Adam Moleyns (died 9 January 1450),
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
, was an English bishop, lawyer, royal administrator and diplomat. During the minority of
Henry VI of England, he was clerk of the ruling
council of the Regent.
Life
Moleyns had the living of
Kempsey from 1433. He was
Dean of Salisbury
The Dean of Salisbury is the head of the chapter of Salisbury Cathedral in the Church of England. The Dean assists the archdeacon of Sarum and bishop of Ramsbury in the diocese of Salisbury.
List of deans
High Medieval
* Walter
* Osbert
...
from 1441 to 1446. He became
bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
on 24 September 1445, and was consecrated bishop on 6 February 1446.
[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 239] He was
Lord Privy Seal in 1444,
[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 95] at the same time that he was
Protonotary
The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...
of the Holy See. In 1447 he had permission to fortify the manor house at
Bexhill.
Moleyns was a correspondent of the
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini,
Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August ...
, who complimented him in a letter of 29 May 1444: "And I congratulate you and England, since you care for the art of rhetoric". In 1926 George Warner attributed ''
The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye'' (1435–38) to Moleyns but this theory was partly based on Warner's mistaken identification of Adam Moleyns as a member of the family's Lancashire branch. The theory of Moleyns' authorship of the poem is now rejected by most historians and scholars.
[Smith "Moleyns, Adam (d. 1450)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'']
An active partisan of the unpopular
William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, Moleyns was lynched in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
by discontented unpaid soldiers on 9 January 1450.
[Michael Miller ''The Wars of the Roses'' chapter 37]
accessed on 25 August 200
accessed on 25 August 200
accessed on 25 August 2007
Notes
Citations
References
*
*
Further reading
*Reeves, A.C., ''Lancastrian Englishmen'' (Washington: University Press of America) 1981. One of five fifteenth-century careers outlined through documents.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moleyns, Adam
1450 deaths
Bishops of Chichester
Deans of Salisbury
Archdeacons of Salisbury
Archdeacons of Taunton
Lords Privy Seal
15th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
Year of birth unknown
Lynching deaths