Godfrey Goodman
Encyclopedia
Godfrey Goodman was the Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 Bishop of Gloucester
Bishop of Gloucester
The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire and has its see in the City of Gloucester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...

, and a member of the Protestant Church. He was the son of Godfrey Goodman (senior) and Jane Croxton, landed gentry living in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. His contemporaries describe him as being a hospitable, quiet man, and lavish in his charity to the poor.

Education and career

From 1593, Goodman was originally educated at Ruthin School
Ruthin School
Ruthin School is one of the oldest public schools in the United Kingdom. Located on the outskirts of Ruthin, the county town of Denbighshire in North Wales, the school is over seven hundred years old and has been co-educational since 1990.- Beginnings :...

 but was later sent to Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

, where he remained seven years under the protection of his uncle, Gabriel Goodman
Gabriel Goodman
Gabriel Goodman was the Dean of Westminster and the re-founder of Ruthin School, in Ruthin, Denbighshire.-Early years:...

, Dean of Westminster. He was an earnest student and when only seventeen won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. He graduated there in 1604 and shortly after was ordained at Bangor, Wales
Bangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

.

Goodman's first appointment was to the rectory of Stapleford Abbotts
Stapleford Abbotts
Stapleford Abbotts is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located approximately SW of Ongar and N of Romford and is situated entirely within the M25 motorway...

, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, in 1606. He made rapid progress in the Church, and was made successively prebend of Westminster in 1607; Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of West Isley, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

, in 1616; Rector of Kinnerton
Kinnerton
Kinnerton may refer to:*Higher Kinnerton, Flintshire, Wales*Lower Kinnerton, Cheshire, England...

, Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

; Canon of Windsor in 1617; Dean of Rochester in 1620-1621; and finally Bishop of Gloucester
Bishop of Gloucester
The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire and has its see in the City of Gloucester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...

, 1624-1655. In addition, he held two livings in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, at Llandyssil and Llanarmon
Llanarmon
Llanarmon could refer to one of several villages in Wales:*Llanarmon, Gwynedd*Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, near Wrexham*Llanarmon Mynydd Mawr, a small settlement and parish in Powys...

. Even as a bishop, he was allowed to retain most of these appointments.

Involvement with Catholicism

Goodman became one of the Court preachers and was chaplain to Queen Anne
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...

, wife of James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

. His leaning towards Roman Catholicism made enemies for him at Windsor, and he was reprimanded by the King over Court sermons. A few years later, he was severely reprimanded for having erected a crucifix at Windsor and using altar-cloths with a cross design in his own cathedral at Gloucester, and further for having suspended a minister who insisted on preaching "that all who die papists go inevitably to hell".

It is likely that doubts were arising in his mind about the legitimacy of the Church's separation from Rome
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, and he sought the society of Catholic priests who were in hiding throughout the country. He was frequently at variance with Archbishop Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...

, and in 1640 refused on conscientious grounds to sign the seventeen Articles drawn up by the Archbishop. He was thereupon arrested, but after five weeks in prison he overcame his scruples and signed the Articles. This, however, availed him little, as he was soon impeached by Parliament along with Laud and the ten other signatories of the Articles and was sent to prison for treason in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

 for four months.

In 1643, Goodman's episcopal palace was pillaged by parliamentarian soldiers and over the course of a couple of years he was stripped of all his emoluments. He withdrew from public life to his small Welsh estate in Carnarvon
Carnarvon
Carnarvon and Caernarvon are older forms of the name of the town in North Wales currently known as Caernarfon. The older names, in place for centuries, were anglicised phonetic spellings; since the 1970s the Welsh spelling has been generally adopted...

, and it is likely that he converted to Catholicism at this time.

In about 1650, he came to London, and gave himself up to study and research; he was befriended by some Catholic royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...

s and lived in close connection with them until his death in 1656. Father Davenport, O.S.F., former chaplain to Queen Henrietta
Henrietta Maria of France
Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...

, was his confessor and attended him in his last illness. By his will, in which he made a profession of his Catholic faith, he left most of his property to Ruthin
Ruthin
Ruthin is a community and the county town of Denbighshire in north Wales. Located around a hill in the southern part of the Vale of Clwyd - the older part of the town, the castle and Saint Peter's Square are located on top of the hill, while many newer parts of the town are on the floodplain of...

, his native town; his manuscripts and books, however, were given to Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

.

Principal works

  • The Fall of Man, or the Corruption of Nature proved by the light of his Natural Reason (1616)
  • The two mysteries of the Christian Religion, the Trinity and the lncarnation, explicated (1653)
  • Arguments and animadversions on Dr. George Hakewil's Apology
  • The Creatures praying God (1622)
  • The Court of King James the First by Sir A.W. reviewed
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