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PARKER, MATTHEW (1504-1575)

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 829 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PARKER, See also:MATTHEW (1504-1575) , See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, was the eldest son of See also:William Parker, a See also:citizen of See also:Norwich, where he was See also:born, in St Saviour's See also:parish, on the 6th of See also:August 1504. His See also:mother's See also:maiden name was Alice Monins, and a See also:John Monins married See also:Cranmer's See also:sister Jane, but no definite relation-See also:ship between the two archbishops has been traced. William Parker died about 1516, and his widow married a certain John See also:Baker. Matthew was sent in 1522 to Corpus Christi See also:College, See also:Cambridge, where he is said by most of his biographers, including the latest, to have been contemporary with See also:Cecil; but Cecil was only two years old when Parker went to Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1525, was ordained See also:deacon in See also:April and See also:priest in See also:June 1527, and was elected See also:fellow of Corpus in the following See also:September. He commenced M.A. in 1528, and was one of the Cambridge scholars whom See also:Wolsey wished to transplant to his newly founded See also:Cardinal College at See also:Oxford. Parker, like Cranmer, declined the invitation. He had come under the See also:influence of the Cambridge reformers, and after See also:Anne See also:Boleyn's recognition as See also:queen he was made her See also:chaplain. Through her he was appointed See also:dean of the college of See also:secular canons at Stoke-by-See also:Clare in 1535. See also:Latimer wrote to him in that See also:year urging him not to fall See also:short of the expectations which had been formed of his ability. In 1537 he was appointed chaplain to See also:Henry VIII., and in 1538 he was threatened with See also:prosecution by the reactionary • party. The See also:bishop of See also:Dover, however, reported to See also:Cromwell that Parker "See also:bath ever been of a See also:good See also:judgment and set forth the Word of See also:God after a good manner.

For this he suffers some grudge." He graduated D.D. in that year, and in 1541 he was appointed to the second prebend in the reconstituted See also:

cathedral See also:church of See also:Ely. In 1544 on Henry VIII.'s recommendation he was elected See also:master of Corpus Christi College, and in 1545 See also:vice-See also:chancellor of the university. He got into some trouble with the chancellor, See also:Gardiner, over a See also:ribald See also:play, "Pammachius," performed by the students, deriding the old ecclesiastical See also:system, though See also:Bonner wrote to Parker of the assured See also:affection he See also:bore him. On the passing of the See also:act of See also:parliament in 1545 enabling the See also:king to dissolve chantries and colleges, Parker was appointed one of the com missioners for Cambridge, and their See also:report saved its colleges if there had ever been any intention to destroy them. Stoke, however, was dissolved in the following reign, and Parker received a See also:pension See also:equivalent to £400 a year in See also:modern currency. He took See also:advantage of the new reign to marry in June, 1547, before clerical marriages had been legalized by parliament and See also:convocation, See also:Margaret, daughter of See also:Robert Harlestone, a See also:Norfolk See also:squire. During Kett's See also:rebellion he was allowed to preach in the rebels' See also:camp on Mousehold See also:Hill, but without much effect; and later on he encouraged his chaplain, See also:Alexander See also:Neville, to write his See also:history of the rising. His Protestantism advanced with the times, and he received higher promotion under See also:Northumberland than under the moderate See also:Somerset. See also:Bucer was his friend at Cambridge, and he preached Bucer's funeral See also:sermon in 1551. In 1552 he was promoted to the See also:rich deanery of See also:Lincoln, and in See also:July 1553 he supped with Northumberland at Cambridge, when the See also:duke marched See also:north on his See also:hope-less See also:campaign against See also:Mary. As a supporter of Northumberland and a married See also:man, Parker was naturally deprived of his deanery, his mastership of Corpus, and his other preferments. But he found means to live in See also:England throughout Mary's reign without further molestation.

He was not See also:

