Robert Holgate
| Robert Holgate | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of York | |
 |
|
| Enthroned | 1545 |
| Reign ended | 1554 |
| Predecessor | Edward Lee |
| Successor | Nicholas Heath |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1481/1482 |
| Died | 1555 |
Robert Holgate (1481/1482 – 1555) was Bishop of Llandaff and then Archbishop of York (from 1545 to 1554). He recognised Henry VIII as leader of the Church of England.
Holgate, chaplain to Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, became master of the Gilbertine Order in 1536, and exerted his influence to prevent the surrender of the Gilbertine houses under the Act for the Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries in 1536 as only four out of twenty-six houses had revenues over £200 a year. In 1538, Holgate surrendered Sempringham Priory.[1]
In 1550 Holgate married Barbara Wentworth, who was about 25 at the time. This may however have been a second marriage to make it fully legal, and Holgate and Wentworth may have first married in late 1547 with Roger Tongue officiating. In 1551 Arthur Norman claimed that he was already married to Barbara Wentworth, but the courts decided that their marriage when she was about seven had not been a binding legal transaction. Robert and Barbara remained married until 1553, when shortly after Mary I of England came to the throne she imprisoned Holgate on various charges, with his being a married clergy being central to these. In 1554 Holgate renounced his marriage claiming he had only entered it to avoid suspicion as a papist. In January 1555 Holgate was released from prison, but he was not restored to priestly office. He died later that year.[2]
In 1558 a Robert Holgate from Yorkshire entered the University of Cambridge. He may have been a son of Holgate, since there are some claims he had two children by Barbara, but there is no conclusive evidence on the matter.
[edit] References
- This article contains public domain text from William Page's Houses of the Gilbertine order: The priory of Sempringham, A History of the County of Lincoln: Volume 2 (1906)
- ^ Page, William, 'Houses of the Gilbertine order: The priory of Sempringham', A History of the County of Lincoln: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 179–187, (Public domain text), accessed via British History online
- ^ A. G. Dickens, "The Marriage and Character of Archbishop Holgate," English Historical Review Vol. 52, no. 207 (Jul 1937) p. 428-442
[edit] External links
- Archbishop Holgate's School
- H.L. Parish, ‘Holgate, Robert (1481/2–1555)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 5 June 2007
| Church of England titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George de Athequa |
Bishop of Llandaff 1537–1545 |
Succeeded by Anthony Kitchin |
| Preceded by Edward Lee |
Archbishop of York 1545–1554 |
Succeeded by Nicholas Heath |
 |
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