Cuthbert Tunstall Confessor-Bishop | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Durham | |
 | |
| Church | Roman Catholic |
| Diocese | Diocese of Durham |
| Elected | 1530; 1556 |
| Term ended | 1552; 1559 (twice deprived) |
| Predecessor | CardinalThomas Wolsey |
| Successor | James Pilkington |
| Other posts | Bishop of London 1522–1530 |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 19 October 1522 by William Warham |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1474 |
| Died | (1559-11-18)18 November 1559 |
| Nationality | English |
| Parents | Thomas Tunstall |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
Cuthbert Tunstall (otherwise speltTunstal orTonstall; 1474 – 18 November 1559) was anEnglishhumanist, bishop, diplomat, administrator and royal adviser. He served asBishop of Durham during the reigns ofHenry VIII,Edward VI,Mary I andElizabeth I. He has been described as having "invincible" or "burning moderation" on Erasmian Catholic lines.[2]
Cuthbert Tunstall was born inHackforth nearBedale inNorth Yorkshire in 1474, illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Tunstall ofThurland Castle inLancashire, who was later anesquire of the body ofRichard III.[3] His half-brother, Sir Brian Tunstall, the so-called "stainless knight," was killed at theBattle of Flodden in 1513.Sir Walter Scott mentions "stainless Tunstall's banner white" in Canto Six, line 790 ofMarmion.
Little is known of Tunstall's early life, except that he spent two years as a kitchen boy in the household of Sir Thomas Holland, perhaps atLynn, Norfolk. He was admitted toBalliol College, Oxford around 1491, where he studied mathematics, theology, and law. Around 1496, he became a scholar of theKing's Hall, Cambridge. He did not receive a degree from either Oxford or Cambridge; he graduated from theUniversity of Padua in 1505 as aDoctor of Civil Law and aDoctor of Canon Law. At Padua, he studied under some of the leadinghumanists and became proficient inGreek andHebrew.[3]
William Warham,Archbishop of Canterbury, made Tunstall his chancellor on 25 August 1511, and shortly afterward he appointed him rector ofHarrow on the Hill. He became acanon ofLincoln in 1514, andarchdeacon of Chester in 1515. Soon thereafter, he was employed on diplomatic business by KingHenry VIII andCardinal Wolsey. In 1515, Tunstall was sent toFlanders with SirThomas More, a friend since his school days, which More mentions in a glowing tribute in the opening paragraph ofUtopia.[4] At Brussels, he metErasmus as well, becoming the intimate friend of both scholars andPeter Gilles, becoming the godfather to Gilles' daughter.[5] He helped Erasmus make corrections to the second edition of hisNew Testament.[6] In 1519, he was sent toCologne; a visit toWorms (1520–21) gave him a sense of the threatening significance held by theLutheran movement.[8]
Tunstall was madeMaster of the Rolls in 1516 andDean ofSalisbury in 1521. He remotely assisted his friend Erasmus in the preparation of his second edition of theNew Testament.[2] In 1522, he published the first book of mathematics printed in England, based on the ItalianLuca Pacioli.[6] In 1522, he becameBishop of London by papal provision, and on 25 May 1523, he was madeLord Keeper of the Privy Seal. In 1525, he negotiated with the Holy Roman EmperorCharles V after theBattle of Pavia, and he helped to arrange thePeace of Cambrai in 1529.[9]
Tunstall metWilliam Tyndale in 1523 seeking patronage to translate the Bible (into contemporaneousEarly Modern English) which Tunstall declined, saying he already funded several scholars. Tunstall, who preferred burning heretical books to heretics,[10] later presided over the buying up and burning of almost all copies of the first edition ofTyndale's New Testament at Paul's Cross in October 1526. According to some scholars this helped fund Tyndale's subsequent improved edition,[11] as his friendThomas More had warned.[12]: 81 He granted More a license to read, and respond to, heretical books.
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On 22 February 1530, again by papal provision, Tunstall succeeded Cardinal Wolsey asBishop of Durham. This role involved the assumption ofquasi-regal power and authority within the territory of the diocese, theCounty Palatine of Durham. In 1537, he was made President of the newCouncil of the North. Although he was often engaged in time-consuming negotiations with the Scots, he took part in other public business and attended parliament where, in 1539, he participated in the discussion on theBill of Six Articles.[9]
In the question ofKing Henry's divorce, Tunstall acted as one ofQueen Catherine's counselors. Unlike BishopJohn Fisher and Sir Thomas More, Tunstall adopted a policy of passive obedience and acquiescence regarding many matters for which he likely held little support during the troubled years following the English Reformation. While Tunstall adhered firmly toRoman Catholic doctrine and practices, after some hesitation he accepted Henry as head of the Church of England, and he publicly defended this position, accepting a schism with Rome.[9]
Tunstall disliked the religious policy pursued by the advisers of KingEdward VI and voted against the firstAct of Uniformity in 1549. However, he continued to discharge his public duties without interruption and hoped in vain that theEarl of Warwick might be convinced to reverse the anti-Catholic policy of theDuke of Somerset. After Somerset's fall, Tunstall was summoned to London in May 1551 and confined to his house there. During this captivity, he composed a treatise on theEucharist, which was published in Paris in 1554. At the end of 1551 he was imprisoned in theTower of London, and a bill for his deprivation was introduced into theHouse of Commons. When this failed, he was tried by a commission on 4–5 October 1552 and deprived of his bishopric.[9]
On the accession of the Catholic QueenMary I to the throne in 1553, Tunstall was granted liberty. His bishopric, which had been dissolved by Act of Parliament in March 1553, was re-established by a further Act in April 1554. Tunstall assumed his office as Bishop of Durham once more. He maintained his earlier conciliatory approach, indulging in no systematic persecution ofProtestants.[9] Through Mary's reign he ruled his diocese in peace.
When the ProtestantElizabeth I ascended to the throne, Tunstall refused to take theOath of Supremacy and would not participate in the consecration of theAnglicanMatthew Parker asArchbishop of Canterbury. He was arrested, deprived again of hisdiocese in September 1559, and confined in comfort atLambeth Palace,[9] where he died within a few weeks, aged 85.[2] He was one of eleven Roman Catholic bishops to die in custody during Elizabeth's reign.[13]
He was buried in the parish church ofSt Mary-at-Lambeth, now a deconsecrated building.[3]
The Anglican historianAlbert F. Pollard wrote:[14]
Tunstall's long career of eighty-five years, for thirty-seven of which he was a bishop, is one of the most consistent and honourable in the sixteenth century. The extent of the religious revolution under Edward VI caused him to reverse his views on the royal supremacy and he refused to change them again under Elizabeth.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Tunstall, Cuthbert".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 410.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Burton, Edwin (1912). "Cuthbert Tunstall". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Bishop of London 1522–1530 | Succeeded by |
| Church of England titles | ||
| Preceded by CardinalThomas Wolsey | Bishop of Durham 1530–1552 1553–1558 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1523–1530 | Succeeded by |
