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William King's Administration of the Diocese of Derry, 1691–1703

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

J. C. Beckett
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Extract

The see of Derry was (until the disestablishment of the church) one of the richest in Ireland, and the success of King William's forces in the north not unnaturally aroused some speculation about the next occupant. It is true that when the siege of Derry was raised Bishop Hopkins was still alive, but his unpopular action in opposing resistance to James's army no doubt helped to persuade the king's ecclesiastical advisers that his health was unequal to the continued discharge of his duties. At any rate, by September 1689, at least nine months before Hopkins died, it was generally known that George Walker was to have the appointment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 14 , September 1944 , pp. 164 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1944

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References

1 Mant, R., History of the Church of Ireland, ii. 13.Google Scholar

2 Quaedam vitae meae insigniora, Bp King's autobiography, translated in C. S. King, A great archbishop of Dublin, pp. 22–3. Later references in this paper are to this translation. The original Latin text is printed in E.H.R., xiii (1898), from the MS in the Public Library, Armagh. The work is incomplete and does not seem to have been intended for publication.

3 Quaedam, p. 25. The question of King's political inconsistency is discussed by H. J. Lawlor in his edition of G. T Stokes, Some worthies of the Irish church, pp. 163 ff. The diary which King kept during his imprisonment is printed in R.S.J.I. Jn., xiii (fifth series). (1903).

1 Quaedam, p. 29.

2 Southwell to Bp King, 8 Sept. 1691 (C. S. King, op. cit., pp. 78–9). The first mention of the design of this book seems to be in a letter from Bp King to Southwell 15 Apr. 1691 (Calendar of King's correspondence in the Public Library, Armagh, MS N.II.19. This will be cited as Armagh. Most of the other letters to and from Bp King used in this paper are taken from the originals in T.C.D. These are not bound but are arranged in boxes according to date. Letters quoted from Bp King's transcript books are followed by a press-mark.)

3 King to Southwell, 18 July 1690 (Armagh).

4 Same to Capt. Waller, July [?] 1690 (Armagh).

5 Patrick Dun to King, 26 July 1690, C. S. King, op. cit., pp. 71–2.

6 Same to same, 27 July 1690, ibid., p. 73.

7 Same to Bp Lloyd of St Asaph, July [?] 1690 (Armagh).

8 Toilet to King, 11 Aug. 1690 (T.C.D.).

1 Cal. S.P dom., 1690-1, pp. 155, 158-9.

2 Toilet to King, 18 Nov. 1690 (T.C.D.).

3 J. Duncan to King, 6 Dec. 1690 (C. S. King, op. cit., pp. 75 ff.) ; King to Bp Lloyd of St Asaph, 5 Feb. 1690-1 (Armagh).

4 Quaedam, p. 30. This seems a free translation of the rather obscure original, ’ Ipse ab ipso ad episcopatum Derensem reditibus opimum, nominatus sum' (E.H.R., xiii (1898). 320).

5 Cal. S.P dom., 1690–1691, p. 183 ; Quaedam, p. 31.

6 Quaedam, p. 31

7 Cal. S.P dom., 1691–2, p. 44.

8 Quaedam, p. 32.

1 [J. Kirkpatrick], An historical essay upon the loyalty of presbyterians, p. 406 ; Arthur Langford to Bp King, 3 Apr. 1691 (T.C.D.).

2 Quaedam, pp. 32–3.

3 Bp King to Samuel Foley, 19 May 1691 (T.C.D.).

4 Same to Southwell, 29 Aug. 1691 (Armagh). The figures given in this letter are inconsistent: he gives the total number of parishes as 47 but the list which he sets out adds up to 50.

