Richard Nykke (or Nix or Nick; c. 1447–1535) became

bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Th ...

under

Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into t ...

in 1515.

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

at this time was the second-largest conurbation in England, after London. Nykke is often called the last Catholic bishop of the diocese, but that title is also claimed by

John Hopton John Hopton (died 1558) was the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Norwich. He was a member of the Dominican Order by 1516, in Oxford. He was educated at the University of Bologna in Italy, where he took a doctorate in theology. During the reign of ...

, bishop under

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous ...

. Described as "ultra-conservative", but also "much-respected", Nykke maintained an independent line and was embroiled in conflict until blind and in his last years. While he was a natural target for Protestant propaganda, stories about him are sometimes poorly founded. One of the best known is that he said that potential heretics "savoured of the frying pan". As

Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...

pointed out, this translates a well-known French idiom, ''sentir le fagot''.

Life

Early career

Nykke was the son of Thomas and Johanna (née Stillington) Nykke; Johanna was the sister of

Robert Stillington Robert Stillington (about 1405 – May 1491) was an English cleric and administrator who was Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1465 and twice served as Lord Chancellor under King Edward IV. In 1483, he was instrumental in the accession of King Richar ...

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

. Richard was educated at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. He became Rector of Ashbury in 1473; Rector of

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

and

Prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

of Wells in 1489;

Archdeacon of Exeter The Archdeacon of Exeter is a senior ecclesiastical officer of the Diocese of Exeter in the Church of England. The modern diocese is divided into four archdeaconries: the archdeacon of Exeter supervises clergy and buildings within the area of the ...

in 1492;

Vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of Bath and Wells in 1493;

of Southwell in 1493;

Archdeacon of Wells The Archdeacon of Wells has been a senior clergy position in the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells since the English reformation, before which it was part of the Roman Catholic Church. The post, having oversight over the archdeaconry of ...

in 1494;

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

in 1494;

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

and Rector of Bishopswearmouth in 1495;

Canon of Windsor The Dean and Canons of Windsor are the ecclesiastical body of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Foundation The college of canons was established in 1348 by letters patent of King Edward III. It was formally constituted on the feast of S ...

in 1497; and

Dean of the Chapel Royal The Dean of the Chapel Royal, in any kingdom, can be the title of an official charged with oversight of that kingdom's chapel royal, the ecclesiastical establishment which is part of the royal household and ministers to it. England In England ...

and Rector of

High Ham High Ham is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. Within the parish of High Ham, there are the villages of High Ham and Low Ham and the hamlets of Bowdens, Henley, Paradise and Picts Hill. History Within the parish of High Ham, th ...

in 1499.

Later career

Nykke became bishop of Norwich in 1501. After a fire in 1509, he had wooden roofing in

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Norwich and the mother church of the dioc ...

replaced with stone vaulting. Nykke complained bitterly against the early Tudor use of ''

praemunire In English history, or ( or ) was the assertion or maintenance of papal jurisdiction, or any other foreign jurisdiction or claim of supremacy in England, against the supremacy of the monarch. The 14th-century law prohibiting this was enforced ...

'' to limit ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Involved in

King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court of common law in t ...

cases, he made his case to

William Warham William Warham ( – 22 August 1532) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1503 to his death in 1532. Early life and education Warham was the son of Robert Warham of Malshanger in Hampshire. He was educated at Winchester College and New Colleg ...

(

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

), and denounced James Hobart,

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

for most of the reign of Henry VII. Nykke clashed with John Skelton, who was vicar of Diss in his diocese, from 1507. It is said that Skelton's hostility to the

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

led them to denounce him to Nykke for living with a woman. Skelton, however, became a folkloric character and it is not known how much of various tales about him is factual. Nykke consistently attempted to maintain Roman orthodoxy, against

Lollard Lollardy was a proto-Protestantism, proto-Protestant Christianity, Christian religious movement that was active in England from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic C ...

s, new theological thinking coming out of Cambridge – he was particularly suspicious of

Gonville Hall Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges a ...

—and the early Protestant reformers. He expressed anxiety about the distribution of

William Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – October 1536) was an English Biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestantism, Protestant Reformation in the year ...

's translation into English of the ''

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

''. The reformer

Thomas Bilney Thomas Bilney ( 149519 August 1531) was an English priest, Protestant reformer, and martyr of the English Reformation. Early life Thomas Bilney was born around 1495 in Norfolk, most likely in Norwich. Nothing is known of his parents excep ...

was burned as a heretic in Norwich, in 1531. Another suspected heretic of the same time was

Nicholas Shaxton Nicholas Shaxton (c. 1485 – 1556) was Bishop of Salisbury. For a time, he had been a Reformer, but recanted this position, returning to the Roman faith. Under Henry VIII, he attempted to persuade other Protestant leaders to also recant. Unde ...

, a Lutheran sympathiser, but in his case Nykke pressured him into a recantation which saved his life. When

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 ...

was newly appointed

, in 1533, Nykke was one of the bishops who found ways to defy his authority. He was "brought to heel" in late 1534. There is a confused story that in 1534 Nykke ran afoul of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

, by correspondence with the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. According to the account, he was made the subject of a ''praemunire'' charge, imprisoned in the

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners—including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition—it became known, ...

, and then pardoned; but this story has been doubted. In a more complex picture, Henry VIII used the legal pressure of a ''praemunire'' to force an exchange of manors of the Norwich diocese for

St Benet's Abbey St Benet's Abbey, also known as St Benet's at Holme or St Benet Hulme, was a medieval monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict situated at Cow Holm in Horning, Norfolk, Kingdom of England, England. It lay on the River Bure within the Broads. St ...

, Holme, Norfolk, which some claim escaped the Dissolution of the monasteries. The 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' article on Thomas Bilney says that the bishop's legal problem was proceeding to the execution of Bilney without state authority, and an impending Parliamentary inquiry. There was a charge also of infringing the liberties of the mayor of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

, and the bishop apparently was imprisoned. This was a King's Bench matter, and therefore formally distinct from the Cranmer issue. Money Henry extracted as a fine from the bishop went to pay for windows in

King's College Chapel King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bu ...

Death

Nykke died blind in advanced old age and is buried in Norwich Cathedral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nykke, Richard 1447 births 1535 deaths 15th-century English clergy 16th-century English Roman Catholic bishops Archdeacons of Exeter Archdeacons of Wells Bishops of Norwich Canons of Windsor Deans of the Chapel Royal Burials at Norwich Cathedral