Sir Henry Spelman (c. 1562 – October 1641) was an English

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic si ...

, noted for his detailed collections of medieval records, in particular of church councils.

Life

Spelman was born in

Congham Congham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated some 10 km east of the town of King's Lynn and 55 km west of the city of Norwich. History Congham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from t ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

, the eldest son of Henry Spelman (d. 1581), of

, and the grandson of Sir John Spelman (1495–1544). He graduated from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

in 1583. He sat in parliament as a member for

Castle Rising Castle Rising is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some north-east of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of Norwich. The River Babingley skirts the north of the village separating C ...

in Norfolk in 1593 and 1597–98. Knighted in 1603, he was appointed

High Sheriff of Norfolk The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The High Sheriff of Norfolk was originally the principal law enforcement officer in Norfolk and presided at the assizes and other imp ...

in 1604. In 1612, he settled in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

near his friend Sir

Robert Bruce Cotton Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Baronet (22 January 1570/71 – 6 May 1631) of Conington Hall in the parish of Conington in Huntingdonshire, England,Kyle, Chris & Sgroi was a Member of Parliament and an antiquarian who founded the Cotton library. ...

. In 1617, he served on a commission to inquire into disputed Irish estates, and later took part into legal inquiries into the exactions levied on behalf of the Crown in the civil and ecclesiastical courts. Henry Spelman continued to rise in prestige served as a member of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advise ...

for

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

in 1625. W R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Worcester''
/ref> In 1627, he became treasurer of the Guiana Company, and he was also an energetic member of the council for

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. His general services to the state were recognized in 1636 by a gift of money and two years later by the offer of the mastership of Sutton's Hospital, Charterhouse. He died in London in October 1641, and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

Personal life

He married Eleanor, daughter of John Lestrange, of Sedgeford in Norfolk, on 28 April 1590. His nephew, also named Henry Spelman, became a notable translator in America. His later years were spent in the house of his son-in-law, Sir

Ralph Whitfield Sir Ralph Whitfield (1588–1645) was an English lawyer, judge and landowner, who sat as a Member of Parliament and held several public offices. Early life Whitfield was baptised on 3 March 1588 at the church of St Mildred in Tenterden, Kent. He ...

. He was survived by his sons, John Spelman, Judge Clement Spillman, and a daughter, Catherine, who married a Secretary of State.

Works

His works include ''Concilia Ecclesiastica Orbis Britannici'' (1639) (a work containing many forgeries) and ''Glossarium Archaiologicum'' (completed by

William Dugdale Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject. Life Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Coles ...

). His ''Reliquiae Spelmannianae'' was edited by

Edmund Gibson Edmund Gibson (16696 September 1748) was a British divine who served as Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of London, jurist, and antiquary. Early life and career He was born in Bampton, Westmorland. In 1686 he was entered a scholar at Queen's Col ...

in 1698. Sir Henry has become known as master of the sacrilege narrative (the idea that divine retribution was visited on those who despoiled the monasteries of their estates during the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

), not least through his experimental examination of the genealogies of all the landed families within a twenty-four mile radius of his Norfolk home.Alison Shell, ''Oral Culture and Catholicism in Early Modern England'', 2008 – reviewed in Peter Marshall, "Answering Back", ''Times Literary Supplement'', 20 June 2008.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spelman, Henry 1560s births 1641 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English antiquarians British heraldists People from Congham High Sheriffs of Norfolk English MPs 1593 English MPs 1597–1598 English MPs 1625 Knights Bachelor People from King's Lynn and West Norfolk (district)