The Tudor Society

18 November – A bishop dies in confinement and the imprisonment of Cuthbert Tunstall

On this day in Tudor history, 18th November 1559, Ralph Baynes (Baines), Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, died.

Baynes had been actively involved in the persecutions of Protestants in Mary I's reign, examining many well-known martyrs and featuring in John Foxe's "Book of Martyrs", but ended his days imprisoned in the home of Edmund Grindal, Bishop of London - why?

Find out more about Ralph Baynes, his life and career, and how he came to be deprived of his bishopric and die the way he did, in this talk...

Also on this exact day in Tudor history, 18th November 1559, another former bishop died in custody: eighty-five-year-old Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, who was in the custody of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth Palace.

Cuthbert Tunstall had an amazing career which spanned the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, and he was imprisoned in two of those monarchs' reigns.

In this video, I give an overview of Tunstall’s interesting life and career.

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18 November – A bishop dies in confinement and the imprisonment of Cuthbert Tunstall