John Scory (died 1585) was an English
Dominican friar
The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius ...
who later became a bishop in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
.
He was
Bishop of Rochester
The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.
The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...
from 1551 to 1552, and then translated to
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...
from 1552 to 1553. He was deprived of this position on
Queen Mary's accession, but returned to the Anglican episcopate under
Elizabeth's reign as
Bishop of Hereford
The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...
from 1559 to 1585.
He participated in the
Westminster Disputation of 1559.
Life
He was a
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
man, who became a friar in the
Dominicans' house at Cambridge about 1530, and was one of those who signed the surrender on its suppression in 1538. He proceeded B.D. in 1539. In 1541 he was one of the
six preachers whom
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 ...
appointed at
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...
. He was also one of Cranmer's chaplains.
Scory was accused for a sermon preached on Ascension day 1541, but nothing seems to have resulted. King Edward notes that when
Joan Bocher was executed (2 May 1550) for heresy, Scory preached, and she reviled him, saying that he lied like a rogue and ought to read the Bible. He was about this time made examining chaplain to
Nicholas Ridley, the bishop of London. In Lent 1551 he called attention to the want of ecclesiastical discipline, and to the covetousness of the rich, particularly in the matter of
enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
s. He was appointed to the bishopric of Rochester on 26 April 1551, and was a commissioner appointed to revise the ecclesiastical laws (February 1551–2). On 23 May 1552 he was translated to Chichester.
On Mary's accession Scory was deprived, but submitted himself to
Edmund Bonner
Edmund Bonner (also Boner; c. 15005 September 1569) was Bishop of London from 1539 to 1549 and again from 1553 to 1559. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonised by the Protestant reforms introdu ...
, renounced his wife, did penance for being married, and, having recanted and been absolved, was allowed to officiate in the London diocese. He is also supposed to have circulated Cranmer's ''Declaration concerning the Mass''. He soon, however, left England and went to
Emden
Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...
in
Friesland
Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...
, where he became superintendent of the English congregation. He also spent time at
Wesel
Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district.
Geography
Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine.
Division of the city
Suburbs of Wesel i ...
, then resided from 1556 at
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
.
On Elizabeth's accession Scory returned to England. He preached before the queen in Lent 1559, took part in the Westminster disputation on 31 March 1559, and on 15 July 1559 became bishop of Hereford, one of the first bishops nominated by Elizabeth. When
Henry III of France
Henry III (; ; ; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.
As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he ...
died, Scory preached at the solemn service held at
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
on 8 September 1559. He also assisted at
Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 to his death. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with Thomas Cranmer ...
's consecration, and preached the sermon on 17 December 1559.
As diocesan bishop at Hereford Scory had troubles. He wrote to Parker describing the condition of his diocese, which contained many chapels either unserved or served with a reader only; some of the parish churches were in danger, owing to an interpretation of the statute for the suppression of colleges. He also was bothered by the proceedings of the
Council of Wales and the Marches
The Council of Wales and the Marches () or the Council of the Marches, officially the Court of the Council in the Dominion and Principality of Wales, and the Marches of the same was a regional administrative body founded in Shrewsbury.
...
, and had difficulties with the cathedral clergy; but he obtained new statutes for the cathedral in 1582. He was accused of being a money-lender.
John Aubrey
John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded (often for the first time) numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England ...
says that he loved his son
Sylvanus Scory "so dearly that he fleeced the Church of Hereford to leave him a good estate". He instituted a thorough review of the lands of the bishopric which was carried out 1577–80 by the young Swithun Butterfield.
[Notes & Queries, 7th series, VIII, 6 July 1889; A. T. Bannister, English Historical Review, April 1928]
In dogma Scory was orthodox, and signed the articles of 1562, and the canons of 1571. He died at
Whitbourne, Herefordshire on 26 June 1585. He left money to charitable uses.
Works
*''Epistle to the Faytheful in Pryson in England'', written during his exile at Emden.
*''Certein Works of the blessed Cipriane the Martyr'', London, 1556.
*''Two Books of the noble doctor and B. S. Augustine'', translated into English, 8vo, between 1550 and 1560.
A survey of the lands belonging to the see of Hereford was made in 1577–8 by Swithun Butterfield under Scory's direction, and has been preserved.
Family
Scory's wife Elizabeth survived till 8 March 1592. A son
Sylvanus Scory was prebendary of Hereford 1565–9, fought in the Low Countries, was M.P. for
Newtown, Hampshire in 1597, and, dying in 1617, was buried in
St Leonard's, Shoreditch. He left one son, Sylvanus, who died a prisoner in
Wood Street counter in 1641, and another son, Edmund, knighted on 4 July 1618.
References
Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scory, John
1585 deaths
English Dominicans
Bishops of Rochester
Bishops of Chichester
Bishops of Hereford
Year of birth unknown
Marian exiles
16th-century English clergy
16th-century Anglican theologians