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GRINDAL, EDMUND (c. 1519–1583)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 605 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRINDAL, See also:EDMUND (c. 1519–1583) , successively See also:bishop of See also:London, See also:archbishop of See also:York and archbishop of See also:Canterbury, See also:born about 1519, was son of See also:William Grindal, a See also:farmer of Hensingham, in the See also:parish of St Bees, See also:Cumberland. He was educated at Magdalene and See also:Christ's Colleges and then at See also:Pembroke See also:Hall, See also:Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. and was elected See also:fellow in 1538. He proceeded M.A. in 1541, was ordained See also:deacon in 1544 and was See also:proctor and See also:Lady See also:Margaret preacher in 1548–1549. Probably through the See also:influence of See also:Ridley, who had been See also:master of Pembroke Hall, Grindal was selected as one of the See also:Protestant disputants during the visitation of 1549. He had a considerable See also:talent for this See also:work and was often employed on similar occasions. When Ridley became bishop of London, he made Grindal one of his chaplains and gave him the precentorship of St See also:Paul's. He was soon promoted to be one of See also:Edward VI.'s chaplains and See also:prebendary of See also:Westminster, and in See also:October 1552 was one of the six divines to whom the See also:Forty-two articles were submitted for examination before being sanctioned by the Privy See also:Council. According to See also:Knox, Grindal distinguished himself from most of the See also:court preachers in 1553 by denouncing the worldliness of the courtiers and foretelling the evils to follow on the See also:king's See also:death. That event frustrated Grindal's proposed See also:elevation to the episcopal See also:bench and he did not consider himself See also:bound to await the evils which he had foretold. He abandoned his preferments on See also:Mary's See also:accession and made his way to See also:Strassburg. Thence, like so many of the Marian exiles, he proceeded to Frankfurt, where he endeavoured to compose the disputes between the " Coxians " (see See also:Cox, See also:RICHARD), who regarded the 1552 See also:Prayer See also:Book as the perfection of reform, and the Knoxians, who wanted further simplification.

He returned to See also:

England in See also:January 1559, was appointed one of the See also:committee to revise the See also:liturgy, and one of the Protestant representatives at the Westminster See also:conference. In See also:July he was also elected Master of Pembroke Hall in See also:succession to the See also:recusant Dr See also:Thomas See also:Young (1514—1580) and Bishop of London in succession to See also:Bonner. Grindal himself was, however, inclined to be recalcitrant from different motives. He had qualms about See also:vestments and other traces of " popery " as well as about the Erastianism of See also:Elizabeth's ecclesiastical See also:government. His Protestantism was robust enough; he did not mind recommending that a See also:priest " might be put to some torment " (See also:Hatfield See also:MSS. i. 269) ; and in October 1562 he wrote to See also:Cecil begging to know " if that second See also:Julian, the king of See also:Navarre, is killed; as he intended to preach at St Paul's See also:Cross, and might take occasion to mention See also:God's judgements on him " (Domestic Cal., 1547—158o, p. 209). But he was loth to execute judgments upon See also:English Puritans, and See also:modern high churchmen complain of his infirmity of purpose, his opportunism and his failure to give See also:Parker adequate assistance in rebuilding the shattered fabric of the English See also:Church. Grindal lacked that See also:firm faith in the supreme importance of uniformity and See also:autocracy which enabled See also:Whitgift to persecute with a clear See also:conscience nonconformists whose See also:theology was indistinguishable from his own. Perhaps he was as See also:wise as his critics; at any See also:rate the rigour which he repudiated hardly brought See also:peace or strength to the Church when practised by his successors, and London, which was always a difficult see, involved Bishop See also:Sandys in similar tronbles when Grindal had gone to York. As it was, although Parker said that Grindal " was not resolute and severe enough for the government of London," his attempts to enforce the use of the See also:surplice evoked angry protests, especially in 1565, when considerable See also:numbers of the nonconformists were suspended; and Grindal of his own See also:motion denounced See also:Cartwright to the Council in 1570. Other anxieties were brought upon him by the burning of his See also:cathedral in 1561, for although Grindal himself is said to have contributed £1200 towards its rebuilding, the laity of his See also:diocese were niggardly with their subscriptions and even his See also:clergy were not liberal.

In 1570 Grindal was translated to the archbishopric of York, where Puritans were few and See also:

coercion would be required mainly for See also:Roman Catholics. His first See also:letter from Cawood to Cecil told that he had not been well received, that the gentry were not " well-affected to godly See also:religion and among the See also:common See also:people many superstitious practices remained." It is admitted by his See also:Anglican critics that he did the work of enforcing uniformity against the Roman Catholics with See also:good-will and considerable tact. He must have given See also:general See also:satisfaction, for even before Parker's death two persons so different as See also:Burghley and See also:Dean See also:Nowell independently recommended Grindal's See also:appointment as his successor, and See also:Spenser speaks warmly of him in the Shepherd's See also:Calendar as the " See also:gentle shepherd Algrind." Burghley wished to conciliate the moderate Puritans and advised Grindal to mitigate the severity which had characterized Parker's treatment of the nonconformists. Grindal indeed attempted a reform of the ecclesiastical courts, but his metropolitical activity was cut See also:short by a conflict with the arbitrary See also:temper of the See also:queen. Elizabeth required Grindal to suppress the " prophesyings or meetings for discussion which had come into See also:vogue among the Puritan clergy, and she even wanted him to discourage See also:preaching; she would have no See also:doctrine that was not inspired by her authority. Grindal remonstrated, claiming some See also:voice for the Church, and in See also:June 1577 was suspended from his. jurisdictional, though not his spiritual, functions for disobedience. He stood firm, and in January 1 578 Secretary See also:Wilson informed Burghley that the queen wished to have the archbishop deprived. She was dissuaded from this extreme course, but Grindal's See also:sequestration was continued in spite of a See also:petition from See also:Convocation in 1581 for his reinstatement. Elizabeth then suggested that he should resign; this he declined to do, and after making an See also:apology to the queen he was reinstated towards the end of 1582. But his infirmities were increasing, and while making preparations for his resignation, he died on the 6th of July 1583 and was buried in See also:Croydon parish church. He See also:left considerable benefactions to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, Queen's See also:College, See also:Oxford, and Christ's College, Cambridge; he also endowed a See also:free school at St Bees, and left See also:money for the poor of St Bees, Canterbury, See also:Lambeth and Croydon. See also:Strype's See also:Life of Grindal is the See also:principal authority ; see also Dict.

Nat. Biogr. and, besides the authorities there cited, See also:

Gough's General See also:Index to Parker See also:Soc. Publ.; Acts of the Privy Council; Cal. of Hatfield MSS.; See also:Dixon's Hist. of the Church of England; See also:Frere's See also:volume in See also:Stephens' and See also:Hunt's See also:series; Cambridge Mod. Hist. vol. iii.; See also:Gee's Elizabethan Clergy; Birt's Elizabethan Religious See also:Settlement; and See also:Pierce's Introduction to the Marprelate Tracts (1909). (A. F.

End of Article: GRINDAL, EDMUND (c. 1519–1583)

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