Not the son of John Aylmer & Frances Aylmer

John Aylmer (Ælmer or Elmer; 1521 - 3 June 1594) was an English bishop, constitutionalist and a Greek scholar.

Summary

Bishop John Aylmer (1521–1594) was an English clergyman and scholar who became the Bishop of London during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was known for his strong support of the Elizabethan religious settlement, which aimed to establish a Protestant Church of England while avoiding the extremes of both Catholicism and Puritanism.

Aylmer was an opponent of radical Protestant reformers and wrote An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjectes (1559), a defense of female rule in response to John Knox’s The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, which attacked the idea of women as sovereigns. This was likely motivated by his support for Elizabeth I.

As Bishop of London (from 1577), he was a strict enforcer of conformity to the Church of England, cracking down on Puritans and nonconformists. Despite being a humanist and well-educated, his authoritarian approach made him unpopular with more radical Protestants.

Details of his Life

Shown in Visitation of Hertfordshire - family tree of his son Theophilus Elmer as the son of John Of Norfolk.
https://archive.org/details/lincolnshirepedi01madd/page/n137/mode/2...

Note by TPD 5/2/24 - He was related to Bishop Ricard Vaughan, his protege, and also a later Bishop of London, who is mentioned in his will as an executor and his cousin (not to be taken literally as 1st cousin - in that period, a cousin could be any close relationship. Also According to Alumni Cantabrigienses. Bishop Richard Vaughan was his nephew. This was probably through marriage. Aylmer's second wife (whom he married before 20 Nov. 1561) was Judith, daughter of William King, of Audley End, Essex, (the last Abbot of Walden Abbey, Essex, before the Dissolution, then known as Robert Barynton), by his wife, who was a daughter of a Robert de Bures, while Vaughan's wife was a Jane Bewers, also of Essex, and it is possible that her maiden name, Bewers, was a variant spelling of Bures.
- ,VAUGHAN, RICHARD. Matric. sizar from ST JOHN'S, Michs. 1569. 2nd s. of Thomas. B. c. 1550, at Nyffryn, Carnarvon. Β.Α. 1573-4; Μ.A. 1577; D.D. 1588-9. Incorp. at Oxford, 1584. Chaplain to the Queen and to Dr Aylmer, Bishop of London (his uncle). R. of Chipping Ongar, Essex, 1578-81, and of Little Canfield, 1580-91. Preb. of St Paul's, 1583-95-Archdeacon of Middlesex, 1588-96. R. of Moreton, Essex, 1591. V. of Gt Dunmow, 1592. Canon of Wells, 1593. R. of Lutterworth. R. of Stanford Rivers, 1594. Bishop of Bangor, 1595-7; of Chester, 1597-1604; of London, 1604-7. Archdeacon of Anglesey, 1596. R. of Bangor-ys-coed, Flintshire, 1597-1604. Assisted William Morgan in his translation of the Bible into Welsh. Died Mar. 30, 1607. Buried in St Paul's. Will, P.C.C. (Cooper, II. 450; D.N.B.; Al. Oxon.)

From John Strype, Historical collections of the life and acts of John Aylmer, Lord Bishop of London, in the reign of Queen Elizabet 1821 -

He received his first breath in the county of Norfolk about the year 1521 For in 1581 I read him in one of his letters calling himself homo sexa genarius ie a man of threescore years of age Born according to Dr Fuller at Aylmer Hall in the parish of Tilsley as he saith the Bishop's nearest relation informed him mistaken I suppose for Tilney in the same county for as for Tilsley there is scarce such a town in England In the neighbouring county of Suffolk within four miles of Ipswich there is a very fair house called Claidon Hall now or late in the possession of the Aylmers His elder brother was Sir Robert Aylmer of Aylmer Hall aforesaid whose ancestor was High Sheriff of that county of Norfolk in the time of Edward II Aylmer though he took his degrees of divinity in Oxford had his first education at Cambridge but when admitted and under what tutor and in what society I am to learn whether in Bene t or Gonvil hall where the Norfolk youth commonly studied or Trinity hall entered there by the fame that Bilney formerly of that house bore who much conversed and carried a great stroke among the people of Norfolk But these things are uncertain Grey Marquis of Dorset afterwards Duke of Suffolk took a liking to him from a child going to school and entertained him as his scholar and exhibited to him when transplanted to the University

