William Bedell (1571 - 1642)

Born 25 Dec 1571 in Black Notley, near Braintree, Essex, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 7 Feb 1642 at age 70 in Kilmore, County Cavan, Ireland

Biography

William Bedell is Notable.

"Having isolated the Bishop and the refugees, the rebels believed they could murder the bishop and refugees in silence. They mounted an assault, seized the Bishop and other known missionaries of the Reformation, and imprisoned them on the nearby island castle of Lough Oughter, Cloughoughter Castle... Here, Bedell and other were tortured while imprisoned for several weeks...'" ^[1] On 26 October 1642, Ambrose Bedell made a depostion about the treatment, given to his father Bishop William Bedell, which resulted in his death. ^[2]

He was born at Black Notley, in Essex, in the year 1570. On 1 November 1584, he was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. B.A. in 1589, M.A. in 1592 ; elected a Fellow in 1593; B.D. in 1599; ordained priest by John Sterne, suffragan Bishop of Colchester, on 10th January, 1596 ; licensed to preach in the diocese of Norwich, on 23rd January, 1601. Having acquired a high reputation for his abilities and learning, he was appointed chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, the British ambassador to the state of Venice ; where he proved to be of signal service in the religious disputes then going on between that republic and Rome, and during which he obtained the high and distinguished privilege of a close friendship with the celebrated Father Paul Sarpi. On his return to England in 1613, he repaired to his former preferment in Suffolk ; but his merits becoming known, he was chosen Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, in the spring of 1627, and had a letter of Privy Seal confirming him in that office on May 29th [Rolls Office], and was sworn Provost on August 16th of that year. Here he set himself with great diligence to improve the college discipline, and to reform the Statutes ; but in less than two years he was removed to a still higher sphere of duty, being promoted to the united sees of Kilmore and Ardagh, by patent dated 20 May 1629. He was consecrated at Drogheda, by Archbishop Ussher, on the 13th of September, being then in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He resigned the bishopric of Ardagh in 1633, because he disapproved of the holding of plural appointments. He remained Bishop of Kilmore.

The Bishop's death took place on 7 February 1641/2, and he was buried at Drum Corr, Kilmore Churchyard, Ireland.

His will is dated 16 November, 1641.

Research Notes

• "Bishop Bedell was afforded the dignity by his captors of being buried next to his wife Leah at Kilmore..."^[1]
• "John the Elder, the father of Bishop Bedell...."^[3]
• Thomas W. Jones. Life and death of William Bedell. "Pedigree of the Bedell and Elliston Families of Essex".

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Wikipedia: 'William Bedell'"
2. ↑ Deposition of Ambrose Bedell, 26/10/1642, 1641 Depositions, Trinity College Dublin, MS 833, fols 105r-106v, http://1641.tcd.ie/index.php/deposition/?depID=833105r082. Accessed 28 February 2022.
3. ↑ Jones, Thomas Wharton, comp. A true relation of the life and death of the Right Reverend father in God William Bedell, lord bishop of Kilmore in Ireland. Ed. from a ms. in the Bodleian library, Oxford, and amplified with genealogical and historical chapters, comp. from original sources. 1872. Digital copy from www.archive.org. page 86. Accessed 1 April 2017.

• "Library Ireland: 'William Bedell'"

• "Translation of the Old Testament into Irish in Templeport: 'Murtagh King and Bishop William Bedell'", by Dr. Brendan Scott.

• Fasti ecclesiae Hibernicae: the succession of the prelates and members of the Cathedral bodies of Ireland by Henry Cotton, 1789-1879
• Vol 3. - The Province of Ulster, Pg 157- 167