cast in a heroic See also:mould, and he had no See also:desire to figure at the stake; like Cecil, and See also:Elizabeth herself, he had a See also:great respect for authority, and when his See also:time came he could consistently impose authority on others. He was not eager to assume this task, and he made great efforts to avoid promotion to the archbishopric Of Canterbury, which Elizabeth designed for him as soon as she had succeeded to the See also:throne. He was elected on the 1st of August 1559; but it was difficult to find the requisite four bishops willing and qualified to consecrate him, and not until the 17th of See also:December did See also:Barlow, Scory, See also:Coverdale and Hodgkins perform that ceremony at See also:Lambeth. The See also:legend of an indecent See also:consecration at the Nag's See also:Head See also:tavern in See also:Fleet See also:Street seems first to have been printed by the Jesuit, See also:Christopher See also:Holywood, in 1604; and it has See also:long been abandoned by reputable controversialists. Parker's consecration was, however, only made legally valid by the plentitude of the royal supremacy; for the Edwardine Ordinal, which was used, had been repealed by Mary and not re-enacted by the parliament of 1559. Parker owes his fame to circumstances rather than to See also:personal qualifications. This See also:wise moderation of the Elizabethan See also:settlement, which had been effected before his See also:appointment, was obviously not due to him; and Elizabeth could have placed See also:Knox or Bonner in the See also:chair of St See also:Augustine had she been so minded. But she wanted a moderate man, and so she See also:chose Parker. He possessed all the qualifications she expected from an See also:arch-bishop except See also:celibacy. He distrusted popular See also:enthusiasm, and he wrote in horror of the See also:idea that " the See also:people " should be the reformers of the Church. He was not inspiring as a See also:leader of See also:religion; and no See also:dogma, no See also:original theory of church See also:government, no See also:prayer-See also:book, not even a See also:tract or a hymn is associated with his name. The 56 volumes published by the Parker Society include only one by its See also:eponymous See also:hero, and that is a See also:volume of See also:correspondence.

He was a disciplinarian, a See also:

scholar, a modest and moderate man of genuine piety and irreproachable morals. His See also:historical See also:research was exemplified in his De antiquitate ecclesiae, and his See also:editions of See also:Asser, Matthew See also:Paris, See also:Walsingham, and the compiler known as Matthew of See also:Westminster; his liturgical skill was shown in his version of the psalter and in the occasional prayers and thanksgivings which he was called upon to compose; and he See also:left a priceless collection of See also:manuscripts to his college at Cambridge. He was happier in these pursuits than in the exercise of his See also:jurisdiction. With secular politics he had little to do, and he was never admitted to Elizabeth's privy See also:council. But ecclesiastical politics gave him an infinity of trouble. Many of the reformers wanted no bishops at all, while the Catholics wanted those of the old See also:dispensation, and the queen herself grudged episcopal See also:privilege until she discovered in it one of the See also:chief bulwarks of the royal supremacy. Parker was there-fore left to See also:stem the rising See also:tide of Puritan feeling with little support from parliament, convocation or the See also:Crown. The bishops' Interpretations and Further Considerations, issued in 156o, tolerated a See also:lower vestiarian See also:standard than was prescribed by the See also:rubric of 1559; the Advertisements, which Parker published in 1566, to check the Puritan descent, had to appear without specific royal See also:sanction; and the Reformatio legum ecclesiasticarum, which See also:Foxe published with Parker's approval, received neither royal, See also:parliamentary nor synodical authorization. Parliament even contested the claim of the bishops to determine matters of faith. " Surely," said Parker to See also:Peter See also:Wentworth, " you will refer yourselves wholly to us therein. " " No, by the faith I See also:bear to God," retorted Wentworth," we will pass nothing before we understand what it is; for that were but to make you popes. Make you popes who See also:list, for we will make you none." Disputes about See also:vestments had See also:expanded into a controversy over the whole See also:field of Church government and authority, and Parker died on the 17th of May, 1575, lamenting that Puritanideas of " governance " would " in conclusion undo the queen and all others that depended upon her." By his personal conduct he had set an ideal example for See also:Anglican priests, and it was not his See also:fault that See also:national authority failed to crush the individualistic tendencies of the See also:Protestant See also:Reformation.

John See also:

Strype's See also:Life of Parker, originally published in 1711, and re-edited for the See also:Clarendon See also:Press in 1821 (3 vols.), is the See also:principal source for Parker's life. A See also:biographical See also:sketch written from a different point of view was published by W. M. See also:Kennedy in 1908. See also J. See also:Bass Mullinger's scholarly life in See also:Diet. Nat. Biog.; W. H. See also:Frere's volume in See also:Stephens and See also:Hunt's Church History; Strype's See also:Works (See also:General See also:Index) ; See also:Gough's Index to Parker See also:Soc. Publ. See also:Fuller, See also:Burnet, See also:Collier and R.

W. See also:

Dixon's Histories of the Church; Birt's Elizabethan Settlement; H. See also:Gee's Elizabethan See also:Clergy (1898); See also:Froude's Hist. of England; and vol. vi. in Longman's See also:Political History. (A. F.

End of Article: PARKER, MATTHEW (1504-1575)

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