"Aylmer, like John Ponet and Stephen Gardiner before him, is an important figure in the story of the reception of classical mixed government in Tudor England." [4] John Aylmer wrote his work An harborowe for faithful and trewe subiectes (1559), to defend the female monarchy of Elizabeth I associating "the rule of boyes and women, or effeminate persons" and on another basis; "that cytie is at pits brinks, wherein magistrate ruleth lawes, and not the lawes the magistrate: What could any kyng in Israell do in that common wealth, besides the pollycie appointed by Moyses?". His effort to familiarize his fellow countrymen with the "strange and alluring vocabulary of politics", introducing them to the classical forms and terminology, must be viewed as secondary to this primary goal. Aylmer nevertheless described England as not "a mere monarchy, as some for lack of consideration think, nor a mere oligarchy, nor democracy, but a rule mixed of all these." 1 He goes on to say that in the mixed state, "each one of these have or should have like authority." He argued that in the king-in-Parliament, or, in Elizabeth's case, the queen-in-Parliament, was not the "image" of a mixed state "but the thing in deed." It was in Parliament that one found the three estates: "the king or queen, which representeth the monarchy; the noble men which be the aristocracy; and the burgesses and knights the democracy." As he says, "In like manner, if the Parliament use their privileges: the king can ordain nothing without them." Parliamentary restraint of a queen's feminine vices would, according to Aylmer, ameliorate the disadvantages of female monarchy. His work, particularly his characterisation of England as a mixed monarchy, would be important to later English constitutionalists.

Birth and Ancestry

Aylmer (1521–1594) was born of an ancient family long resident at their ancestral seat of Ayler Hall, in the parish of Tivetshall St. Mary, Norfolk, England. The presently-named Walk Farm was until the early twentieth century known as Aylmer’s Hall, and had been since it was built in the late fifteenth century. The Cambridge alumni database, states his birth place as “Aylmer Hall, Tivetshall, Norfolk”.

According to Dr. Fuller's account, his elder brother, Sir Robert Aylmer of Aylmer Hall, descended from a family whose ancestor served as High Sheriff of Norfolk during Edward II's reign.

Historical sources (Lincolnshire Pedigrees and Visitation of Hertfordshire) identify Aylmer’s son, Theophilus, as part of a lineage originating in Norfolk. In a letter from 1581, John Aylmer refers to himself as homo sexagenarius ("a man of threescore years"), supporting his birth year as 1521.

Education and Early Career

Aylmer’s precocity attracted the attention of Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset (later Duke of Suffolk), who funded his education at Cambridge. He likely attended Queens' College, where he became a fellow.

About 1541 he was made chaplain to the Duke, and tutor to his daughter, Lady Jane Grey.

His first preferment was to the archdeaconry of Stow, in the diocese of Lincoln, but his opposition in convocation to the doctrine of transubstantiation led to his deprivation and to his flight into Switzerland. While there he wrote a reply to John Knox's famous Blast against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, under the title of An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjects, &c., and assisted John Foxe in translating the Acts of the Martyrs into Latin.

Role as Bishop of London

Aylmer returned to England after Elizabeth I’s accession, resuming his position as Archdeacon of Stow (1559–1562) before becoming Archdeacon of Lincoln. In 1576, He was named Bishop of London by Queen Elizabeth I and he was consecrated in 1568, serving until his death in 1594. His tenure was marked by strict treatment of Puritans and Catholics alike, earning him criticism in the Marprelate Tracts and Edmund Spenser’s Shepheard’s Calendar.

Legacy and Scholarship

Despite his harsh reputation as a bishop, Aylmer’s work contributed to the constitutional discourse of Tudor England.He was a member of the famous convocation of 1562, which reformed and settled the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England. He argued for England as a mixed monarchy, balancing royal authority with parliamentary power. His scholarly pursuits, particularly in Greek, were notable, though his ecclesiastical policies remain a point of contention.

In 1576 he was consecrated Bishop of London, and while in that position made himself notorious by his harsh treatment of all who differed from him on ecclesiastical questions, whether Puritan or Papist. Various efforts were made to remove him to another see.

He is frequently assailed in the famous Marprelate Tracts, and is characterized as "Morrell," the bad shepherd, in Spenser's Shepheard's Calendar (July).

