Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer (* approx. 1485/1492 in Thurcaston , Leicestershire , † October 16, 1555 in Oxford ) was Bishop of Worcester and an Anglican martyr .
Life
Latimer came from a farming family and attended Christ's College in Cambridge from the age of 15 , where he earned a good reputation for his academic achievements. After graduation and ordination , he became an avid priest . In 1510 he was made a Fellow of Clare College (Cambridge) and in 1522 university preacher. Initially, his theology was based on Erasmus of Rotterdam , but from the mid-1520s, after meeting Thomas Bilney , he turned to the teachings of Martin Luther and the Reformation .
As early as 1523 there were difficulties for him, first because of his demand for an authorized translation of the Bible with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey , then in 1524 with his card sermons (Sermons on the Card) in Cambridge , which were scandalized. After preaching at court and approving the king's plans for divorce, he was given the parish of West Kineton in Wiltshire in 1531 . But his increasingly radical Reformation positions aroused more and more offense, so that after the so-called preaching war in Bristol even Thomas Cromwell had to intervene. Latimer had to admit before the convocation that he was wrong. However, when Henry VIII broke with Rome, he became royal chaplain in 1534 and bishop of Worcester in 1535 , when he tried to push through the Reformation in the convocation, in the upper house and in his diocese. Among other things, he was involved in the writing of the so-called "Ten Articles" and the "Bishops' Book". In 1539, however, he fell out with the king when he wanted to enact narrow Anglican dogmatics in the so-called "Six Articles" by means of a parliamentary law. He resigned the office of bishop, whereupon the king had him arrested in the Tower of London and then allowed him to move to the country under a ban on preaching but with a pension.
In 1546 he was briefly re-imprisoned. When Edward VI. issued an amnesty on the occasion of his accession to the throne, he was released and the House of Commons even offered him his bishopric again. However, he refused and instead worked successfully as a court and people preacher. His sermon “Sermon on the Plowers”, in which he addressed the preaching activity itself and thus also his self-image, was of particular importance. After the strict Catholic Mary I ascended the throne, he was tried in Oxford in 1555 before a theological commission. He was burned at the stake with Nicholas Ridley . Therefore he is honored as a martyr by the Anglican Church . He shares October 16 with Ridley. The Episcopal Church of the United States of America also commemorates Thomas Cranmers on this day , who was executed at the same place in March of the following year; in the Church of England , Cranmer has its own memorial day in March. Some of Latimer's last words were about Ridley and were, "Play man, Master Ridley; on that day, with God's grace, we will light such a candle in England that it will never go out! "
See also
literature
- Sermons and Remains of Hugh Latimer. Edited by George Elwes Corrie. Cambridge 1845
- Selected Sermons of Hugh Latimer. Edited by Allan G. Chester. Charlottesville 1968
- Harold S. Darby: Hugh Latimer. London 1953
- Chester Allan: Hugh Latimer - Apostle to the English. Philadelphia 1954
- Arthur F. Butler: Hugh Latimer: The Religious Thought of a Reformation Preacher. Phil. Diss., Kent State University, 1976
- Natalie AB Galdi: Hugh Latimer - Humanism and the English Reformation. Phil. Diss., New York University, 1978.
- Günther Lottes: Latimer, Hugh. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 1216-1217.
Web links
- Works by Hugh Latimer in Project Gutenberg ( currently not usually available for users from Germany )
- The Causes of the English Reformation, JPSommerville faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville [1]
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Geronimo De Ghinucci |
Bishop of Worcester 1535–1539 |
John Bell |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Latimer, Hugh |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Anglican theologian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1490 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Thurcaston , Leicestershire |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 16, 1555 |
| Place of death | Oxford |