Early life

Thomas Yale was born in 1525 or 1526, graduated B.A. at Cambridge University in 1542–3, and was elected a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

 about 1544. He commenced M.A. in 1546, and filled the office of bursar to his college from 1549 to 1551. He was one of the proctors of the university for the year commencing Michaelmas 1552, but resigned before the expiration of his term of office. In 1554 he was appointed commissary of the diocese of Ely

Diocese of Ely

The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely. There is one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. The diocese now covers Cambridgeshire and western Norfolk...

 under the chancellor, John Fuller, and in 1555 he was keeper of the spiritualities of the diocese of Bangor during the vacancy after the death of Arthur Bulkeley

Arthur Bulkeley

Arthur Bulkeley was Bishop of Bangor from 1541 until his death in 1553.Bulkeley was born in Beaumaris, Anglesey. He was a graduate of Oxford University and in 1523 became Rector of St Peter-le-Bailey, Oxford. Later he was the incumbent at St James Garlickhythe in the City of London. In 1541 he...

. In that year he subscribed the Roman catholic articles imposed upon all graduates of the university.

In November 1556 his name occurs in the commission for the suppression of heresy within the diocese of Ely, and he assisted in the search for heretical books during the visitation of the university by Cardinal Pole's delegates. In January 1556–7 he was among those empowered by the senate to reform the composition for the election of proctors and to revise the university statutes. He was created LL.D. in 1557, and admitted an advocate of the Court of Arches on 26 April 1559. In the same year he and four other leading civilians subscribed an opinion that the commission issued by the queen for the consecration of Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....

, archbishop of Canterbury, was legally valid.

On 25 March 1560 he was admitted to the prebend of Offley in Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...

. In the same year he became rector of Leverington

Leverington

Leverington is a village and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 2,914 people....

 in the Isle of Ely

Isle of Ely

The Isle of Ely is a historic region around the city of Ely now in Cambridgeshire, England but previously a county in its own right.-Etymology:...

, and was one of the archiepiscopal commissioners for visiting the churches and dioceses of Canterbury, Rochester, and Peterborough. On 24 April 1561 the archbishop commissioned him and Walter Wright to visit the church, city, and diocese of Oxford.

Judge

On 28 June 1561 he was constituted for life judge of the court of audience, official principal, chancellor, and vicar-general to the archbishop of Canterbury, and in the same year obtained the rectory of Llantressant in Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

. In 1562 he became chancellor of the diocese of Bangor, and in May was commissioned by the archbishop to visit All Souls

All Souls College, Oxford

The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....

 and Merton College

Merton College, Oxford

Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

 at Oxford. In 1563 he was on a commission to visit the diocese of Ely.

On 7 July 1564 he was instituted to the prebend of Vaynoll in the diocese of St Asaph

Diocese of St Asaph

The Diocese of Saint Asaph is a diocese in north-east Wales, named after Saint Asaph, its second bishop.-Geography:The Anglican Diocese of St Asaph in the north-east corner of Wales stretches from the borders of Chester in the east, to the Conwy valley in the west, to Bala in the south-west, and...

. In 1566 he was one of the masters in ordinary of the court of chancery, and was placed on a commission to visit the diocese of Bangor. In 1567 he was appointed dean of the arches, a post which he resigned in 1573, and was one of the commissioners for the visitation of the church and diocese of Norwich. By a patent confirmed on 15 July 1571 he was constituted joint-keeper of the prerogative court of Canterbury.

Later life

On Parker's death in 1575 he acted as one of his executors, and Parker's successor, Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...

, appointed him his vicar-general. On 23 April 1576 he was placed on a commission for repressing religious malcontents . On 2 May he and Nicholas Robinson

Nicholas Robinson (bishop)

-Life:Born at Conwy in North Wales, he was the second son of John Robinson, by his wife Ellin, daughter of William Brickdale. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1545 as a sizar, proceeded B.A. in 1548, and was a fellow from 1548 to 1563...

, bishop of Bangor

Bishop of Bangor

The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor.The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and a small part of Montgomeryshire...

, were empowered by Grindal to visit on his behalf the diocese of Bangor, and on 17 August he and Gilbert Berkeley

Gilbert Berkeley

Gilbert Berkeley was an English churchman, a Marian exile and then bishop of Bath and Wells.-Life:He took the degree of B.D. at Oxford about 1539, according to Anthony à Wood. He was rector of Attleborough in 1544, according to 19th-century sources, though the Dictionary of National Biography...

, bishop of Bath and Wells

Bishop of Bath and Wells

The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England.The present diocese covers the vast majority of the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in...

, were similarly commissioned to visit the church at Wells

Wells

Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...

. In the same year Yale represented to Grindal the need of reforms in the court of audience. On Grindal's suspension in June 1577, Yale discharged his judicial duties for him, continuing to act until November, when he fell ill. He died in November or December 1577. He married Joanna (died 12 September 1587), daughter of Nicholas Waleron.

Works

For many years Yale was an ecclesiastical high commissioner. Some manuscript extracts by him entitled ‘Collecta ex Registro Archiepiscoporum Cantuar.’ are preserved among the Cottonian manuscripts (Cleopatra F. i. 267), and were printed in John Strype

John Strype

John Strype was an English historian and biographer. He was a cousin of Robert Knox, a famous sailor.Born in Houndsditch, London, he was the son of John Strype, or van Stryp, a member of a Huguenot family whom, in order to escape religious persecution within Brabant, had settled in East London...

's Life of Parker, iii. 177–82. A statement of his case in a controversy for precedency with Bartholomew Clerke

Bartholomew Clerke

-Background:He was grandson of Richard Clerke, gentleman, of Livermere in Suffolk, and son of John Clerke of Wells, Somerset, by Anne, daughter and heiress of Henry Grantoft of Huntingdonshire. He was born about 1537 in Surrey. He received his education at Eton College, and was elected to King's...

 is among the Petyt manuscripts in the library of the Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

. An elegy on Yale by Peter Leigh is preserved in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 26737, f. 43).