ALNWICK, WILLIAM of (d. 1449), bishop of Norwich (1426–36), and of Lincoln (1436–49), was born at Alnwick in Northumberland, from which he derived his name. He probably studied at Cambridge, of which university he became LL.D. Alnwick became a monk of St. Alban's, and speedily gained a reputation for learning and holiness of life, which secured for him the confidence of Henry V and Henry VI. The former appointed him the first confessor of his new foundation of Brigetine nuns at Syon, established in 1414, and he filled the delicate and responsible office of confessor and spiritual counsellor to his son (Godwin, de Præsul.). In 1420 Alnwick became prior of Wymondham, an office which he resigned the same year (Dugdale's Mon. Angl. (1821), iii. 326), probably on becoming archdeacon of Sarum, to which dignity he was appointed at the end of that year by Bishop Chandler, on the succession of John Stafford, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, to the chancellorship of that church (Jones, Fasti Eccl. Sarisb. p. 161; Le Neve, Fasti, ii. 624). The following year (3 May 1421) he received from Archbishop Kemp the stall of Knaresborough-cum-Bickhill in the cathedral of York (Le Neve, iii. 197). Both of these dignities he held till his consecration to the bishopric of Norwich, in succession to Bishop Wakering, in 1426. The papal bull for his appointment is dated 27 Feb. 1425–6; he was consecrated at Canterbury on 18 Aug., and was installed 22 Dec. of the same year (ib. ii. 467). At this time he also enjoyed the confidential office of keeper of the privy seal. While bishop of Norwich Alnwick was also appointed confessor to the young king, and cannot fail to have had much influence in forming the mind of the ‘meek royal saint’ for that life of piety and devotion which was Henry's most pleasing characteristic. Intellectual power or strength of will the ablest counsellor could not impart to so feeble a nature. In 1433, when Henry, then in his thirteenth year, was keeping his Christmas at Bury St. Edmund's, and Bishop Alnwick was attending him as his confessor, the old feud between the abbots of Bury and the bishops of Norwich, in whose diocese the abbey was locally situate, burst forth afresh. Henry compelled the rival dignitaries to assume the semblance of reconciliation, and to give one another the kiss of peace, while a commission was appointed, under Archbishop Chichele, to consider their respective claims, judgment being ultimately given in favour of the abbot (Goulburn, Sculptures of Norwich Cathedral, 464–6). Alnwick was a relentless persecutor of the Lollards in his diocese. One White, a leading teacher of the new doctrines, who had taken refuge in Norfolk, was condemned at a provincial synod held in the chapel of the palace 13 Sept. 1428, and was burnt at the stake. At least 120 were forced to abjure Lollardy, and sentenced to various punishments—some to different terms of imprisonment, one for life. In 1436 Alnwick received a fresh mark of royal favour in his translation from the see of Norwich to the richer and more dignified see of Lincoln, vacant by the translation of Bishop Gray to London. The royal assent to Alnwick's election is dated 26 May 1436, on which day the king wrote to the pope informing him of it. The pope signified his approbation of the choice, and sent over his bull of provision dated 19 Sept. (Reg. Chichele, fol. 54; Pat. 14 Hen. VI, p. i., m. 9; Le Neve, Fasti, ii. 18). Alnwick manifested the same zeal against heresy in his new diocese. A scholar of Oxford accused of the errors of Reginald Pecock was imprisoned by him at Wallingford, and forced to abjure his tenets and to assume monastic vows at Abingdon (Gascoigne, Lib. Verit. p. 29). Alnwick found the chapter of Lincoln in a lamentable state of dissention and demoralisation. The dean, John Mackworth (chancellor to the infant Prince of Wales), a man of violent and despotic temper, was seeking to reduce his canons to submission to his imperious will by brute force. His armed followers appeared in the chapter house during the proceedings of the chapter, and on one occasion they burst into the minster while divine service was being celebrated, dragged the chancellor, Peter Partridge, from his stall, and brutally assaulted him, leaving him sorely wounded on the pavement of the church. The case was a desperate one, and needed a wise and strong healer to remedy it. Both parties placed their disputes in their bishop's hand, and promised to abide by his decision. Alnwick proved himself an able and statesmanlike arbitrator. After twelve months of careful investigation on the points in dispute he pronounced an elaborate ‘laudum’ or arbitration on the forty-two articles exhibited by the chapter and the fourteen points urged by the dean, dated 23 June 1439, by which, with the alterations rendered necessary by the change of ritual, Lincoln Cathedral is practically governed at the present day. His success in this task encouraged Alnwick to undertake the far more
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/357
This page has been validated.
Alnwick
343
Alnwick
Voyage from England to India’, &c.), who was certainly well acquainted with Captain Alms; but it is so crowded with mistakes of carelessness or ignorance, that but little reliance can be placed on its statements.]
