which 

 restored these ecclesiastical possessions to Bishop Oglethorpe, is still pre- 

 served in the diocesan registry of Carlisle/ As the document is dated 

 14 November 1558, its provisions were never carried into effect. The 

 Queen and Pole were dead and the Act was repealed not many months 

 after the arrival of the warrant at the registry of Carlisle. But the 

 Queen has left at least one memorial of her benevolent intentions which 

 is still exercised in the diocese. It was by her gift that the bishops of 

 Carlisle had obtained the right of advowson and collation to the four 

 prebendal stalls in the cathedral, 2 a privilege which experience has proved 

 to be of great moment in diocesan administration. 



The legislative changes for the settlement of the church introduced 

 into the first parliament of Elizabeth were vigorously opposed by Bishop 

 Oglethorpe of Carlisle, one of the most moderate and enlightened 

 prelates on the episcopal bench at that time. Though he was the only 

 bishop in England who could be induced to act at the Queen's corona- 

 tion, 3 his papal sympathies were robust enough to enable him to join in 

 the general resistance of the episcopate to the new departure in ecclesias- 

 tical reform. For some reason not specified, he was obliged to enter 

 into recognizance with certain other bishops to appear daily before the 

 lords of the Council, and not to depart from London without licence. 

 In addition he had to pay a fine of 250 f r ' contempt of late com- 

 mitted against the Queen's Majesty's Order.' It is a curious circum- 

 stance, showing the bishop's hostility to the proposed changes, that day 

 by day as he appeared before ' Lord Great Seal ' in obedience to the 

 conditions of his recognizance, he had been most assiduous in his attend- 

 ance in the House of Lords, opposing the passage of the two great 

 measures, the Supremacy and Uniformity Bills, then before the House.* 

 When these measures became law, the bishop of Carlisle refused to take 



> The warrant is endorsed ' A graunte to Bishop Oglethorpe and his successors in the See of Carlisle 

 of certain benefices and advowsons by King Phillip and Queene Mary, viz. : Bampton, Crosby, Millom, 

 Irton, Dereham, Kirkoswald, etc., in Cumberland by Letters Patent ; date 5 & 6 Phil, and Mary,' a copy 

 of which has been entered on the Patent Roll of that year. The cord, composed of mixed strands of 

 green and white silk, still hangs from the vellum sheet,but the seal which it once carried is completely 

 gone. The document has been printed by the present writer in Trans. Cumbld. and Westmorld. Archaeol. 

 Sac., xv. 21-6. 



2 Pat. 4 & 5 Philip and Mary ; Tanner, Notitia Monastica (ed. J. Tanner, 1744), p. 75. 



3 The coronation of the Queen was solemnized with all the ceremonies of the ancient ritual. Bishop 

 Oglethorpe had the use of Bonner's vestments for the occasion. A letter was sent by the Privy Council 

 (Acts [New Series], vii. 42) ' to the Bishop of London to lende to the Busshopp of Carlisle, who is ap- 

 poynted to execute the solempnitye of the Quenes Majesties Coronacion, universum apparatum pontificium 

 quo uti solent Episcopi in hujusmodi magnificis illustrissimorum regum inaugurationibus.' The Queen con- 

 tinued to hold Bishop Oglethorpe in kindly remembrance, for she told Bishop Robinson, when he did 

 fealty for Carlisle in 1598, that she was resolved to furnish that see with a worthy man for his sake who 

 first set the crown on her head (Fuller, Worthies of England, edition 1684, p. 135). 



* Compare Acts of P. C., vii. 79, 80, 81, etc., with D'Ewes, Journ. of the House of Lords, pp. 19, 21, 

 23, 26-7, etc. The events of this period have been narrated in chronological order by Rev. Henry Gee 

 (Elizabethan Clergy and the Settlement of Religion, 1558-1564). 



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