Cuthbert Tunstall
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Cuthbert Tunstall (or Tonstall) (1474–November 18, 1559) was an English church leader, twice Bishop of Durham during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
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[edit] Childhood and early career
Cuthbert Tunstall was born at Hackforth, Yorkshire in 1474, an illegitimate son of Thomas Tunstall of Thurland Castle, Lancashire. His legitimate half-brother, Brian Tunstall, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Cuthbert studied at Oxford, Cambridge and Padua, where he graduated Doctor of Laws. He became accomplished in mathematics, theology and law, proficient in Greek and Hebrew, and a distinguished scholar, winning favourable comment from Erasmus.
Tunstall soon won the friendship of William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, who on August 25, 1511 made him his chancellor, and shortly after rector of Harrow on the Hill. He became successively a canon of Lincoln (1514) and archdeacon of Chester (1515). He was soon employed on diplomatic business by King Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey. In 1515 he was sent to Brussels in conjunction with Sir Thomas More, and there lodged with Erasmus, becoming the intimate friend of both; in 1519 he was sent to Cologne. A visit to Worms (1520-21) gave him a clear view of the significance of the Lutheran movement and its literature.
Tunstall also gained further preferments, being made Master of the Rolls in 1516 and Dean of Salisbury in 1521. In 1522, he became Bishop of London by papal provision, and on May 25, 1523 was made Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal; but neither the work this entailed nor fresh embassies prevented him from making a visitation of his diocese. He negotiated with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V after the Battle of Pavia in 1525, and helped to arrange the Peace of Cambrai in 1529.
[edit] Bishop of Durham under Henry VIII and Edward VI
On February 22, 1530, again by papal provision, Tunstall succeeded Cardinal Wolsey as Bishop of Durham. 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. Although he was often engaged in time-consuming negotiations with the Scots, 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, Tunstall acted as one of Queen Catherine's counsel, but he endeavoured to dissuade her from appealing to Rome. Unlike his contemporaries Bishop John Fisher and Sir Thomas More, during the troubled years that followed Tunstall adopted a policy of passive obedience and acquiescence in many matters with which he likely had little sympathy. 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, and voted against the first Act of Uniformity in 1549. However, he continued to discharge his public duties without molestation and seems to have hoped that the Earl of Warwick might be induced to reverse the anti-Catholic policy of Duke of Somerset. 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 which was published at Paris in 1554. At the end of 1551 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and a bill for his deprivation was introduced into the House of Commons. When this failed, he was tried by a commission (October 4-5, 1552) and deprived of his bishopric.
[edit] Bishop of Durham under Mary I and Elizabeth I
On the accession of Mary I in 1553, Tunstall was set at 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 came to the throne Tunstall refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, and would not participate in the consecration of the Protestant Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was arrested, deprived of his see in September 1559 and was held as Parker's prisoner at Lambeth Palace, where within a few weeks he died. He was one of eleven Catholic bishops to die in custody in Elizabeth's reign.
The Anglican historian Arthur Pollard 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."
[edit] Writings
Among Tunstall's writings are:
- De arte supputandi libri quattuor (1522)
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- Based on the Suma of Luca Pacioli, this was the first printed work published in England that was devoted exclusively to mathematics.
- Confutatio cavillationum quibus SS. Eucharistiae Sacramentum ab impiis Caphernaitis impeti solet (Paris, 1552)
- De veritate corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Jesu Christi in eucharistia (Paris, 1554)
- Compendium in decem libros ethicorum Aristotelis (Paris, 1554)
- Certaine godly and devout prayers made in Latin by C. Tunstall and translated into Englishe by Thomas Paynelle, Clerke (London, 1558).
Tunstall's correspondence as president of the Council of the North is in the British Library.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Cuthbert Tunstall", a publication now in the public domain.
- This article incorporates text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article "Cuthbert Tunstall" by Edwin Burton, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
- O'Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F., “Cuthbert Tunstall”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
| Religious titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Fitz-James |
Bishop of London 1522–1530 |
Succeeded by John Stokesley |
| Preceded by Thomas Wolsey |
Bishop of Durham 1530–1552 & 1553-1558 |
Succeeded by James Pilkington |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Lord Marney |
Lord Privy Seal 1523–1530 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Wiltshire |
