Oliver King
Oliver King | |
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Bishop of Bath and Wells | |
Bath Abbey at sunset | |
Church | Catholic |
See | Diocese of Bath and Wells |
Appointed | 6 November 1495 |
Term ended | 29 August 1503 |
Predecessor | Richard Foxe |
Successor | Adriano de Castello |
Orders | |
Consecration | 3 February 1493 |
Personal details | |
Died | 29 August 1503 |
Previous post | Bishop of Exeter |
Oliver King (c. 1432 – 29 August 1503) was a Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Bath and Wells who restored Bath Abbey after 1500.
Early life
Educated at Eton, where he was a king's scholar, and King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated Master of Arts by 1456/57, was a Fellow of King's and served as junior proctor of the University in 1459–1460.[1] He became a priest then studied civil law at the University of Orléans as well as at Cambridge, graduating as doctor of Civil Law.
Career
In 1466 King was appointed Rector of Broughton, Hampshire, and in 1473 Warden of St John's Hospital, Dorchester. Under the new regime of Edward IV of England he was appointed Clerk of the Signet in 1473, in 1475 was sent as ambassador to the Duke of Brittany, in 1476 became the king's principal Secretary for the French tongue, and in 1480 succeeded William Hatteclyffe as king's secretary.[2]
King was appointed Bishop of Exeter on 1 October 1492, consecrated on 3 February 1493.[3] He was then translated to the see of Bath and Wells on 6 November 1495. He died on 29 August 1503.[4]
Restoration of Bath Abbey
King organised the restoration of Bath Abbey after 1500. The story of the refounding is told on the front of the Abbey in carved Bath stone. King had a dream in which he saw a host of Angels on a ladder, the Holy Trinity and an olive tree with a crown on it. He heard a voice:
- 'Let an Olive establish the crown, and let a King restore the Church.'
King believed this was a call for him to support the candidature of Henry Tudor as King, and to restore the Abbey. These images are carved on the West Front of the Abbey with coats of arms of the Montague Family (who paid for the carved wooden doors) and Henry VII's coat of arms. There are also statues of the twelve apostles, including a large statue of St Peter and one of Saint Paul.
Citations
- ↑ "King, Oliver (KN449O)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ S. J. Gunn, 'King, Oliver (d. 1503), bishop of Bath and Wells' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)
- ↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 247
- ↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 228
References
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
Catholic Church titles | ||
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Preceded by Richard Foxe |
Bishop of Exeter 1492–1495 |
Succeeded by Richard Redman |
Preceded by Richard Foxe |
Bishop of Bath and Wells 1495–1503 |
Succeeded by Adriano de Castello |
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