5 This is based on Killen, History of the congregations of presbyterian church in Ireland (Belfast, 1886).

6 Records of the general synod of Ulster, i. 5.

1 Bp King to Samuel Foley, 7 Sept. 1691 (T.C.D.) ; Quaedam, p. 34.

2 Bp Foy of Waterford to Bp King, 30 July 1691 (T.C.D.) ; Primate Boyle to Bp King, 30 June 1691 (T.C.D.).

3 Bp King to Dr Patrick Grattan, 23 June, 10 July, 4 Aug., 19 Aug. 1691 (Armagh).

4 Bp King to Dean Echlin, 11 Sept. 1691 (Armagh).

5 Bp King to Southwell,— Sept. 1691 (Armagh).

6 Southwell to Bp King, 26 Sept., 17 Dec. 1691 (T.C.D.); Bp King to Bp Foy of Waterford, 28 Oct. 1691 (Armagh).

7 Bp King to Bp Dopping of Meath, 1 Dec. 1691 (Armagh).

8 Same to same, — Sept. 1691 (Armagh). The proposed bill contained a clause providing a minimum stupend of £60 p.a. for curates.

1 Bp King to Bp Dopping of Meath,— 1691 (Armagh).

2 Bp King to Southwell, 8 May 1691 (Armagh).

3 Southwell to Bp King, 8 June 1691 (T.C.D.).

4 Bp King to Southwell, 29 Aug. 1691 (Armagh).

5 Southwell to Bp King, 3 Mar. 1691–2 (T.C.D.).

6 Bp King to George Toilet, 12 Apr. 1692 (Armagh).

7 George Toilet to Bp King, 21 May 1692 (T.C.D.).

8 Cat. S.P dom., 1691–2, p. 338.

9 George Toilet to Bp King, 30 June 1692 (T.C.D.). The exact amount involved is not clear : King, Southwell and Toilet speak of 5 50, Cal. S.P dom. of £550 plus the revenues of the see during vacancy

10 Bp King to Sydney, 3 Feb. 1692–3 (Armagh). King had already made a separate appeal to the lord lieutenant for financial help for his diocese. This had been rejected on the plea of the government's poverty. Sydney to Bp King, 21 Dec. 1692 (T.C.D.).

1 ’ State of the diocese of Derry in the year 1693 ‘ (P.R.O.N.I.T, 505, pp. 80–1). The account of the diocese is preceded by a letter from Bp King obviously intended for the lords justices, though the name of the person to whom it is addressed does not appear.

2 Ibid., p. 9.

3 Ibid., p. 2.

4 Bp King to Samuel Foley, 19 May 1691 (T.C.D.).

5 Same to Southwell, 29 Aug. 1691 (Armagh).

6 P.R.O.N.I., T 505, pp. 82–4.

7 Ibid., p. 2.

8 Bp King to Southwell, 29 Aug. 1691 (Armagh).

9 P.R.O.N.I., T 505, p. 1.

1 Bp King to Samuel Foley, 24 Apr. 1691 (T.C.D.).

2 P.R.O.N.I.,T 505, pp. 1–2.

3 For Bp King's co-operation with Bp Foy in this and similar schemes of reform see * The government and the church of Ireland under William III and Anne ‘, in I.H.S.N. 283–7

4 Bp King to Sir Robert Clayton, 28 Feb. 1692–3 (Armagh).

5 P.R.O.N.I., T 505, pp. 10, 14.

6 Ibid., p. 26.

7 Thomas Hawley to Bp King, 23 Dec. 1690 (T.C.D.).

1 Bp King to Sir John Coghill, 23 June 1691 (T.C.D.). Same to Archdeacon Ford, 27 Jan. 1691–2 (T.C.D.). P.R.O.N.I., T 505, pp. 2–3.

2 Quaedam, p. 35.

3 Bp King to Southwell, 29 Aug. 1691 (Armagh).

4 Abp Boyle to Bp King, 6 Oct. 1691 ; same to same, 12 Jan. 1691–2 (T.C.D.).

5 George Toilet to Bp King, 14 Feb. 1691–2 (T.C.D.).

6 Bp King to Bp Moreton of Kildare, 16 Mar. 1691–2 (Armagh).

1 Bp King to Samuel Foley, 21 Mar. 1692–3 (T.C.D.).

2 Bp King to Samuel Foley, 9 May 1693 (T.C.D.).

3 P.R.O.N.I., T 505, pp. 22, 25.

4 Quaedam, p. 36. King does not say whether the idea came to him before or after the visitation, which, indeed, he does not mention in the autobiography.

