The Tudor Society
  • September 23 – Bishop John Jewel dies

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd September 1571, John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, died at Monkton Farleigh Manor. He was laid to rest in Salisbury Cathedral.

    Forty-nine-year-old Jewel had been taken ill while preaching a sermon in Lacock, Wiltshire.

    Jewel’s life and career spanned the reigns of King Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I – a time of huge religious change. He was a clergyman, a Protestant exile, a theologian and bishop, and someone who spoke up for what he believed.

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  • 23 September – A bishop taken ill while preaching

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd September 1571, after being taken ill while preaching a sermon in Lacock, Wiltshire, forty-nine-year-old John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, died at Monkton Farleigh Manor. He was laid to rest in Salisbury Cathedral.

    Not many people have heard of John Jewel, but he had an interesting life which spanned the reigns of King Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I – time of religious change. He was a clergyman, a Protestant exile, a theologian and bishop, and someone who spoke up for what he believed.

    Find out more about John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury in Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, in today’s talk.

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  • Bishop John Jewel

    John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury and Apologist of the Church of England, was born on the 24th May 1522 in Berrynarbor, North Devon, one of ten children. He was educated by his maternal uncle, John Bellamy, Rector of Hampton, because he showed signs of intelligence. Jewel was a hardworking, conscientious and studious boy, and went on to study at Merton College, Oxford, where he studied under John Pankhurst (later the Bishop of Norwich), the man credited with introducing Jewel to reformist doctrines. In August 1539, Jewel transferred to Oxford’s Corpus Christi College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1540, followed by a Masters in 1545 after being elected as a fellow in 1542. John and Angela Magee1 tell of how Jewel was “considered as a decided and open friend to the Protestant cause” (citing Charles Webb Le Bas, M.A.) and that proof of this is the fact that he received an annual payment of six pounds from a special fund collected by the nobility for the purpose of supporting scholars who professed Reformist doctrines.

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