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Cuthbert Tunstall (or Tonstall) (1474–November 18, 1559) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 church leader, twice Bishop of Durham
Bishop of Durham

The Bishop of Durham is the Church of England bishop responsible for the diocese of Diocese of Durham in the province of York. The Diocese is one of the oldest in the country and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords....
 during the reigns of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
, Edward VI
Edward VI of England

Edward VI became List of English monarchs and King of Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII of England and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestantism ruler....
, Mary I
Mary I of England

Mary I , was Queen of England and Monarchy of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI of England, to the English throne....
 and Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
. He was also significant as a diplomat, administrator and royal adviser.

bert Tunstall was born at Hackforth
Hackforth

Hackforth is a small village in North Yorkshire, England, about 4 miles north ofBedale. Nearby settlements include Langthorne and Crakehall. The pub is called the "Greyhound"....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
 in 1474, an illegitimate son of Thomas Tunstall of Thurland Castle, Lancashire
Lancashire

Lancashire is a Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in the North West England of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea....
. His legitimate half-brother, Brian Tunstall, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.






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Cuthbert Tunstall (or Tonstall) (1474–November 18, 1559) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 church leader, twice Bishop of Durham
Bishop of Durham

The Bishop of Durham is the Church of England bishop responsible for the diocese of Diocese of Durham in the province of York. The Diocese is one of the oldest in the country and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords....
 during the reigns of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
, Edward VI
Edward VI of England

Edward VI became List of English monarchs and King of Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII of England and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestantism ruler....
, Mary I
Mary I of England

Mary I , was Queen of England and Monarchy of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI of England, to the English throne....
 and Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
. He was also significant as a diplomat, administrator and royal adviser.

Childhood and early career

Cuthbert Tunstall was born at Hackforth
Hackforth

Hackforth is a small village in North Yorkshire, England, about 4 miles north ofBedale. Nearby settlements include Langthorne and Crakehall. The pub is called the "Greyhound"....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
 in 1474, an illegitimate son of Thomas Tunstall of Thurland Castle, Lancashire
Lancashire

Lancashire is a Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in the North West England of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea....
. His legitimate half-brother, Brian Tunstall, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Cuthbert studied at the Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
, Cambridge
University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
, and Padua
University of Padua

The University of Padua , located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222. It is among the earliest of the university and the third oldest in Italy....
, where he graduated Doctor of Laws
Doctor of Laws

Doctor of Laws is a doctorate-level academic degree in law. What follows is a country-by-country analysis of earned doctorates in law, which are the most analogous to the concept of the LL.D....
. He became accomplished in mathematics, theology and law. He was proficient in Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 and Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
, and a was considered a distinguished scholar, winning favourable comment from Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Netherlands Renaissance humanist and Roman Catholic Church Christian theology. His scholarly name Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus comprises the following three elements: the Latin noun desiderium ; the Greek adjective ???s???? meaning "desired", and, in the form Erasmus, also the name of a St....
.

Tunstall soon won the friendship of William Warham
William Warham

William Warham , Archbishop of Canterbury, belonged to a Hampshire family, and was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, afterwards practising and teaching law both in London and Oxford....
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the Episcopal see that churches must be in communion with in order to be a part of the Anglican Communion....
. Warham made Tunstall his chancellor on August 25, 1511, and shortly after appointed him rector of Harrow on the Hill
Harrow on the Hill

Harrow on the Hill is an area of north west London, England and part of the London Borough of Harrow. The name refers to a large local hill of 408 feet....
. He eventually became a canon
Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christianity clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule .Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergyhouse or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct or close of a cathedral and ordering his life according to the orders or rules of the church....
 of Lincoln
Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England and seat of the Diocese of Lincoln in the Church of England....
 (1514) and archdeacon
Archdeacon

A position of archdeacon is a senior position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, and in some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop....
 of Chester
Chester Cathedral

Chester Cathedral is the mother church of the Church of England Diocese of Chester, and is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England . The cathedral, formerly St Werburgh's abbey church of a Benedictine monastery, is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary....
 (1515). He was soon employed on diplomatic business by King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
 and Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey , who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English statesman and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner....
. In 1515 he was sent to Brussels
Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium....
 in conjunction with Sir Thomas More
Thomas More

Saint Thomas More was an English lawyer, author, and statesman who in his lifetime gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist scholar, and occupied many public offices, including Lord Chancellor ....
. It was at Brussels that he would meet Erasmus as well, becoming the intimate friend of both scholars. In 1519 he was sent to Cologne
Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants....
. A visit to Worms
Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over title of "Oldest City in Germany"....
 (1520-21) gave him a clear view of the significance of the Lutheran movement and its literature.

Tunstall also gained further advancements in his career, being made Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls

The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the third most senior judge of England and Wales, the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain traditionally being first and the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales second....
 in 1516 and Dean
Dean (religion)

A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church....
 of Salisbury
Salisbury Cathedral

building_name= Salisbury Cathedral|year_built=|year_end=|year_highest =|location= Salisbury, England|antenna_spire= 123m/404ft*|construction_period = 1220-1258 ...
 in 1521. In 1522, he became Bishop of London
Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km? of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey....
 by papal provision, and on May 25, 1523 was made Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal

The Lord Privy Seal or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain....
. Despite the added responsibilities of his various positions, he continued making visitations to his diocese. In 1525, he negotiated with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
 after the Battle of Pavia
Battle of Pavia

The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of February 24, 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521. A Spanish-Imperial army under the nominal command of Charles de Lannoy attacked the French army under the personal command of Francis I of France in the great hunting preserve of Mirabello outside the city walls....
, and helped to arrange the Peace of Cambrai in 1529.

