Life

The son of George Gardiner, was born at Berwick-on-Tweed about 1535. He was a scholar of Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

, where he proceeded B.A. in 1554. He took the M.A. degree in 1558, having in the meantime become a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

, an appointment of which he was deprived on 6 August 1561 for his continued absence from Cambridge.

In December 1560, supported by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...

 who was always a firm friend, he was presented by the queen

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and 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 Tudor dynasty...

 to the living of Chatton

Chatton

Chatton is a village in Northumberland, in England. It is situated approximately to the east of Wooler. The village has amenities which include a pub and village shop, and also has a number of historic artifacts, with cup and ring marks and a kettle stone.-External links:* *...

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

. In or about 1562 he became a minor canon of Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral is a cathedral located in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Formerly a Catholic church, it has belonged to the Church of England since the English Reformation....

, and was appointed minister to the church of St. Andrew in the city. He was promoted to be prebendary in 1565, and in 1570 was one of those who entered the choir of the cathedral and, among other acts, broke down the organ. In the previous year, at a metropolitan visitation, articles had been lodged against him charging him with having been ‘a man very unquiet, troublesome, and dissenting, setting debate between man and man.’ It was also said that in Queen Mary's

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

 time he had persecuted persons supposed to favour the gospel at the universities.

In 1571 Gardiner gave up his Norwich living on being instituted by the Merchant Taylors' Company to the rectory of St Martin Outwich

St Martin Outwich

St Martin Outwich was a medieval parish church in the City of London, on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate.-History:A church of St Martin was built in the fourteenth century at the expense of members of the Oteswich family, from whom the church derives its name...

, London, which he resigned in 1574, and in the same year he was collated to the living of Morley, Norfolk

Morley, Norfolk

Morley is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 973 in 182 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of South Norfolk....

. In 1575 he became archdeacon of Norwich. He had represented to Leicester that the appointment had lapsed to the crown in consequence of a prolonged lawsuit between two candidates. The Bishop of Norwich, John Parkhurst

John Parkhurst

John Parkhurst was an English Marian exile and from 1560 the Bishop of Norwich.-Early life:Born about 1512, he was son of George Parkhurst of Guildford, Surrey. He initially attended the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, before at an early age moving to Magdalen College School at Oxford...

, whose own candidate was one of the disputants, refused to recognise Gardiner as archdeacon; but in October 1573 the bishop promised to support him for the deanery, then vacant, if he would give up the archdeaconry. But Gardiner had already had resort to Leicester and Lord Burghley, and was nominated dean unconditionally, in spite of his bishop's opposition. Both Leicester and the queen ordered the bishop to desist, and ultimately Parkhurst and Gardiner were on good terms. Gardiner erected a monument to Parkhurst's memory in the cathedral.

In 1573 Gardiner was also appointed chaplain to the queen, and in the following year he was in attendance at court. In the same year he was on a commission of oyer and terminer

Oyer and terminer

In English law, Oyer and terminer was the Law French name, meaning "to hear and determine", for one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat...

 for the county of Norfolk to examine into offences against the Act of Uniformity

Act of Uniformity

Over the course of English parliamentary history there were a number of acts of uniformity. All had the basic object of establishing some sort of religious orthodoxy within the English church....

. In 1578 he was vicar-general of Norwich, apparently for only a short period. In 1575 he obtained the vicarage of Swaffham

Swaffham

Swaffham is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,935 in 3,130 households...

 by gift of the queen, in 1579 the rectory of Haylesden, in 1580 that of Blofield

Blofield

Blofield is the village and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. The parish includes Blofield and the hamlets of Blofield Heath and Blofield Corner and, according to the 2001 census, had a population of 3,221. It is on the A47, five miles east of Norwich and west of Great...

, in 1583 that of Ashill

Ashill

Ashill may refer to:*Ashill, Cornwall*Ashill, Devon*Ashill, Norfolk*Ashill, Somerset...

, and in 1584 that of Forncett

Forncett

Forncett is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,000 in 381 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of South Norfolk....

, all in Norfolk. He held also the rectory of West Stow

West Stow

West Stow is a small parish in West Suffolk, England.The village lies north of Bury St. Edmunds, south of Mildenhall and Thetford and west of the villages of Culford and Ingham in the area known as the Breckland.This area is located near the Lark River Valley and populated from AD 420-650.it is...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

.

Gardiner had duties too in London, and in February 1587 a formal complaint was made against him, among others, for neglecting to preach at St Paul's Cross

St Paul's Cross

St Paul's Cross was a preaching cross and open air pulpit in the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London.-History:...

 according to a monition. As dean of Norwich he improved the revenues of the cathedral. Part of the church lands had been annexed by Sir Thomas Shirley and others, on various pretexts. Gardiner, by dint of his influence at court and many lawsuits, finally, in 1588, obtained a royal warrant ordering the patentees to surrender the church lands, for some compensation.

In the later years of his life Gardiner was much invalided by gout

Gout

Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...

. He died about June 1589, and was buried in the south aisle of his cathedral, where was his tomb, with a Latin inscription. A number of his letter are printed in John Strype

John Strype

John Strype was an English historian and biographer. He was a cousin of Robert Knox, a famous sailor.Born in Houndsditch, London, he was the son of John Strype, or van Stryp, a member of a Huguenot family whom, in order to escape religious persecution within Brabant, had settled in East London...

's Annals. Gardiner was married, and in 1573 was the father of four children.