'His reputation as a scholar hardly balances his inadequacy as a bishop in the transition time in which he lived. He died in June 1594.'

Burial

Saint Paul's Cathedral London

He was a proud Englishman, writing in 1559:

   “Oh if thou knewest thou Englishmen in what wealth thou livest, and in how plentiful a country: Thou woldst VII times a day fall flat on they face before God and give him thanks that thou ws born an Englishman, and not an Italian, nor German.”

(Quoted in Asa Briggs’s “A Social History of England”)

In that same year, he published a devastating critique of Knox’s ‘Monstrous Regiment of Women’. This was not to say he was a feminist. He was to preach – allegedly before Queen Elizabeth herself – that women were:

   “of two sorts, some of them wiser, better learned, discreeter, and more constant than a number of men; but another and worse sort, and the most part fond, foolish, wanton flibbergibs, tatlers, triflers, wavering, witless, without council, feeble, careless, rash, proud, dainty, nice, talebearers, eavesdroppers, rumour-raisers, evil-tongued, worse-minded, and in every way doltified with the dregs of the devil’s dunghill.”

The fault was not in his intellectual capabilities: he was a talented linguist and a formidable logician, and when challenged as misappropriating church funds he marshalled all the books in perfect order to defeat the argument. As the Dictionary of National Bibliography admits, John “deserves to be commended for his attachment to learning and for his discerning patronage of scholars”.

The fault was in his nature. Bishop John used judicial process to keep both Puritans and Catholics at heel, sought to strangle the newly-reborn Cambridge University Press – the publishing house of his own alma mater – and ostentatiously played bowls on the Sabbath. The DNB minces no words:

   “[his] arbitrary and unconciliatory disposition comes frequently into unpleasing prominence … Both from his views and temperament, Aylmer was ill-qualified to fill the episcopal office in the trying times in which he lived.”

He seems to have recognised that his personality was overstretched, and tried to escape to the quieter sees of Ely, Winchester, and Worcester (the latter at Elizabeth’s personal request), but to no avail.

As one of the commission that examined whether England should adopt the Gregorian calendar, as had the rest of Europe, he was influential in ensuring that it would not do so for another two centuries – apparently, because English Protestant theologians could not countenance adopting a measure approved by a papal bull.

Timeline

Bachelors of Art, Queens College, Cambridge [3] 1545 Masters of Art, Queens College, Cambridge [3] Tutor to Lady Jane Grey [3] 1541 Rector of Rodney Stoke and Stoke Gifford. [3] 1543 Vicar of Wellington, Somerset, England. [3] 1543 Prebendary of Wells, Somerset, England. [3] Before 1547 Married Judith King of Suffolk, by whom he had a large family. 1547 Birth of 1st son, Samuel at Tilney, Norfolk, England. 1549 Birth of 2nd son, Theopilus in Norfolk, England. 1553 Rector of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire, England. 1553 Archdeacon of Stow, Lincolnshire, England. [3] 1553 Retired to Strassburg and Zurich, under Queen Mary. 1557 Birth of son Tobel Tobias, Tilney, Norfolk, England. 1558 Returned to England. 1559 Birth of son Edmund, Tilney, Norfolk, England. 1561 Birth of daughter Judith, Tilney, Norfolk, England. 1561 Rector of Cossington, Leicestershire, England. [3] 1562-1577 Archdeacon of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. [3] 1563 Birth of daughter Elizabeth at Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. 1565 Birth of son Theophilus at Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. 1568 Birth of son John at Sibsey, Lincolnshire, Englandmap. 1572 Doctor of Divinity, Queens College, Cambridge [3] 1573 Incorp. at Oxford 1576 Birth of son Nathaniel at Leicestershire, England 1577-94 Bishop of London [3] 06/03/1594 Died. Buried in St Paul's. [3]

(Cooper, II. 168; D.N.B.)

