Richard Foxe (sometimes Richard Fox) (c. 1448 - October 5, 1528) was an English churchman, successively Bishop of Exeter,
Bath and Wells, Durham, and
Winchester, Lord Privy Seal, and founder
of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
Life
He was born at Ropesley near Grantham, Lincolnshire.
His parents belonged to the yeoman class, and little is known about Foxe's early career. He is
thought to have gone to Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he drew many
members of his subsequent foundation, Corpus Christi. He also appears to have studied at Cambridge, but nothing definite is known
of his first thiry-five years.
In 1484, he was in Paris possible for the sake of learning or because he had made himself unpopular with Richard III. There he came into contact with the Henry
Tudor, who was beginning his quest for the English throne, and was taken into his service. In January 1485 Richard
intervened to prevent Foxe's appointment to the vicarage of Stepney on the ground that he was
keeping company with the "great rebel, Henry ap Tuddor."
The important offices conferred on Foxe immediately after the Battle of
Bosworth imply that he had already seen more extensive political service than can be traced in records. Doubtless Henry
had every reason to reward his companions in exile, and to rule like Ferdinand of
Aragon by means of lawyers and churchmen rather than trust nobles like those who had made the Wars of the Roses. But without an intimate knowledge of Foxe's political experience and capacity he
would hardly have made him his principal secretary, and soon afterwards Lord Privy
Seal[1] and elected
Bishop of Exeter on January 29, 1487, being consecrated on April 8.[2] The ecclesiastical role was provided a
salary not at Henry's expense; for Foxe never saw either Exeter or the diocese of Bath and Wells to which he was moved in
February of 1492.[3] His activity was
confined to political and especially diplomatic channels; during John Morton's lifetime,
Foxe was his subordinate, but after the archbishop's death he was first in Henry's confidence, and had an important share in all
the diplomatic work of the reign. In 1487 he negotiated a treaty with King James III of
Scotland, and in 1491 he baptized the future King Henry VIII of England. In
1492 he helped conclude the Peace of Etaples, and in 1493 he was chief commissioner in
the negotiations for the famous commercial agreement with the Netherlands which
Bacon seems to have been the first to call the Magnus
Intercursus.
Meanwhile in July of 1494 Foxe had been translated to Durham,[4] not merely because it was a richer see than Bath and Wells but
because of its political importance as a palatine earldom and its position with regard to the Borders and relations with
Scotland. For these reasons rather than from any ecclesiastical scruples Foxe visited and resided in his new diocese; and he
occupied Norham Castle, which he fortified and defended against a Scottish raid in
Perkin Warbeck's interests (1497). But his energies were principally devoted to pacific
purposes. In that same year he negotiated Perkin's retirement from the court of James
IV, and in 1498-1499 he completed the negotiations for that treaty of marriage between the Scottish king and Henry's
daughter Margaret which led ultimately to the union of the two crowns in 1603 and of the two kingdoms in 1707. The marriage
itself did not take place until 1503, just a century before the accession of James
I.
This consummated Foxe's work in the north, and in August of 1501 he was once more translated to Winchester,[5] then reputed the richest bishopric in
England. In that year he brought to a conclusion marriage negotiations not less momentous in their ultimate results, when Prince
Arthur was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon. His last diplomatic achievement in the
reign of Henry VII was the betrothal of the king's younger daughter Mary to the future emperor Charles V.
In 1500 he was elected chancellor of Cambridge University, an office not
confined to noble lords until a much more democratic age, and in 1507 master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. The Lady Margaret
Beaufort made him one of her executors, and in this capacity as well as in that of chancellor, he had the chief share with
Fisher in regulating the foundation of St John's College, Cambridge, and
the Lady Margaret professorships and readerships. His financial work brought him a less enviable notoriety, though history has
deprived him of the credit which is his due for "Morton's Fork." The invention of that
ingenious dilemma for extorting contributions from poor and rich alike is ascribed as a tradition to Morton by Francis Bacon; but the story is told in greater detail of Foxe by Erasmus, who says he had it from Sir Thomas More. It is in
keeping with the somewhat malicious saying about Foxe, reported by William Tyndale, that
he would sacrifice his father to save his king, which is not so damning as Wolsey's dying words.
