William Bedell
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William Bedell (1571 - February 7, 1642) was an Anglican churchman.
He was born at Black Notley in Essex, and educated at Cambridge. He became a fellow of Emmanuel in 1593, and took orders. In 1607 he was appointed chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, then English ambassador at Venice, where he remained for four years, acquiring a great reputation as a scholar and theologian.
He translated the Book of Common Prayer into Italian, and was on terms of closest friendship with the reformer, Paolo Sarpi. In 1616 he was appointed to the rectory of Horningsheath (near Bury St Edmunds, where he had previously worked), which he held for twelve years. In 1627, he became Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and, in 1629, he was appointed to become Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. He set himself to reform the abuses of his diocese, encouraged the use of the Irish language, and personally undertook the duties generally discharged by the bishop's lay chancellor. He is noted for commissioning the translation of the Bible into the Irish Language, which translation was undertaken by the Protestant Rector of Templeport parish, Murtagh King (Muircheartach Ó Cionga). He would only appoint Irish speakers to parishes.
In 1633, he resigned the see of Ardagh, retaining the more primitive diocese of Kilmore where he had encountered some opposition from Anglicans and Catholics alike for his undertaking of reaching out to the Irish, he set about rebuilding the neglected church buildings throughout the diocese, where in 1638 he held a synod of all the Anglican priests and officers within the diocese to discuss lax discipline and was asked by the court of the Plantation Commission to 'lay out' the town of Virginia, County Cavan after complaints from the residents there about the patentee landlords failure to build the town and provide a church for worship. Bedell was a man of simple life, often walking miles on foot, or on horse traveling the dangerous byways. Bedell provided assistance to converts to Protestantism enabling them to study for the ministry. After the outbreak of the 1641 Rebellion, Bedell's house at Kilmore in County Cavan was not only left untouched, but became the place of refuge for many dispossessed Cavan and Fermanagh planters seeking shelter from the rebel insurgents. In the end, however, the rebels insisted upon the dismissal of all who had taken shelter in his house, and on the bishop's refusal he was seized and imprisoned with some others to the nearby island castle of Lough Oughter. Here he was detained for several weeks, and when released on signing a deposition and a remonstrance from his captors, 'pleading on their behalf for graces from King Charles'. Bedell was released into the care of his friend Rev. Denis Sheridan, continued to suffer from the effects from being in the drafty and damp castle. Bishop Bedell died on 7 February 1642 and was afforded the dignity by his captors of being buried next to his wife Leah at Kilmore, where he received an honourable funeral in the presence of his O'Raghallaigh (O'Reilly) captors. At his funeral, a Roman Catholic priest, Father Farrelly, was heard to say, "May my soul be with Beddell's".
The story of his life was written by Bishop Gilbert Burnet in 1685, and also by his elder son (ed. T. W. Jones, for the Camden Society, 1872). [Details of time in Venice in Wotton And His Worlds, 2004 by Gerald Curzon, see http://www.henrywotton.org.uk]
Bishop William Bedells Last Will and Testament is available through the UK National Archives, see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
[edit] Bibliography
- A true relation of the life and death of the Right Reverend father in God William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland. Edited by Thomas Wharton Jones. Camden Society, 1872 (online version)
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
