Alban Langdale or Langdaile (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1532–1580) was an English Roman Catholic churchman and author.

Life

From

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, he studied at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, and graduated B.A. in 1532. On 26 March 1534 he was admitted a Fellow of St John's, and in 1535 he commenced M.A. He was one of the proctors of the university in 1539, and proceeded B.D. in 1544. Langdale took part on the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

side in the disputations concerning

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...

, held in the philosophy schools before the royal commissioners for the visitation of the university and

William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, Earl of Essex, 1st Baron Parr, 1st Baron Hart (14 August 151328 October 1571), was the only brother of Queen Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII. He was a "sincere, plain, dir ...

, in June 1549. Before 1551 he left the university. Returning on the accession of Queen Mary, he was created D.D. in 1554, and was incorporated at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

on 14 April the same year, going there with others to dispute with

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a Oxford Martyrs, martyr ...

, Nicholas Ridley, and

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...

. Ordained in 1541, Langdale was rector of

Buxted Buxted is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District, Wealden district of East Sussex in England. The parish is situated on the Weald, north of Uckfield; the settlements of Five Ash Down, Heron's Ghyll and High Hurstwood are included wit ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, and on 26 May 1544 was made prebendary of Ampleforth in

York Cathedral York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the C ...

. On 16 April 1555 he was installed

archdeacon of Chichester The post of Archdeacon of Chichester was created in the 12th century, although the Diocese of Sussex was founded by St Wilfrid, the exiled Bishop of York, in AD 681. The original location of the see was in Selsey. The see was moved to Chicheste ...

. He refused an offer of the

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

of Chichester.

Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, KB, PC (29 November 1528 – 19 October 1592) was an English peer during the Tudor period. He was a staunch Roman Catholic, but unswervingly loyal to the Crown. Montagu was employed on diplomatic missions ...

, to whom he was chaplain, writing to the queen on 17 May 1558, states that he had sent Langdaile to preach in places resistant to "religion". On 19 January 1559 he was collated to the prebend of Alrewas in

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Chad in Lichfield, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Lichfield, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lichfield and the principal church of the diocese ...

, and in the following month was made chancellor there. Langdale was one of the Catholic divines appointed to the

Westminster Conference 1559 The Westminster Conference of 1559 was a religious disputation held early in the reign of Elizabeth I of England. Although the proceedings themselves were perfunctory, the outcome shaped the Elizabethan religious settlement and resulted in the aut ...

. On his refusal to take the

oath of supremacy The Oath of Supremacy required any person taking public or church office in the Kingdom of England, or in its subordinate Kingdom of Ireland, to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church. Failure to do so was to be trea ...

he was soon afterwards deprived of all his preferments. He appeared on a list made in 1561 of

recusants Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

who were at large, but restricted to certain places. He was ordered to remain with Lord Montague, or where he should appoint, and to appear before the commissioners on 12 days' notice. Subsequently he went to the continent, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Works

Langdale's works include: * ''Disputation on the Eucharist at Cambridge, June 1549''; in

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587) was an English clergyman, theologian, and historian, notable for his martyrology '' Foxe's Book of Martyrs'', telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the sufferings of En ...

's ''

Acts and Monuments The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-par ...

''. * ''Catholica Confutatio impiæ cuiusdam Determinationis D. Nicolai Ridlei, post disputationem de Eucharistia, in Academia Cantabrigiensi habitæ'', Paris, 1556. Dedicated to Anthony, Viscount Montague. * ''Colloquy with Richard Woodman, 12 May 1557''; in Foxe's ''Acts and Monuments.'' * ''Tetrastichon'', at the end of John Seton's ''Dialectica'', 1574.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Langdale, Alban Year of birth missing Year of death missing Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests Archdeacons of Canterbury English theologians