The accession of Henry VIII only increased Foxe's power, the personnel of his ministry remaining unaltered. The Venetian
ambassador called Foxe "alter rex" and the Spanish ambassador Carroz said that Henry trusted him more than any other adviser,
although he also reports Henry's warning that the Bishop of Winchester was, as his name implied, "a Foxe indeed." He was the
chief of the ecclesiastical statesmen of Morton's school, believed in frequent parliaments, and opposed the spirited foreign
policy which laymen like Surrey are supposed to have advocated. His colleagues were William
Warham and Ruthal, but Warham and Foxe differed on the question of Henry's marriage, Foxe advising the completion of the
match with Catherine of Aragon while Warham expressed doubts as to its canonical
validity. They also differed over the prerogatives of Canterbury with regard to
probate and other questions of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Thomas Wolsey's rapid rise in 1511 put an end to Foxe's influence. The pacific policy
of the first two years of Henry VIII's reign was succeeded by an adventurous foreign policy directed mainly against France; and
Foxe complained that no one dared do anything in opposition to Wolsey's wishes. Foxe resigned the privy seal because of Wolsey's
ill-advised attempt to drive King Francis I of France out of Milan by financing an expedition led by Maximilian I, Holy
Roman Emperor, in 1516. Cuthbert Tunstall protested, Wolsey took Warham's place
as chancellor, and Foxe was succeeded by Ruthal, who, said the Venetian ambassador, "sang treble to Wolsey's bass." Yet he warmly
congratulated Wolsey two years later when warlike adventures were abandoned at the peace of London. But in 1522, when war was
again declared, he emphatically refused to bear any part of the responsibility, and in 1523 he opposed in convocation the
financial demands which met with a more strenuous resistance in the House of
Commons.
He now devoted himself to his long-neglected episcopal duties. He expressed himself as being as anxious for the reformation of
the clergy as Simeon for the coming of the Messiah; but was too
old to accomplish much himself in the way of remedying the clerical and especially the monastic depravity, licence and corruption
he deplored. His sight failed during the last ten years of his life, and Matthew Parker
claimed that Wolsey suggested his retirement from his bishopric on a pension. Foxe refused, and Wolsey had to wait until Foxe's
death before he could add Winchester to his archbishopric of York and his abbey of St Albans,
and thus leave Durham vacant as he hoped for his own illegitimate son. Foxe died on October 5, 1528.[5]
The crown of Foxe's career was his foundation of Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, which he established in 1515-1516. Originally he intended it as an Oxford house for the monks of St Swithin's,
Winchester; but he is said to have been dissuaded by Bishop Oldham, who foretold the fall of the monks. The scheme breathed the
spirit of the Renaissance; provision was made for the teaching of Greek, Erasmus praised
the institution and Pole was one of its earliest fellows. The humanist Juan Luís Vives
was brought from Italy to teach Latin, and the reader in theology was instructed to follow the Greek and Latin Fathers rather than the scholastic commentaries. Foxe
also built and endowed schools at Taunton and Grantham - The King's School, Grantham remains one of England's leading educational institutions - and
was a benefactor to numerous other institutions. He died at Wolvesey; Corpus possesses several portraits and other relics of its
founder.
Notes
- ^ Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 93
- ^ Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p.
226
- ^ Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p.
206
- ^ Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p.
211
- ^ a b Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 258
Works
See Letters and Papers of henry VII. and Henri. VIII., vols. i.-iv.; Spanish and Venetian Calendars of State
Papers; Gairdner's Lollardy and the Reformation and Church History 1485-1558;
Pollard's Henry VIII; Longman's Political History, vol. v.; other authorities cited in the article by Dr T Fowler
(formerly president of Corpus) in the Dict. Nat. Biog.
References
See also
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Foxe, Richard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Fox, Richard |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Bishop of Exeter, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Bishop of Durham, Bishop of Winchester, Secretary of State, Lord Privy Seal |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
about 1448 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
|
| DATE OF DEATH |
October 5, 1528 |
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
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