Bishop of Durham under Henry VIII and Edward VI

On February 22, 1530, again by papal provision, Tunstall succeeded Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey , who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English statesman and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner....
 as Bishop of Durham
Bishop of Durham

The Bishop of Durham is the Church of England bishop responsible for the diocese of Diocese of Durham in the province of York. The Diocese is one of the oldest in the country and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords....
. This role involved the assumption of quasi-regal power and authority within the territory of the diocese. In 1537 he was also made President of the new Council of the North
Council of the North

The Council of the North was an administrative body originally set up in 1485 by king Richard III of England, the last House of York monarch to hold the Crown of England; its intention was to improve government control and economic prosperity, to benefit the entire area of Northern England....
. Although he was often engaged in time-consuming negotiations with the Scots
Scottish people

The Scots people are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Historically, as an ethnic group, they emerged from an amalgamation of Celts, Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
, he took part in other public business, and attended parliament, where in 1539 he participated in the discussion on the Bill of Six Articles.

In the question of Henry's divorce
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
, Tunstall acted as one of Queen Catherine's
Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon also known as Katherine or Katharine; was the List of English consorts as the Wives of Henry VIII of Henry VIII of England, and Princess of Wales by her first marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales....
 counsel, but he endeavoured to dissuade her from appealing to Rome. Unlike his contemporaries Bishop John Fisher
John Fisher

John Cardinal Fisher , from 1935 Saint John Fisher, was an English people Roman Catholic bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Calendar of saints ....
 and Sir Thomas More
Thomas More

Saint Thomas More was an English lawyer, author, and statesman who in his lifetime gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist scholar, and occupied many public offices, including Lord Chancellor ....
, during the troubled years that followed, Tunstall adopted a policy of passive obedience and acquiescence in many matters with which he likely had little support. Like many leading clergymen of his age, he was as much a professionally trained civil servant as a man of God. This conditioned his reaction when these roles were in conflict. While Tunstall adhered firmly to Catholic doctrine and practices, after some hesitation, he accepted Henry as head of the Church, and publicly defended this position thus moving into schism with Rome.

Tunstall disliked the religious policy pursued by the advisers of King Edward VI
Edward VI of England

Edward VI became List of English monarchs and King of Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII of England and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestantism ruler....
, and voted against the first Act of Uniformity
Act of Uniformity 1549

The Act of Uniformity 1549 established The Book of Common Prayer as the sole legal form of worship in England. Before 1549, the churches of England continued to use a slightly altered version of the Latin-language Missal....
 in 1549. However, he continued to discharge his public duties without interruption, and hoped that the Earl of Warwick might be induced to reverse the anti-Catholic policy of Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII of England in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549....
. This hope failed, and after Somerset's fall in May 1551, Tunstall was summoned to London and confined to his house there. During this captivity he composed a treatise on the Eucharist
Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christianity sacrament commemorating, by consecrating bread and wine, the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest, and eventual crucifixion, when he gave them bread saying, "This is my body", and wine...
, which was published at Paris in 1554. At the end of 1551 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London
Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames....
, and a bill for his deprivation was introduced into the House of Commons. When this failed, he was tried by a commission on October 4-5, 1552, and deprived of his bishopric.

Bishop of Durham under Mary I and Elizabeth I

On the ascension of Mary I
Mary I of England

Mary I , was Queen of England and Monarchy of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI of England, to the English throne....
 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, now an octogenarian, again assumed his office as Bishop of Durham. He maintained his earlier conciliatory approach, indulging in no systematic persecution of Protestants. Through Mary's reign he ruled his diocese in peace.

When Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
 came to the throne, Tunstall refused to take the Oath of Supremacy
Oath of Supremacy

The Oath of Supremacy, imposed by the Act of Supremacy 1559, provided for any person taking public or church office in England to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England of the Church of England....
, and would not participate in the consecration of the Protestant Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
 as Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the Episcopal see that churches must be in communion with in order to be a part of the Anglican Communion....
. He was arrested, deprived of his diocese
Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral....
 in September 1559, and was held as Parker's prisoner at Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace

Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is located in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames a short distance upstream of the Palace of Westminster on the opposite shore....
, where he died within a few weeks. He was one of eleven Catholic bishops to die in custody during Elizabeth's reign.

The Anglican historian A. F. Pollard
Albert Pollard

Albert Frederick Pollard was a British historian who specialized in the Tudor period....
 wrote:
"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."


Further reading


  1. De arte supputandi libri quattuor (1522)
Based on the Suma of Luca Pacioli
Luca Pacioli

Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli was an Italy mathematician and Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and seminal contributor to the field now known as accounting....
, this was the first printed work published in England that was devoted exclusively to mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
.
  1. Confutatio cavillationum quibus SS. Eucharistiae Sacramentum ab impiis Caphernaitis impeti solet (Paris, 1552)
  2. De veritate corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Jesu Christi in eucharistia (Paris, 1554)
  3. Compendium in decem libros ethicorum Aristotelis (Paris, 1554)
  4. Certaine godly and devout prayers made in Latin by C. Tunstall and translated into Englishe by Thomas Paynelle, Clerke (London, 1558).
  5. Tunstall's correspondence as president of the Council of the North is in the British Library
    British Library

    The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
    .


External links