Thomas Robertson was an English clergyman and Dean of Durham in the Tudor era. Robertson was from

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

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 ...

and educated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

.Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Riader-Roissie
/ref> In 1532 he published a book on grammar dedicated to the Bishop of Lincoln and was rewarded by being appointed

Archdeacon of Leicester The Archdeacon of Leicester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Leicester. History The first archdeacon of Leicester is recorded before 1092 – around the time when archdeacons were first appointed in England ...

in 1541. He served on a number of commissions, including the one producing the '' Bishop's Book'' under Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the one which investigated the validity of the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. He was also selected to join a group set up by the king to produce a standard Latin grammar. In 1549 he was one of the committee led by Archbishop Cranmer which produced the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. A conservative at heart, he was appointed Dean of Durham under Mary I, keeping his Archdeaconry ''in commendam''. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth he refused to subscribe to 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 and consequently forfeited his offices and retired to private life. He had also served as Vicar of Wakefield (1546 to 1559).

References

*
The Archdeacons of Leicester 1092-1992 by Terence Cocks
Clergy from Yorkshire Archdeacons of Leicester Deans of Durham {{England-Anglican-clergy-stub