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Martin Heton

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Martin Heton
Portraut, 1607
Martin Heton, 1607
Born1554
Died1609(1609-00-00) (aged 54–55)
OccupationBritish bishop

Martin Heton (Heaton) (1554–1609) was an English Bishop whose grandfather was the Lord Mayor of London.

Life

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His father George Heton was prominent in the London commercial world and as a church reformer.[1][2][3] His mother Joanna was daughter of Martin Bowes, Lord Mayor of London in 1545.[4] He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford.[5]

He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1588.[6] He became Dean of Winchester in 1589, and Bishop of Ely in 1599.[5] There is a story that Elizabeth I applied pressure to him, or his predecessor Richard Cox, over some land deals disadvantageous to the diocese, in a letter beginning “Proud prelate!”[7] But scholars from the nineteenth century onwards, for example Mandell Creighton, have considered the letter in question a hoax of the eighteenth century.[8]

A fat man, Heton was supposedly complimented by the king James I with the comment "Fat men are apt to make lean sermons; but yours are not lean, but larded with good learning."[9]

He died in Mildenhall, Suffolk in 1609 and is buried in Ely Cathedral.

Alabaster effigy of Martin Heton in Ely Cathedral.

Family

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His daughter Ann married Sir Robert Filmer.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Introduction - The Chamber in the sixteenth century | Chamber accounts of the sixteenth century (pp. XXXII-XXXVIII)". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  2. ^ "John Foxe's Book of Martyrs". Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  3. ^ ODNB entries for George Heton and his brother Thomas Heton.
  4. ^ "Townships - Heaton | A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5 (pp. 9-12)". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  5. ^ a b Concise Dictionary of National Biography
  6. ^ "Vice-Chancellors of the University of Oxford - University of Oxford". Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Ely Place | Old and New London: Volume 2 (pp. 514-526)". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  8. ^ s: The English Church in the Reign of Elizabeth
  9. ^ Remains, historical & literary, connected with the palatine counties of Lancaster and Chester (1844-86), online text.
  10. ^ David Miller (editor), The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (1991), p. 155.