Stephen Gardiner Biography

Dromo's Den

GARDINER, Stephen (?1483–1555). An English prelate and statesman, born between 1483 and 1493. He was the son of John Gardiner, a prosperous cloth worker at Bury St. Edmunds, and studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself in classics. In 1520 he became doctor of civil law, next year of canon law, and in both branches speedily attained eminence. In 1524 he was appointed Rede lecturer in the university, and the same year became tutor to a son of the Duke of Norfolk. That nobleman introduced him to Cardinal Wolsey, who made him his secretary. In this capacity he gained the confidence of Henry VIII, and in 1527 he and Sir Thomas More were the English commissioners for negotiating with the French ambassadors regarding the maintenance of an army in Italy to oppose the Emperor. The year following he was sent with Edward Fox to negotiate with the Pope for the King's divorce from Catharine of Aragon. His arguments were unavailing, but on his return he was appointed the King's secretary. In 1531 he was appointed Archdeacon of Leicester, and the same year was installed Bishop of Winchester, vacant by Wolsey's death. A determined opponent of the Reformation and a stanch Catholic, he nevertheless wrote De Vera Obedientia (1535) in support of the King's supremacy. Various embassies to France and Germany were now intrusted to him, and after the execution of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, whose downfall was due mainly to him, he acquired great power. The tale of his impeachment of Catharine Parr and subsequent disgrace by Henry VIII is doubtful, but on the accession of Edward VI he was imprisoned for his opposition to the Reformation and deprived of his bishopric. When Mary came to the throne in 1553 she restored him to his see, and made him Lord Chancellor and Prime Minister. He officiated at the Queen's coronation, and at her nuptials with Philip of Spain. How far he was responsible for the persecution of Protestants during her reign is a debated question. He was a man of great erudition, and a friend of learning in every form. His writings consist of a number of tracts on theological and literary subjects, and include his interesting letters to Sir John Cheke against the Anglicizing of Greek pronunciation. Although a worldlyminded ecclesiast, he was a devoted and zealous worker, and conspicuous for religious consistency. He died Nov. 12, 1555.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. IX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 467.