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Laurence Nowell (priest)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laurence (or Lawrence) Nowell (c. 1516–1576) was an English churchman, who became Archdeacon of Derby and then Dean of Lichfield.

Life

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Laurence Nowell was the third son of John Nowell of Read Hall, Read, Lancashire, by his second wife Elizabeth Kay of Rochdale.[1] He was the younger brother of Alexander Nowell (later Dean of St Paul's) and of Robert Nowell (later Attorney of the Court of Wards and Liveries); and a first cousin of his namesake, Laurence Nowell (1530–c. 1570), an antiquarian. He entered Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1536 and received his M.A. in 1544.[2] He was almost certainly the Laurence Nowell appointed master at the grammar school at Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire in 1546, who, following a dispute with the town's corporation, left the post in 1550, and who in November 1550 was ordained a deacon by Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London.[1][3][4] Having strong Protestant views, Nowell fled England when Queen Mary took the throne, eventually joining his brother Alexander in Frankfurt.[1]

Nowell returned to England on the accession of Elizabeth in 1558. That year he became Archdeacon of Derby. In March 1560, he became Dean of Lichfield. He drew up a will dated 17 October 1576, and was dead by 22 November.[1] He is believed to have been buried at Weston,[5] Derbyshire.[1]

Identification

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Two 16th-century English cousins, one a churchman and the other an antiquary, were named Laurence Nowell. Their biographies were confused by Anthony Wood in his Historia et antiquitates Universitatis Oxoniensis (1674) and Athenae Oxonienses (1691),[6] and the error persisted through later studies, including the Dictionary of National Biography (1895), and into the twentieth century. In 1974, however, Retha Warnicke's analysis of a 1571 court case made it clear that there were two different Laurence Nowells,[7] and their biographies have since been partially disentangled.[8][9][10][6]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e Warnicke, Retha M. "Nowell, Laurence (1530–c. 1570)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20380. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) [This article is primarily about the antiquary, but includes a summary of the life of his cousin, the churchman.]
  2. ^ Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714, Nabbes–Nykke
  3. ^ Harris, Oliver D. (2022). "The Laurence Nowell enigma: the enquiries of Anthony Wood". Notes and Queries. 69 (3): 234–238 (234n).
  4. ^ Lazarus, Micha (2024). "Laurence Nowell, schoolmaster of Sutton Coldfield". Notes and Queries. 71 (1): 25–29.
  5. ^ There are several Westons including Weston-on-Trent.
  6. ^ a b Harris 2022.
  7. ^ Warnicke, Retha (1974). "Note on a Court of Requests case of 1571". English Language Notes. 11: 250–56.
  8. ^ Black, Pamela M. (1982). "Some new light on the career of Laurence Nowell the antiquary". Antiquaries Journal. 62: 116–123.
  9. ^ Hahn, Thomas (1983). "The identity of the antiquary Laurence Nowell". English Language Notes. 20 (3/4): 10–18.
  10. ^ Berkhout, Carl T. (1985). "The pedigree of Laurence Nowell the antiquary". English Language Notes. 23 (2): 15–26.