Robert HovendenD.D. (1544–1614) was an English academic administrator at theUniversity of Oxford.
Hovenden was electedWarden (head) ofAll Souls College, Oxford in 1571, a post he held until 1614.[1]During his time as Warden of All Souls College, he was also Vice-Chancellor ofOxford University during 1582–3.[2][3]Hovenden was ahumanist, undertook building work for All Souls College, and producedstrip maps of the College estates.[1]
He was the eldest son of William Hoveden or Hovenden ofCanterbury. He was educated at theUniversity of Oxford, was elected aFellow of All Souls' College in 1565, and graduatedBA in the following year, andMA in 1570. He became chaplain to ArchbishopMatthew Parker, and in 1570 or 1571 held theprebend of Clifton inLincoln Cathedral.[4]
On 12 November 1571, Hovenden succeededRichard Barber as Warden of the college. In 1575 he supplicated for the degree ofBD, but proceeded no further until 1580, when he performed all the exercises for the degrees of B.D. andDD, making the pretensions of the Pope the subject of his disputations. He was licensed as D.D. in 1581. In 1582, he filled the office ofVice-Chancellor ofOxford University. In 1581 he was holding, with his wardenship, the prebend of Henstridge inWells Cathedral, and in 1589 the third prebend inCanterbury Cathedral.[4]
Hovenden entered on his duties as Warden of All Souls while the college was striving to preserve its Catholic 'monuments of superstition' in the chapel from demolition, but in December 1573 the orders of the commissioners in the matter were too stringent to be any longer disobeyed. Hovenden exerted himself, however, to secure the profitable management of the college estates. He caused to be made a series of maps of the collegiate property which are still in existence. He successfully resisted the request of Queen Elizabeth that the college should grant a lease of certain lands to Lady Stafford on terms which would have been disadvantageous to the college, although the lady herself offered the warden £100. Hovenden succeeded in recovering for the college the rectory ofStanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, which had been granted to it byCardinal Pole, but resumed by the crown on the accession of Elizabeth. He completed the Warden's lodgings, which had been begun about fifteen years before; enlarged the grounds of the college by adding the site of a house known as 'The Rose,' where there was a famous well; rearranged the old library, now disused, and converted into rooms; introduced a better system of keeping the college books and accounts; and put in order and catalogued the archives.[4]
Hovenden rigorously upheld his authority within the college. With the aid of the visitor, ArchbishopEdmund Grindal, he compelled Fellows who desired to practice law or medicine in London to vacate their fellowships: his contest with Henry Wood, one of the Fellows, was related byJohn Strype. He carefully scrutinised claims to fellowships on the plea offounder's kin.[4]
The main alteration which he made in the constitution of the college was the admission of poor scholars (servientes), who in 1612 numbered thirty-one, but they were discontinued during the Commonwealth and were later represented only by four bible clerks.[4]
Hovenden died on 25 March 1614, and was buried in the college chapel, where there is his monument with an inscription. There was a bust of Hovenden in the Codrington Library at All Souls, executed bySir Henry Cheere.[4]
Hovenden wrote a life ofArchbishop Chichele, the founder of All Souls', which was used bySir Arthur Duck in his life of the archbishop (1617); and a catalogue of the wardens and fellows of the college.[4]
Hovenden married Katherine, eldest daughter of Thomas Powys ofAbingdon, and is doubtfully said to have had a daughter, Elizabeth, wife of Edward Chaloner, second son ofSir Thomas Chaloner ofSteeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire.[4]
He had two younger brothers. Christopher (1559–1610) was a Fellow of All Souls College (1575–81), member of theMiddle Temple, andRector ofStanton Harcourt (by presentation of All Souls). He was buried at Stanton Harcourt in 1610, having married Margery Powys, sister of the Warden's wife. The warden erected a monument over his grave. The second brother, George (1562–1625), was Rector ofHarrietsham, Kent, a living also in the gift of All Souls, and held the tenth prebend inCanterbury Cathedral from 15 December 1609 till his death atOxford 24 October 1625. Both brothers secured beneficial leases of college property.[4]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Warden of All Souls College, Oxford 1571–1614 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1582–1583 | Succeeded by |