Sources

Stephen, Sir Leslie, Dictionary of National Biography, 1921–1922, 22 volumes London, England: Oxf. Ancestry.com, Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

Text from volume 1, page 753: AYLMER, JOHN (1521-1594), bishop of London, whose name, contracted from the Saxon Æthelmær, also appears as Ælmer or Elmer, was born of an ancient family long resident at their ancestral seat of Aylmer Hall, in the parish of Tivetshall St. Mary, Norfolk. When a schoolboy he attracted the notice of Henry Grey, marquis of Dorset, and afterwards duke of Suffolk, by whose liberality he was sent to be educated at Cambridge. He proceeded B.A. in 1541, and, shortly after taking orders, was installed by his patron as his private chaplain and tutor to his children at Bradgate in Leicestershire. In his latter capacity he became the instructor of Lady Jane Grey, whose testimony to his merits as one who taught 'gently,' 'pleasantly,' and 'with such fair allurements to learning,' is preserved in the well-known story told by Ascham (Scholemaster, ed. Mayor, pp. 33-34).

Text from volume 1, page 754: Shortly before his death, however (3 June, 1594), Aylmer expressly intimated his hope that Bancroft might succeed him (MSS. Baker, xxxvi. 355). He was interred in St. Paul's Cathedral, but the 'fair stone of grey marble' which marked the place of his internment no longer appears. The inscription, which was altogether free from fulsome eulogy, sententiously recorded that he

Ter senos annos Præsul; semel Exul, et idem

Bis Pugil in causa religionis erat.

Text from volume 44, Sir William Musgrave, A General Nomenclature and Obituary, page 74: Aylmer, John, of Aylmer Hall, Norfolk, Archdese. of Stow and Linc.. 82 Bp. London. 1594, æt 73. (Engl. Worth. 516 ; (Carter's Camb. 387.)

Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886, [database on-line]

=Links=

http://interactive.ancestry.com/1624/31281_A101615-00157/7040833?ba...

http://interactive.ancestry.com/8942/RDUK1500_0004-0064/403399?back...

http://interactive.ancestry.com/1981/31205_Vol22-00409/87282?backur...

These need to be properly filed, your help would be greatly appreciated.

https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Domesday_Book,_Monastic_Cartularies,_Hundred_Rolls,_Valor_Ecclesiasticus,_Parliamentary_Surveys,_National_Farm_Surveys_(National_Institute) http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=5949&h=5070... http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=5908&h=8006... http://interactive.ancestry.com/1624/31281_A101615-00157/7040833?ba... http://interactive.ancestry.com/1624/31281_A101615-00157/7040833?ba... http://interactive.ancestry.com/1981/31205_Vol22-00409/87282?backur... https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1301881 https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-226252-aylmer-s-hall-wa...

Strype, John. Historical Collections of the Life and Acts of the Right Reverend Father in God, John Aylmer. Franklin Reprints, 1974. Available Free at archive.org Sources

1. Southside Virginia Families, Volume 2  By John Bennett Boddie. Page 122. "FOLIOT of YORK COUNTY." The Rev. Edward Foliot was a son of Sir John Foliot & his wife, Elizabeth Aylmer, daughter of Rt. Rev. John Aylmer, Bishop of London.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed. Vol III. Cambridge University Press, 1910. http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/aylmer.htm John Aylmer, Bishop of London]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aylmer_(bishop)_
http://genforum.genealogy.com/elmore/messages/225.html

Footnotes

May be a clue to identity of John Aylmer's mother -
John Aylmer's will (TNA PROB 11/84) 22 Nov 1594
Executors: cousin Richard Vaughan D.D., eldest son Samuel Ailmer, son Theophilus Ailmer, Archdeacon of London, and son-in-law William Lynche gent...

Bishop Richard Vaughan Born c. 1550, second son of Thomas ap Robert Fychan of Nyffryn, Llyn, Caernarfonshire. He was educated at S. John's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1574, M.A. 1577, D.D. 1589). Shortly after 1577, he was appointed chaplain to John Aylmer, bishop of London, who is said to have been related to him (Baker, Hist. of St. John's College, Cambridge, 255).

- 'Post felices apud nos bonarum literarum et studiorum progressus venit in familiam Jo Aylmer episcopi Lond ei vel affinitate vel sanguine conjunctus donatus ab eodem canonicatu in ecclesia Paulina Nov 18 1583 fit deinde'

Translates as - After the happy progress of good literature and studies with us, he came into the family of Jo Aylmer, bishop of London, and was given to him either by affinity or by blood.
TPD 17/5/24

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 DNB ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 PHS ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 OUA ↑ 4.0 4.1 LBMB