Thomas Godwin (bishop)

Thomas Godwin
Thomas Godwin
Personal
Born	1517; Wokingham, Berkshire
Died	1590 (aged 73); Wokingham, Berkshire
Resting place	All Saints' Church, Wokingham
Religion	Church of England
Spouse	(1) Isabel Purefoy; (2) Margaret Brennan
Senior posting
Based in	England
Period in office	1584- 1590
Predecessor	Gilbert Berkeley
Successor	John Still
Previous post	Dean of Canterbury (1567- 1584)

Thomas Godwin (1517 – 19 November 1590) was an English bishop, who presided over the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

Life

Thomas Godwin was both born and died in Wokingham in Berkshire. For tuition he entered the household of Richard Layton, then Archdeacon of Buckingham and subsequently Dean of York. Sponsored by Layton, he proceeded to Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1543, gaining a fellowship, and proceeding M.A. in 1547. When Magdalen College established a school at Brackley, Godwin was appointed its first headmaster.

On the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary, Godwin was obliged to leave the school. To support his young family he returned to Oxford to study medicine, graduating B.Med. with licence to practice medicine on 17 June 1555. After the accession of Queen Elizabeth he turned to divinity. Godwin rapidly became a popular reformation preacher. Elizabeth I was so pleased with his 'good parts' and 'goodly person' that in 1565 she appointed him one of her Lenten preachers. In June 1565 he was appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and proceeded B.D. and D.D. When Elizabeth visited Oxford in August 1566, Godwin was one of the four divines appointed to hold theological disputations before her. Among the Parker MSS.(Corpus Christi, Cambridge) is a sermon preached by him before the queen at Greenwich during 1566. The winter after her visit to Oxford Elizabeth promoted Godwin to Dean of Canterbury a post he held from March 1567 for 17 years (1567-1584). In 1576 he became one of the ecclesiastical commissioners.

Godwin served as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, 1565–1567 and as Dean of Canterbury 1567–1584. Elizabeth later appointed him Bishop of Bath and Wells on 10 August 1584.^[1]

Family

Godwin was first married to Isabella Purefoy and had nine children. In later life at Wells he married a widow,^[2] not (as many old writers claimed) Margaret "Brennan" or "Boreman", recte Bowerman (who in fact married Thomas Godwin jnr), but one Sybill, who was buried on 1 December 1587 at Banwell, Somerset.^[3]

Thomas Godwin (Wells, Somerset politician),^[4] who married Margaret, daughter of William Bowerman jnr, MP (died 1590, nephew of the sub-dean of Wells).^[3]^[5]
Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaff and of Hereford^[6]
Robert Godwin (Parson)
Matthew Godwin (Master of Music at Exeter Cathedral)
Paul Godwin (Canon of Wells Cathedral)
Margaret Swift (née Godwin), wife of Reverend Thomas Swift, rector of St. Andrew's Church, Canterbury. They were great-great-grandparents to the satirist Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels. Margaret and their children are buried at Canterbury Cathedral.
Blandia Purefoy (née Godwin), wife of Thomas Purefoy, MP for Wells
Jocye Godwin
Anne Godwin

Bishop of Bath and Wells

Godwin was appointed to Wells in September 1584 at the age of 67 the second of the Protestant bishops consecrated. The see had been void for three years and came with difficult canons. While at Wells and long widowed, he lived a semi-invalid life increasingly lame with gout. Several of his family and extended family were also reverends and canons, his son Francis Godwin, the ecclesiastical historian, later becoming Bishop of Llandaff. Others immersed themselves in local politics.^[7]

During his time as bishop Sir Walter Raleigh tried to seize the manor and lands of Banwell from the bishopric on a hundred years' lease. When Bishop Thomas Godwin refused, Sir Walter Raleigh chose to demean the Bishop to Elizabeth 1st (who was against bishops marrying) stating incorrectly the bishop had married a much younger woman. This incensed the queen despite The Earl of Bedford warmly defending the bishop. In order to save Banwell for the bishopric Godwin had to lease Wilscombe Manor to Raleigh instead. However the damage to Godwin's long standing reputation with the queen had been done.^[2]

Suffering from quartan ague, Bishop Thomas Godwin returned home to Wokingham, Berkshire in 1590 where on 19 November 1590 he died. He was buried under the chancel of the parish church of All Saints' Church, Wokingham with an inscription by his son Francis sub-dean of Exeter, later Bishop of Llandaff.^[8]

On his death the See of Bath and Wells was left in an on-going situation of mistrust and corruption among its canons which Godwin had been unable to deal with.^[9]

