A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



parson of St. Albans, as assessor. The actual work was entrusted to four of 

 the younger clergy '" : Roger Williams, B.D., parson of St. Albans, William 

 W hite, M.A., B.D., curate of Northaw, Edward Spendlove, M.A., vicar 

 of Redbourn,'and Thomas Holden, M.A., vicar of St. Peter's." Those 

 summoned for examination were Thomas Longley, vicar of Norton, Thomas 

 W'eatherhead, vicar of St. Michael's, Edward Warren, vicar of Hexton, 

 William xMote, vicar of Newnham, Richard Lightfoote, vicar of St. Stephen's, 

 Henry Edmonds, vicar of Watford, William Haylock, vicar of St. Paul's 

 Walden, and John Graunte, the curate of Bushey.**' Of these men both 

 Longley and Weatherhead were old. Thomas Weatherhead had received his 

 orders about forty-nine years before from the Suffragan Bishop of Dover " ; he 

 was a man of some standing among the clergy of the archdeaconry, and in 

 1580 was one of the five delegated by the Bishop of London to act as 

 ordinary. ^°" In 1583 he was returned as 'able to render an account of the 

 faith in the Latin tongue,'' and, though no graduate, his examination in 

 1586 was probably actuated not by doubt of his learning but by suspicion 

 of his views. Like his fellows he had contributed a small sum towards the 

 relief of Geneva in 1582," but two years later he was presented in the arch- 

 deacon's court for railing at his churchwardens during divine service. There 

 was probably a good deal of friction between him and the authorities ; he 

 evidently would not brook examination ; he was negligent in performing 

 the exercises set him ; he did not certify the recusants in his parish and he 

 never preached.' He died at some time between March and October 1590, 

 aged about eighty.* Another somewhat pathetic figure was that of Edward 

 Longley. He was ordained in or about 1543 by the Bishop of Worcester,' 

 and seems to have favoured the new ideas, for his churchwardens presented 

 in 1583 that though using the Book of Common Prayer he did not wear 

 the ecclesiastical habits there prescribed, though he was ' willing and ready to 

 wear them.'' The living was worth but ^5 a year, and the parishioners 

 regarded him as ' sufficient,'' though the examiner of 1586 in great disgust 

 declared that both he and the curates of East Barnet and Sandridge were 

 ignorant of Latin, ' nor able to decline a noun substantive or to discern the 

 parts ot speech, and further to be unable to answer unto easy questions in 

 the grounds of faith or religion, or to allege aptly any Scripture for proofs 

 of any Article of Religion.' ° So badly, indeed, did he acquit himself that 

 he was suspended, apparently for the inadequate performance of the exercise 

 appointed him.' What afterwards became of him is not known, but his 

 name does not occur later in the records of the archdeaconry. 



The other examinees in this archdeaconry, though younger than Longley 

 and Weatherhead, were yet among the older clergy. Butler had been ordained 

 by Jewell at the beginning of the reign" and Haylocke in 1560." Galling 

 as must have been the instruction, both these men so satisfied the archdeacon as 

 to their attainments that they were allowed as preachers before the visitation 

 of 1588,^^ as was also Richard Lightfoote." With Edmonds there was 



=^ Rec. of the Old Archd. of St. Albans, 52-3. 



'' Ibid 36, 37, 69, 84 ; Boase, Reg. of the Univ. of Oxford, i, 265. 



^8 Rec. if the Old Archd. of St. Albans, 50. »» Ibid. 37. «» Ibid, i 2. 



' Ibid. 37. 2 jt,ij 2j 3 ji3i(j ji^ j2, 53, 69. * Ibid. 74, 77, 69. 



^ Ibid. 36. 6 Ibid. 33. ' Ibid. 33, 36. « Ibid. 53. 



» Ibid. 52. i» Ibid. 36. 11 Ibid. 86. "Ibid. 68, 69. "Ibid. 68. 



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