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Thomas Tenison

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The Most ReverendandRight Honourable

Thomas Tenison
Archbishop of Canterbury
Portrait bySimon Dubois
ChurchChurch of England
DioceseCanterbury
In office1695–1715
PredecessorJohn Tillotson
SuccessorWilliam Wake
Orders
Consecration10 January 1692
byJohn Tillotson
Personal details
Born(1636-09-29)29 September 1636
Cottenham,Cambridgeshire, England
Died14 December 1715(1715-12-14)(aged 79)
London, England
NationalityEnglish
DenominationAnglican
SpouseAnne Love
EducationNorwich School
Alma materCorpus Christi College, Cambridge
Arms of Tenison:Gules, three leopard's faces or jessant de lys azure overall a bend engrailed argent.[1]Adifferenceof these arms was borne by Tennyson, the family ofAlfred, Lord Tennyson(1809–1892) (Baron Tennyson), the poet
Arms of Thomas Tenison showing arms of the See of Canterburyimpalingarms of Tenison (Three leopard's facesjessant-de-lysoverall a bend engrailed), imprint on front cover of aBook of Common Prayer,1686, collection of University of Toronto

Thomas Tenison(29 September 1636 – 14 December 1715) was an English church leader,Archbishop of Canterburyfrom 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs.

Life

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He was born atCottenham,Cambridgeshire, the son and grandson of Anglican clergymen, who were both named John Tenison; his mother was Mercy Dowsing. He was educated atNorwich School,going on toCorpus Christi College, Cambridge,as a scholar on ArchbishopMatthew Parker's foundation. He graduated in 1657, and was chosen fellow in 1659.[2]For a short time he studied medicine, but in 1659 was privately ordained. As curate ofSt Andrew the Great,Cambridge from 1662, he set an example by his devoted attention to the sufferers from theplague.In 1667 he was presented to the living ofHolywell-cum-Needingworth,Huntingdonshire, by theEarl of Manchester,to whose son he had been tutor, and in 1670 to that ofSt Peter Mancroft,Norwich.[3]

In 1680 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and was presented by KingCharles IIto the important London church ofSt Martin-in-the-Fields.Tenison, according toGilbert Burnet,"endowed schools includingArchbishop Tenison's School, Lambeth,founded in 1685 andArchbishop Tenison's School, Croydon,founded in 1714, set up a public library, and kept many curates to assist him in his indefatigable labours ". Being a strenuous opponent of the Church of Rome, and"Whitehalllying within that parish, he stood as in the front of the battle all King James's reign ". In 1678, in aDiscourse of Idolatry,he condemned the heathenish idolatry practised in the Church of Rome, and in a sermon which he published in 1681 onDiscretion in Giving Almswas attacked by Andrew Poulton, head of theJesuitsin the Savoy. Tenison's reputation as an enemy of Romanism led theDuke of Monmouthto send for him before his execution in 1685, when BishopsThomas KenandFrancis Turnerrefused to administerholy communion;but, although Tenison spoke to him in "a softer and less peremptory manner" than the two bishops, he was, like them, not satisfied with the sufficiency of Monmouth's penitence.[3]

Under KingWilliam III,Tenison was in 1689 named a member of the ecclesiastical commission appointed to prepare matters towards a reconciliation of the Dissenters, the revision of the liturgy being specially entrusted to him. A sermon he preached on the commission was published the same year.[3]

He strongly supported, at least in public, theGlorious Revolution,though not without some private misgivings, especially concerning the ejection of ArchbishopWilliam Sancroftand the other "non-juring" bishops.Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendonin his diary records some frank remarks made by Tenison on this subject at a dinner party in 1691:

That there had been irregularities in our settlement; that it was wished that things had been otherwise, but that we were now to make the best of it, and support this government as it was, for fear of a worse.

He preached afuneral sermonforNell Gwynin 1687, in which he represented her as truly penitent – a charitable judgment that did not meet with universal approval. The general liberality of Tenison's religious views won him royal favour, and, after being madeBishop of Lincolnin 1691, he was promoted to Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1694.[3]

Archbishop Tenison was one of seven Lord Justices whomKing Williamappointed to administer the kingdom whilst he was on campaign in Europe.

Archbishop of Canterbury

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He attended QueenMaryduring her last illness and preached her funeral sermon inWestminster Abbey.In 1695, when William went to take command of the army in the Netherlands, Tenison was appointed one of the seven lords justices to whom his authority was delegated.[3]After Mary's death, Tenison was one of those who persuaded the King that his long and bitter quarrel with her sister Anne must be ended, as it had weakened the authority of the Crown.[4]He was sworn in as a member of thePrivy Council of Englandin 1695 upon his appointment asArchbishop of Canterbury.This gave him theHonorific Title"The Right Honourable"for Life.

