William Warham | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Canterbury | |
 Portrait byHans Holbein the Younger (1527) | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Appointed | 29 November 1503 |
| Term ended | 22 August 1532 |
| Predecessor | Henry Deane |
| Successor | Thomas Cranmer |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 25 September 1502 by Richard Foxe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1450 |
| Died | 22 August 1532 Hackington, Kent, England |
| Buried | Canterbury Cathedral, Kent |
| Parents | Robert Warham of Malshanger |
| Signature |  |
William Warham (c. 1450 – 22 August 1532) wasArchbishop of Canterbury from 1503 until his death in 1532.
Warham was the son of Robert Warham ofMalshanger inHampshire. He was educated atWinchester College andNew College, Oxford.[1]
After graduating, Warham practised and taught law both in London andOxford.[2] His father was a tenant farmer,[3] but his brother, Sir Hugh Warham, acquired an estate atCroydon, which passed to his daughter Agnes, who married SirAnthony St Leger.[4]
Later, Warham took holy orders, held two livings (Barley and Cottenham) and becameMaster of the Rolls in 1494.Henry VII found him a useful and clever diplomatist. He helped to arrange the marriage between Henry's son,Arthur, Prince of Wales, andCatherine of Aragon. He went to Scotland withRichard Foxe, then bishop of Durham, in 1497. He was partly responsible for several commercial and other treaties withMaximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, alsoCount of Flanders andRegentDuke of Burgundy, on behalf of his sonPhilip IV of Burgundy.
In 1502, he was consecratedBishop of London and became Keeper of the Great Seal, but his tenure of both offices was short, as in 1504, he becameLord Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1506, he became Chancellor ofOxford University, a role he held until his death. In 1509, he presided over the wedding of and then crownedHenry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
On 28 September 1511, he made a visit to the hospital atMaison Dieu, Faversham.[5]
As archbishop, Warham seems to have been somewhat arbitrary; for example, his actions led to a serious quarrel with Foxe, thenBishop of Winchester, and others in 1512. That made him gradually withdraw into the background after the coronation. He resigned the office of Lord Chancellor in 1515 and was succeeded byThomas Wolsey, whom he had consecrated asbishop of Lincoln in the previous year. His resignation was possibly because of his dislike of Henry's foreign policy.
Warham was present at theField of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 and assisted Wolsey as assessor during the secret inquiry into the validity of Henry's marriage with Catherine in 1527. Throughout the divorce proceedings, Warham's position was essentially that of an old and weary man. He was named as one of the counsellors to assist the queen, but, fearing to incur the king's displeasure and using his favourite phraseira principis mors est ("the king's anger is death"), he gave her very little help and signed the letter toPope Clement VII that urged the pope to assent to Henry's wish. Later, it was proposed that the archbishop himself should try the case, but the suggestion came to nothing.
Warham presided over the Convocation of 1531, when the clergy of the Province of Canterbury voted £100,000 to the king to avoid the penalties ofpraemunire and accepted Henry as supreme head of the church with the face-saving clause "so far as theLaw of Christ allows".
In Warham's concluding years, however, the archbishop showed rather more independence. In February 1532, he protested against all acts concerning the church passed by the parliament that met in 1529, but that did not prevent the important proceedings which secured the complete submission of the church to the state later in the same year. Against this further compliance with Henry's wishes, Warham drew up a protest in which he likened the action of Henry VIII to that ofHenry II and urgedMagna Carta in defence of the liberties of the church.[6] He attempted in vain to strike a compromise during theSubmission of the Clergy.
Having been munificent in his public and moderate in his private life, he died on a visit to his nephew, alsoWilliam Warham. He was buried in the Martyrdom (north) transept ofCanterbury Cathedral. He was succeeded as archbishop by his rival, Thomas Cranmer.[7]Warham Guild was named after him.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Warham, William".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 325.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Henry Deane (Keeper of the Great Seal) | Keeper of the Great Seal 1502–1504 | Succeeded by Thomas Wolsey (Lord Chancellor) |
| Lord Chancellor 1504–1515 | ||
| Catholic Church titles | ||
| Preceded by | Bishop of London 1502–1504 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Canterbury 1503–1532 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1506–1532 | Succeeded by |