Hugh Curwen

{{Short description|English ecclesiastic and statesman}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Use Irish English|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Archbishop | honorific-prefix = The Right Reverend | name = Hugh Curwen | honorific_suffix = | title = Bishop of Oxford | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | church = Church of England | archdiocese = | province = | metropolis = | diocese = Oxford | see = | elected =  | term = 1567–1568 | quashed =  | predecessor = Thomas Goldwell | successor = John Underhill | opposed = | other_post =  | ordination = | ordained_by = | consecration = 8 September 1555 | consecrated_by = Edmund Bonner | rank = | laicized =  | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa|1500}} | birth_place = Bampton, Westmorland, England | death_date = 1 November 1568 | death_place = Swinbrook, England | buried = St John the Baptist, Burford, Oxfordshire, England | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = English | religion = Catholic 1528–1534; 1555–1558 <br> Anglican 1534–1555; 1558–1567 | residence = | parents = | spouse =  | children = | occupation = | profession = | previous_post = Archbishop of Dublin ''(1555–1567)'' | education = | alma_mater = Brasenose College, Oxford | motto = | signature = | signature_alt = | coat_of_arms = | coat_of_arms_alt =  | module = | module2 = | other = }} {{Ordination | ordained deacon by = | date of diaconal ordination = | place of diaconal ordination = | ordained priest by = | date of priestly ordination = | place of priestly ordination = | consecrated by = Edmund Bonner | co-consecrators = Thomas Thirlby<br>Maurice Griffith | date of consecration = 8 September 1555 | place of consecration = London | bishop 1 = | consecration date 1 = | sources = <ref>[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcurwen.html, Archbishop Hugh Curwen]</ref> }} '''Hugh Curwen''' ({{circa|1500}} – 1 November 1568) was an English ecclesiastic and statesman, who served as Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1555 to 1567, then as Bishop of Oxford until his death in November 1568.

Previous entries, including the 1911 ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', confused him with Richard Curwen, almoner to Henry VIII.{{sfn|Walshe |2008 |pp=Online}}

==Life== Born in Bampton, Westmorland, he is thought to have been educated at Brasenose College, Oxford. He had at least two brothers, Christopher and James, who was the grandfather of Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury and 'overseer' of the King James Bible.{{sfn|Cranfield|2008|pp=Online}}

==Career== [[File:Richard Bancroft from NPG.jpg|thumb|left|130px|His grandnephew Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury]] In February 1528, Curwen gained a degree in Canon law, followed by a Master of Arts in 1532. In 1533, he was appointed Rector in the village of Ferriby, Lincolnshire. The following year, England broke with the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England, led by Henry VIII, rather than the Pope.{{sfn|Walshe |2008 |pp=Online}}

In 1541, he became dean of Hereford, followed by a series of administrative posts; when Mary became queen in 1555, he conformed with the restoration of Catholicism. Nominated Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, he was consecrated on 8 September 1555 by Edmund Bonner. He was also appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and in 1557 served as Lord Justice of Ireland during the absence of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, the Earl of Sussex.{{fact|date=November 2020}}

When Elizabeth succeeded in 1558, only five Irish bishops accepted the Religious Settlement, Curwen being one of them. He remained Archbishop and Lord Chancellor until 1567, but was accused of 'moral delinquency' by Hugh Brady and Adam Loftus, apparently for his reluctance to implement key religious reforms.{{sfn|Murray|2009|pp=242-245}}

Curwen suffered from palsy and poor health made it increasingly difficult to continue his duties; in 1564, he obtained a sinecure position for his nephew Richard Bancroft at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.{{sfn|Cranfield|2008|pp=Online}} Apparently 'speechless and senseless', he was finally allowed to resign in June 1567, when he became Bishop of Oxford. He died at his home in Swinbrook in October 1568, and was buried at the Church of St John the Baptist, Burford. The diocese of Oxford remained vacant until 1589, when John Underhill became bishop.<ref>{{cite web |title=List of Bishops of Oxford from 1542 to the present |url=http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/bishops/list.html |website=Oxford History |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref>

==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |escutcheon = Argent a millrind Sable between four Cornish choughs on a chief Gules a fleur-de-lys between two roses-en-soliel dimidiated per pale Or. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/Hugh Curwen |title=Hugh Curwen |publisher=Heraldry of the World |accessdate=31 May 2026}}</ref> |motto = When Curwen was serving as a bishop his arms would be displayed impaled with the arms of the diocese and topped with a mitre.}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== * {{cite book |last1=Cranfield |first1=Nicolas S |title=Bancroft, Richard |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford DNB |edition=Online |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/1272 }} * {{cite book |last1=Walshe |first1=Helen Coburn |title=Curwen [Coren], Hugh |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford DNB |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6966 }} * {{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=James |title=Enforcing the English Reformation in Ireland: Clerical Resistance and Political Conflict in the Diocese of Dublin, 1534 - 1590 |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521770385 }} *John D'Alton, ''Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin'' (Dublin, 1838).

==External links== * {{cite web |title=List of Bishops of Oxford from 1542 to the present |url=http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/bishops/list.html |website=Oxford History |access-date=30 November 2019}} * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Curwen, Hugh|volume=7|page=664}}

{{S-start}} {{S-off}} {{S-bef|before=Sir William FitzWilliam|as=Lord Keeper}} {{S-ttl|title=Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of Ireland | years=1555–1558 (''as Lord Chancellor'') <br />1558–1559 (''as Lord Keeper'') <br / >1559–1567 (''as Lord Chancellor'')}} {{S-aft|after=Robert Weston|as=Lord Chancellor}} {{S-break}} {{S-rel}} {{S-bef|before=Gamaliel Clifton}} {{S-ttl|title=Dean of Hereford |years=1541–1555}} {{S-aft|after=Edmund Daniel}} {{S-break}} {{S-bef|before=George Browne}} {{S-ttl|title=Archbishop of Dublin |years=1555–1567}} {{S-aft|after=Adam Loftus}} {{S-break}} {{S-bef|before=Thomas Goldwell}} {{S-ttl|title=Bishop of Oxford |years=1567–1568}} {{S-aft|after=John Underhill appointed 1589}} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curwen, Hugh}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:1568 deaths Category:People from Westmorland Hugh Category:Anglican archbishops of Dublin Category:Bishops of Oxford Category:16th-century English bishops Category:Deans of Hereford Category:16th-century Anglo-Irish people Category:Lord chancellors of Ireland Category:British expatriate archbishops