Ralph Baines
Encyclopedia
Ralph Baines or "Bayne" was the last Roman Catholic bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...

, in England.

Early life

Educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, Baines was ordained priest at Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...

 in 1519. He came out against Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, Bishop of Worcester before the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555, under Queen Mary, he was burnt at the stake, becoming one of the three Oxford Martyrs of Anglicanism.-Life:Latimer was born into a...

, and opposed Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

's divorce from Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...

, being incited to the latter by John Fisher
John Fisher
Saint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic scholastic, bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Church of England calendar of saints...

.

He was rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of Hardwick, Cambridgeshire
Hardwick, Cambridgeshire
Hardwick is a village in the county of Cambridgeshire, England with a large housing estate located about west of the city of Cambridge and immediately south of the A428 Cambridge-St Neots road. It is about east of the newly developed village of Cambourne. The Village is nearly on the Greenwich...

, until 1544; but he had left the country by 1538.

Hebraist

Baines was a Hebraist, being a college lecturer in Hebrew at St John's. He went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and became professor of Hebrew at the Collège de France
Collège de France
The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...

, (professor of the Hebrew language, 1549 to 1554).

He was the author of the work "Compendium Michlol" (also with the Hebrew title, "Ḳiẓẓur ha-Ḥeleḳ Rishon ha-Miklol"), containing a Latin abstract of the first part of David Ḳimḥi
David Kimhi
David Kimhi , also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK , was a medieval rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher, and grammarian. Born in Narbonne, Provence, he was the son of Rabbi Joseph Kimhi and the brother of Rabbi Moses Kimhi, both biblical commentators and grammarians...

's Hebrew grammar, and dealing methodically with the letters, reading, nouns, regular and irregular verbs, prefixes and suffixes (Paris, 1554).

Bishop

In 1554, Baines returned to England and was consecrated bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, on November 18, 1554.

He vigorously opposed the Protestant Reformers, and features largely in Foxe's Book of Martyrs
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, more accurately Acts and Monuments, is an account from a Protestant point of view of Christian church history and martyrology...

, conducting many examinations with his Chancellor, Anthony Draycot
Anthony Draycot
Anthony Draycot was an English Roman Catholic churchman and lawyer. During the reign of Queen Mary he held a diocesan position as chancellor; his role in condemning numerous Protestants to death is detailed in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.-Life:He was from Staffordshire, and became Principal of White...

. His chancellor was involved, for instance, in the burning of a young blind woman, Joan Waste
Joan Waste
Joan Waste was a blind woman who was burned in Derby for refusing to renounce her Protestant faith.-Biography:Waste was born blind in 1534, with her twin brother Roger, to a Derby barber, William Waste and his wife, Joan...

 for heresy in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

. He was one of the eight defenders of Catholic doctrine at the Westminster Conference of 1558-59.

On the accession of Elizabeth I of England
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...

, he was deprived of his bishopric (June 21, 1559) and committed to the care of Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...

, the Protestant 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 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

, becoming one of eleven imprisoned bishops (researches of G. Philips support a theory that, though nominally a guest, Baines was in fact a strict prisoner). His captivity lasted until November 18, 1559, when, in the words of fellow Roman Catholic John Pitts, writes, Baines "died an illustrious Confessor of the Lord".

Works

  • Prima Rudimenta in linguam Hebraicam (Paris, 1550)
  • Compendium Michol, hoc est absolutissimæ grammatices Davidis Chimhi
    David Kimhi
    David Kimhi , also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK , was a medieval rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher, and grammarian. Born in Narbonne, Provence, he was the son of Rabbi Joseph Kimhi and the brother of Rabbi Moses Kimhi, both biblical commentators and grammarians...

    (Paris, 1554)
  • In Proverbia Salomonis (Paris, 1555).

External links

  • Ralph Baines, article in the Catholic Encyclopedia
    Catholic Encyclopedia
    The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...

  • Source, Jewish Encyclopedia
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