Anthony Kitchin

Anthony Kitchin (22 July 1471 – 31 October 1563), also known as Anthony Dunstone, was a mid-16th-century Abbot of Eynsham Abbey and Bishop of Llandaff in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.

Kitchin was a monk at Westminster Abbey, before becoming Prior of Gloucester Hall, Oxford. He was appointed Abbot of Eynsham in 1530, but lost the post at his abbey's dissolution in 1539. He was granted an unusually large pension of £133-6s-8d pa. Six years later, in 1545, Kitchin was made Bishop of Llandaff. He is said to have impoverished the diocese by selling off much of its property.

He retained his see under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. Alone of all the English bishops, he took the oath of Royal supremacy on the accession of the last. His willingness to follow the opinion of whichever monarch reigned has led many to accuse Kitchin of being spineless. Indeed, one historian has written of Kitchin that he was a 'timeserver who would doubtless have become a Hindu if required, provided he was allowed to hold on to the See of Llandaff' (Eamon Duffy, 'Fires of Faith', p. 23). However, he showed some backbone in opposing Elizabeth's appointment of Matthew Parker to the See of Canterbury (cf. Nag's Head Fable); apparently, his acquiescence in religious matters had its limits.

Kitchin died at the Bishop's Palace in Mathern on 31 October 1563 at the age of 92. He was one of the last known people born in the reign of Edward IV, and he is also one of the few known to have been born before the accession of Henry VII and to live into the reign of Elizabeth I.

References

•  "Kitchin, Anthony". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.