Robert Pursglove (alias "Sylvester";http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Tideswell/BishopPursglove.htmlGenuki 1504–1579) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

sixteenth-century

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Life

Robert Pursglove illustrationsofm00camb 0048

He was born in

Tideswell Tideswell is a village, civil parishes in England, civil parish, and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, ward in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. It lies east of Buxton on the B6049, in a wide valley on a limestone p ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, the son of Adam Pursglove; his mother's name was Bradshawe. By a maternal uncle, William Bradshawe, he was sent to

St Paul's School, London St Paul's School is a Selective school, selective Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent day school (with limited boarding school, boarding) for boys aged 13–18, founded in 1509 by John Colet and located on a 43-acre site by Rive ...

, where he spent nine years. He became an Augustinian canon regular, after a short spell at St Mary Overy in London, then a priory, he went on to

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

. He remained in Oxford until about 1532. He was Prior of Gisborough, by about 1534. The king appointed him

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

Bishop of Hull The Bishop of Hull is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of York, England. The suffragan bishop, along with the Bishop of Selby and the Bishop of Whitby, assists the Archbishop of York in overseeing the ...

in 1538. In 1540, he surrendered

Gisborough Priory Gisborough Priory is a ruined Augustinian priory in Guisborough in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1119 as the Priory of St Mary by the Norman feudal magnate Robert de Brus, an ancestor of the Sc ...

to the king, and was given a pension. He was made provost of Jesus College,

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

in 1544. It was suppressed early in the reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

, and he became then

Archdeacon of Nottingham The Archdeacon of Nottingham is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, who exercises supervision of clergy and has responsibility for church buildings within the Archdeaconry of Nottingham. ...

.''Society and Religion in Elizabethan England'', Greaves,R.L: Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1981 His tenure of the bishopric of Hull continued under

Robert Holgate Robert Holgate (1481/1482 – 1555) was Bishop of Llandaff from 1537 and then Archbishop of York (from 1545 to 1554). He recognised Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. Holgate was a canon of the Gilbertine Order, and was probably ...

and

Nicholas Heath Nicholas Heath (–1578) was the last Roman Catholic archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor. He previously served as bishop of Worcester. Life Heath was born in London and graduated BA at Oxford in 1519. He then migrated to Christ's Colleg ...

; but he was deprived of the office, as well as of his archdeaconry, in 1559 for refusing 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 ...

. In 1559, the year of his deprivation, he obtained letters patent from Elizabeth I to found a grammar school at Tideswell on condition that he refrained from preaching or hindering the Queen's Majesty's laws concerning religion but the local vicar became a recusant priest. On 5 June 1563, he also obtained letters patent to found a similar school, bearing the same name, and also a hospital, or almshouse, at

Guisborough Guisborough ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of the North York Moors National Park. Roseberry Topping, midway between the town and Great Ayton, is a landmark i ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

. Despite his undertaking in respect of religion, the school he founded was soon sending recruits to Douai. Pursglove resided in his last years partly at Tideswell and partly at Dunston in the same county. He died on 2 May 1579, and was buried in Tideswell church where a

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...

in the floor shows him dressed as a bishop in alb, stole and chasuble (robes worn up to the reign of Mary I, but banned under the Elizabethan Church Settlement). Prior Pursglove College, a

sixth form college A sixth form college (pre-university college in Malaysia) is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 study typically for advanced post-school level qualifications such as GCE Advanced Level, A Levels, Business and Technology Edu ...

in Guisborough,

, is named in his memory. At some point or other, he used the alias "Sylvester".

Notes

References

'Bishop Pursglove of Tideswell,'Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, 32 (1910, 19-20'; G Anstruther, The Seminary Priests:Elizabethan (Ware,n.d.),60,126 1504 births 1579 deaths People from Tideswell Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Archdeacons of Nottingham 16th-century English bishops Bishops of Hull People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries {{England-bio-stub