References

^ Cassan, Stephen Hyde (1829). Lives of the Bishops of Bath. pp. 480–490.
^ ^a ^b 'Of bishop Thomas Godwin', in J. Harington, A briefe view of the state of the Church of England as it stood in Q. Elizabeths and King James his reigne, to the yeere 1608 being a character and history of the bishops of those times (London 1653), pp. 110-118 Archived 18 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine (Umich/eebo).
^ ^a ^b P.M. Hembry, 'The death of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells (1584-90)', Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society XCVI Part II (1951), pp. 78-107 Archived 10 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine (full pageviews, Society's pdf, Alaris Capture Pro Software), at pp. 92, 94-95.
^ W.J.J., 'Godwyn, Thomas (b.bef.1561), of Barnwell, Som.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament Online Archived 14 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
^ W.J.J., 'Bowerman, William (d.c.1590), of Wells, Som.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament online Archived 14 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
^ "Godwin, Thomas (1517–1590)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
^ Hembry, Phyllis (1967). The Bishops of Bath and Wells. London: The Athlone Press. p. 156.
^ "Thomas Godwin (1517-1590)". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
^ Hembry, Phyllis (1967). The Bishops of Bath and Wells. London: The Athlone Press. p. 182.

7. Wikisource Godwin_Thomas_(1517-1590) DNB00

External links

Royal Berkshire History: Thomas Godwin (1517-1590)

Academic offices
Preceded by Thomas Sampson	Dean of Christ Church, Oxford 1565–1567	Succeeded by Thomas Cooper
Church of England titles
Preceded by Nicholas Wotton	Dean of Canterbury 1567–1584	Succeeded by Richard Rogers
Preceded by Gilbert Berkeley	Bishop of Bath and Wells 1584–1590	Succeeded by John Still

[1] Cassan, Stephen Hyde (1829). Lives of the Bishops of Bath. pp. 480–490.

[Har-2] 'Of bishop Thomas Godwin', in J. Harington, A briefe view of the state of the Church of England as it stood in Q. Elizabeths and King James his reigne, to the yeere 1608 being a character and history of the bishops of those times (London 1653), pp. 110-118 Archived 18 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine (Umich/eebo).

[Hembry-3] P.M. Hembry, 'The death of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells (1584-90)', Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society XCVI Part II (1951), pp. 78-107 Archived 10 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine (full pageviews, Society's pdf, Alaris Capture Pro Software), at pp. 92, 94-95.

[4] W.J.J., 'Godwyn, Thomas (b.bef.1561), of Barnwell, Som.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament Online Archived 14 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine.

[5] W.J.J., 'Bowerman, William (d.c.1590), of Wells, Som.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament online Archived 14 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine.

[6] "Godwin, Thomas (1517–1590)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.

[7] Hembry, Phyllis (1967). The Bishops of Bath and Wells. London: The Athlone Press. p. 156.

[8] "Thomas Godwin (1517-1590)". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.

[9] Hembry, Phyllis (1967). The Bishops of Bath and Wells. London: The Athlone Press. p. 182.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

v t e Dean of Christ Church, Oxford
Predecessors	John Hygdon* John Oliver* John London Richard Cox
Early modern	Richard Cox Richard Marshall George Carew Thomas Sampson Thomas Godwin Thomas Cooper John Piers Tobias Matthew William James Thomas Ravis John King William Goodwin Richard Corbet Brian Duppa Samuel Fell Edward Reynolds John Owen Edward Reynolds George Morley John Fell John Massey Henry Aldrich Francis Atterbury George Smalridge Hugh Boulter William Bradshaw John Conybeare David Gregory William Markham Lewis Bagot Cyril Jackson
Late modern	Charles Henry Hall Samuel Smith Thomas Gaisford Henry Liddell Francis Paget Thomas Strong Henry Julian White Alwyn Williams John Lowe Cuthbert Simpson Henry Chadwick Eric Heaton John Drury Christopher Lewis Martyn Percy Sarah Foot
* – Academic deans only; prior to the establishment of Christ Church Cathedral; ** – Cathedral deans at Osney.

v t e Deans of Canterbury
Early modern	Nicholas Wotton Thomas Godwin Richard Rogers Thomas Nevile Charles Fotherby John Boys Isaac Bargrave George Aglionby Thomas Turner John Tillotson John Sharp George Hooper George Stanhope Elias Sydall John Lynch William Freind John Potter Brownlow North John Moore James Cornwallis George Horne William Buller Folliott Cornewall
Late modern	Thomas Powys Gerrard Andrewes Hugh Percy Richard Bagot William Lyall Henry Alford Robert Payne Smith Frederic Farrar Henry Wace George Bell Dick Sheppard Hewlett Johnson Ian White-Thomson Victor de Waal John Simpson Robert Willis David Monteith

Thomas Godwin

Personal
Born	1517 Wokingham, Berkshire
Died	1590 (aged 73) Wokingham, Berkshire
Resting place	All Saints' Church, Wokingham
Religion	Church of England
Spouse	(1) Isabel Purefoy (2) Margaret Brennan
Senior posting
Based in	England
Period in office	1584- 1590
Predecessor	Gilbert Berkeley
Successor	John Still
Previous post	Dean of Canterbury (1567- 1584)