Thomas Godwin (bishop)

English bishop (1517–1590)

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

1. ^ Cassan, Stephen Hyde (1829). Lives of the Bishops of Bath. pp. 480–490.
2. ^ 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).
3. ^ 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.
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.

7\. Wikisource Godwin_Thomas_(1517-1590) DNB00

## External links[edit]

* 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

* 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

* v
* t
* e

Bishops of Bath and Wells

previous titles|

| Wells|

* Athelm
* Wulfhelm
* Alphege
* Wulfhelm II
* Byrhthelm
* Cyneweard of Glastonbury
* Sigar
* Ælfwine
* Lyfing
* Aethelwine
* Brihtwine
* Aethelwine
* Brihtwine
* Merewith
* Dudoc
* Gisa
* John of Tours (became Bishop of Bath)
* see removed to Bath

|

Bath|

* John of Tours (previously Bishop of Wells)
* Godfrey
* Robert
* Reginald fitz Jocelin
* Savaric FitzGeldewin (became Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury)
* see de jure removed to Glastonbury

Bath & Glastonbury|

* Savaric FitzGeldewin (previously Bishop of Bath)
* Jocelin of Wells (became Bishop of Bath)
* Glastonbury claim abandoned

Bath|

* Jocelin of Wells (previously Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury)
* Roger of Salisbury (became Bishop of Bath and Wells)
* see became Bath and Wells

Medieval|

* see renamed from Bath
* Roger of Salisbury (previously Bishop of Bath)
* William of Bitton
* Walter Giffard
* William of Bitton (nephew)
* Robert Burnell
* William of March
* Walter Haselshaw
* John Droxford
* Ralph of Shrewsbury
* John Barnet
* John Harewell
* Walter Skirlaw
* Ralph Ergham
* Richard Clifford
* Henry Bowet
* Nicholas Bubwith
* John Stafford
* Thomas Beckington
* Robert Stillington
* Richard Foxe
* Oliver King

Early modern|

* Adriano Castellesi
* Thomas Wolsey
* John Clerk
* William Knight
* William Barlow
* Gilbert Bourne
* Gilbert Berkeley
* Thomas Godwin
* John Still
* James Montague
* Arthur Lake
* William Laud
* Leonard Mawe
* Walter Curle
* William Piers
* Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth)
* William Piers
* Robert Creighton
* Peter Mews
* Thomas Ken
* Richard Kidder
* George Hooper
* John Wynne
* Edward Willes
* Charles Moss

Late modern|

* Richard Beadon
* George Henry Law
* Richard Bagot
* Robert Eden
* Lord Arthur Hervey
* George Kennion
* Basil Wynne Willson
* Francis Underhill
* William Wand
* Harold Bradfield
* Edward Henderson
* John Bickersteth
* George Carey
* Jim Thompson
* Peter Price
* Peter Maurice (acting diocesan)
* Peter Hancock
* Ruth Worsley (acting diocesan)
* Michael Beasley

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