Brutus Babington
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The Rt Rev. Brutus (or Brute) Babington (1558–1611) was an Englishman who became the
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
Bishop of Derry The Bishop of Derry is an episcopal title which takes its name after the monastic settlement originally founded at Daire Calgach and later known as Daire Colm Cille, Anglicised as Derry. In the Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in ...
.


Life

He was the son of Richard Babington and Anne Starkey (formerly of Wrenbury Hall).Rt. Rev. Brutus Babington
/ref>Burke's Irish Landed Gentry by Bernard Burke, 'Babington of Creevagh', pg 42' He was the great-grandson of Sir Anthony Babington, MP for
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
and the
second cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...
to the conspirator
Anthony Babington Anthony Babington (24 October 156120 September 1586) was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he was hanged, drawn and quartered ...
.Babington of Rothley Temple' in Burke, John, 'A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland'. (London: Henry Colburn, 1838), Vol. IV, p. 513. He was a native of
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, and was admitted to
Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
, where he matriculated in 1572. He graduated B.A. in 1576, and became a fellow also in 1576, with an M.A. from
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 ...
in 1579. He was rector of Thurcaston,
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, from 1583. He was collated to the prebend of Bishopshall, 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 ...
, 18 September 1592, and was rector of Tatenhill,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
, from 1602. On the death of George Boleyn, Babington applied for the deanery of Lichfield unsuccessfully. On 6 July 1603, he complained to The 7th Earl of Shrewsbury that the chancellor of the diocese, Zachary Babington, had obstructed his suit and dispossessed him of his divinity lectureship. In 1610 he was appointed to the bishopric of Derry, after some opposition from supporters of Dean William Webb. Babington was chosen as an advocate of a persuasive missionary approach to convert the native population to the reformed faith, an approach which was preferred by King James and his Privy Council. His predecessor, George Montgomery, was considered disappointing in his dedication to missionary and pastoral work and translated to Meath in 1609. Babington tried a new approach with his clergy. In his own words, he "did not violently go to work with them nor urge them by authority, but endeavoured rather to persuade their consciences by arguments and reasons." He tried also to compromise by being content with an
Oath of Allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...
instead of insisting on an
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 ...
, and approving an
Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
translation of the liturgy. Babington successfully convinced one of the diocesan chapters to agree. Bishop Babington died unexpectedly early on 10 September 1611. Among Catholics his death was ascribed to a divine punishment as he suggested to Andrew Knox,
Bishop of Raphoe The Bishop of Raphoe ( ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the town of Raphoe in County Donegal, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bi ...
, to destroy the wooden statue of the Virgin at Agivey. The statue was attributed to miraculous cures which drew pilgrims even from the Pale. Bishop Knox himself took the statue from Agivey and brought it to
Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...
, where it was destroyed by fire in the town centre.


Notes


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Babington, Brute Year of birth missing 16th-century births 1611 deaths 16th-century English Anglican priests 17th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland Anglican bishops of Derry Clergy from Cheshire Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...