Under Queen Anne

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Along withGilbert Burnet,he attended King William on his deathbed. He crowned William's successor,Queen Anne,but during her reign was in very little favour at court:[5]the Queen thought that he inclined too much to the Low Church, and clashed repeatedly with him over her sole right to appoint bishops. She entirely ignored his wishes when she appointedSir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet,asBishop of Winchester:when he tried to remonstrate, the Queen cut him short with the cold remark that "the matter was decided." Only with great difficulty did he persuade her to appoint his nomineeWilliam Wake,asBishop of Lincoln.[6]

Increasingly he lost influence toJohn Sharp,Archbishop of York,whom the Queen found far more congenial.[7]He was a commissioner for theUnion with Scotlandin 1706; but in the last years of the Queen's reign he was very much a secondary political figure, and from September 1710, though he was still nominally a member of the Cabinet, ceased to attend its meetings.[8]A strong supporter of the Hanoverian succession, who shocked many by referring to Anne's death as a blessing,[9]he was one of three officers of state to whom, on the death of Anne, was entrusted the duty of appointing a regent till the arrival ofGeorge I,whom he crowned on 20 October 1714.[3]For the last time at thecoronationof an English monarch, the Archbishop asked if the people accepted their new King: the wittyCatherine Sedley,former mistress ofJames II,remarked: "Does the old fool think we will say no?". Tenison died in London a year later. He was instrumental in the last years of his life in the literary executorship ofSir Thomas Browne's manuscript writings known asChristian Morals.

Other works

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Besides the sermons and tracts above mentioned, and various others on the "Popish" controversy, Tenison was the author ofThe Creed of Mr Hobbes Examined(1670) andBaconia, or Certain Genuine Remains of Lord Bacon(1679). He was one of the founders of theSociety for the Propagation of the Gospel.[10]

Family

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He married Anne, daughter ofRichard Love;but died without issue.[11]Edward Tenison(1673–1735) LL.B (Cantab.), his cousin, becameBishop of Ossory(Ireland) (1730/1731-1735).[12][13]Another relative,Richard Tennison(1642–1705), becameBishop of Meath.Thomas is said to have advanced Richard in his career: in hiswillhe left legacies to all of Richard's five sons.

In appearance, he was described as a large, brawny, "hulking" figure, very strong when young but afflicted withgoutin later life.[14]

Armorials

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The personalcoat of armsof Archbishop Tenison consists of the arms of thesee of Canterburyimpaledwith the Tenison family arms. The former, placed on thedexterside of honour, areblazonedas:Azure,an archiepiscopal cross in paleorsurmounted by apallproper charged with fourcrosses patee fitcheesable.The arms of Tenison, placed on thesinisterside of theescutcheonare blazoned as:Gules,a bend engrailed argent voided azure, between threeleopard's faces orjessant-de-lysazure.In standard English: a red field bearing a white (or silver) diagonal band with scalloped edges, and a narrower blue band running down its centre. This lies between three goldheraldic lion'sfaces, each of which is pierced by afleur-de-lysentering through the mouth.

These arms are adifference,or variant, of the mediaeval arms of the family of Denys ofSiston,Gloucestershire, and may have been adopted by the Tenison family because its name signifies "Denys's or Denis's son". The arms were originally those of the Norman de Cantilupe family, whose feudal tenants the Denys family probably were in connection withCandleston CastleinGlamorgan.St Thomas Cantilupe(died 1282), bishop of Hereford, gave a reversed (i.e. upside down) version of the Cantilupe arms to thesee of Hereford,which uses them to this day. A version of the Denys arms was also adopted by the family of thepoet laureateAlfred, Lord Tennyson,not known to have been a descendant of Archbishop Thomas Tenison.

Suspected discovery of his coffin

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Here lyeth the body of Thomas Tenison, late Archbishop of Canterbury, who departed this life in peace on the XIV day of December MDCCXV (14/12/1715)
Memorial in the floor of the deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth, which is next to the entrance of Lambeth Palace, London

In 2016, during the refurbishment of theGarden Museum,[15]which is housed at the medieval church of St Mary-at-Lambeth,[16]30 lead coffins were found; one with an archbishop's red and gold mitre on top of it.[17]Two archbishops were identified from nameplates on their coffins; with church records revealing that a further three archbishops, including Tenison, were likely to be buried in the vault.[18]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Burkes General Armory, 1884
  2. ^"Tenison, Thomas (TNY653T)".A Cambridge Alumni Database.University of Cambridge.
  3. ^abcdefChisholm 1911,p. 617.
  4. ^Gregg, EdwardQueen AnneYale University Press 1980 p.102
  5. ^Gregg p.206
  6. ^Somerset, AnneQueen AnneHarper Press 2012 p.224
  7. ^Gregg p.146
  8. ^Gregg p.141
  9. ^Somerset p.540
  10. ^Chisholm 1911,pp. 617–618.
  11. ^"Tenison, Thomas".Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  12. ^"Tenison, Edward".Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  13. ^George Stanhope, A Letter from the Prolocutor to the Reverend Dr. Edward Tenison, Archdeacon of Carmarthen, 1718
  14. ^Somerset p.224
  15. ^Museum web-site
  16. ^Church of St Mary, LambethBritish History on-line
  17. ^Times on-line
  18. ^"Remains of five 'lost' Archbishops of Canterbury found".BBC. 16 April 2017.

References

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Further reading

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  • Edward Carpenter,Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury: His Life and Times(SPCK, 1948).
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Church of England titles
Preceded by Bishop of Lincoln
1691–1695 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Archbishop of Canterbury
1695–1715 		Succeeded by
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