"Matthew Wren" is also a British actor who appeared in BBC children's show Trapped!Trapped! is a British television children's game show that has been broadcast on CBBC and BBC One since 28 September 2007.-Trapped! :...
.
Matthew Wren (3 December 1585 – 24 April 1667) was an influential English clergyman and scholar.
Life
He attended
Merchant Taylors'Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
(??-1601), and
Pembroke College, CambridgePembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
, where he was a protégé of
Lancelot AndrewesLancelot Andrewes was an English bishop and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester and oversaw the translation of the...
. He became a Fellow in 1605 and later President. He was Master of
PeterhousePeterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
from 1625 to 1634. From this point, his rise was rapid. He accompanied
Charles ICharles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
to
Holyrood PalaceThe Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
for his Scottish coronation in 1633, and was appointed chaplain. He became
Bishop of HerefordThe Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury.The see is in the City of Hereford where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Ethelbert which was founded as a cathedral in 676.The Bishop's residence is...
in 1634,
NorwichThe Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...
in 1635, and
ElyThe Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
in 1638.
However, his strong support of
Archbishop LaudWilliam Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, and his toughness on
PuritanThe Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
s, led to his being imprisoned in the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
by the Parliamentarian faction from 1641 to 1659. Unlike Laud, he survived, and was allowed the freedom to write notes on improvements to the
Book of Common PrayerThe Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
, on which he later had some influence.
While in the Tower, he vowed to devote a sum of money to "some holy and pious employment" should he be released. To fulfil this vow, he chose to pay for a new Chapel for Pembroke College, and had it built by his nephew
Christopher WrenSir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
— one of his first buildings, consecrated in 1665. Matthew Wren also led the movement to rebuild
St Paul's CathedralSt Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
after it had been damaged by the Puritans, and again his nephew accomplished the task.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Cutler of Ipswich. Their eldest son was
Matthew WrenMatthew Wren was an English politician and writer. He is now known as an opponent of James Harrington, and a monarchist who made qualified use of the ideas of Thomas Hobbes.-Life:...
, secretary to the Duke of York.
List of appointments
- President of Pembroke College
- Prebendary of Winchester
- Master of Peterhouse, 1625–1634
- Chaplain to the then Prince Charles (later Charles I)
- Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
- Dean of Windsor
The Dean of Windsor is the spiritual head of the Canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Dean chairs meetings of the Chapter of Canons as primus inter pares.-List of Deans of Windsor:* William Mugge, 1348* Walter Almaly, 1380...
and WolverhamptonSt. Peter's Collegiate Church is located on the highest and the oldest developed site in central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal, and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate church was...
- Registrar of the Order of the Garter
- Clerk of the Closet
- Governor of Charterhouse, London
- Bishop of Hereford
- Prebendary of Westminster
- Bishop of Norwich
- Dean of the Chapel Royal, London
- Bishop of Ely
External links