5 C. S. King, op. cit., p. 37 (note) ; G. T Stokes, op. cit., pp. 204 ff.; Reid, J. S., History of the presbyterian church in Ireland, ed. Killen, W D. (1867), ii. 429 ffGoogle Scholar. Stokes and Reid summarize the controversy from different points of view. Reid's statement (op. cit. ii. 424) that the presbyterian ministers and the parochial clergy were working together in almost complete harmony until’ this mutual amity was first violated by the new bishop of Derry ‘ is unfair to King, who was concerned with the duty of enforcing the law, not with the responsibility for making it.

6 Reid, op. cit., ii. 430.

1 Bp King to James Bonnel, 9 Dec. 1691 (T.C.D.).

2 Abp Boyle to Bp. King, 12 Jan. 1691/2 (T.C.D.).

3 Sydney to Nottingham, 20 Feb. 1693 (Cal. S.P dom., 1693, p. 39).

4 Nottingham to Sydney, 18 Mar. 1693 (ibid., p. 71).

1 Reid, , History of the presbyterian church in Ireland, ed. Killen, W D. (1867), ii. 592–3.Google Scholar

2 Henry Ashe to Bp King, 2 Nov. 1697 ; — to same, 5 Nov. 1697 (T.C.D.).

3 ’ The case of Thomas Moncrieffe of the city of Londonderry, alderman', T.C.D., MSN.3.1,pp. 130-2.

4 Bp Ashe of Clogher to Bp King, 4 Dec. 1699 (T.C.D.).

5 Dean Bolton to Bp King, 29 Feb. 1701–2 (T.C.D.).

6 Charles Norman to Bp King, 1 Jan. 1698–9 (T.C.D.).

7 Dean Bolton to Bp King, 4 Oct. 1702 (T.C.D.).

1 Same to same, 4 Nov. 1701 ; 21 Nov. 1701 (T.C.D.).

2 Same to same, 2 Dec. 1701 ; 6 Feb. [?] 1701–2 (T.C.D.).

3 Quaedam, p. 35 ; Bp King to Samuel Foley, 13 Sept. 1692 (T.C.D.) ; same to Abp Tillotson of Canterbury, 28 Feb. 1692–3 (Armagh); A concise view of the Irish Society (1842), p. 77.

4 T W Moody, Londonderry plantation, pp. 392–3. ‘ The case of William lord bishop of Deny against the society for the new plantation in Ulster, the mayor of Londonderry, and others', (P.R.O.N.I., Ellis documents, no. 250).

5 Quaedam, p. 36. Bp King implies that the hostility to him in this matter which the dissenters showed arose from religious opposition. But this was not the only reason ; the corporation apparently expected the lease to be renewed on the old terms, while the bishop's agents reckoned that the land had gone up in value from £50 to £400 per annum. (A list of the lessees of the see of Deny, c. 1694–6). (P.R.O.N.I., Ellis documents, no. 240).

1 Bp King to Samuel Foley, 10 July 1691 (T.C.D.).

2 Same to James Bonnel, — Apr. 1695 (T.C.D.).

3 Dr Jenkins to Bp King, 29 May 1698 (T.C.D.). Jenkins was master of Deny Diocesan school 1696-1702 and rector of Camus-juxta-Mourne 1703–28. During Bp King's absence he acted as vicar-general. Leslie, J. B., Derry clergy and parishes, p. 133.Google Scholar

4 Bp King to Abp Marsh of Dublin, 20 July 1701 (C. S. King, op. cit., pp. 98-9). There is a less formal account: same to Bp Ashe of Clogher, 25 July 1701 (ibid., pp. 100–101).

5 Same to Southwell, 29 May 1691 (Armagh).

6 Same to Secretary Davis, 3 May 1692 (ibid.).

1 P.R.O.N.I., T 505, pp. 10–11

2 Dean Bolton to Abp King, 30 Mar. 1707 (T.C.D.).

3 Bp King to Bp Foley of Down, — Jan. 1694–5 (T.C.D.).

4 Same to Dr Jenkins, 23 Apr. 1698 (T.C.D.).

5 Dr R. Ford to Bp King, 16 July 1701 (T.C.D.).

1 P.R.O.N.I., T 505, p. 22.

2 Ibid., Ellis documents, no. 231.

3 Bp King to Southwell, 16 Oct. 1692 (Armagh).

4 P.R.O.N.I., T 505, pp. 16, 24.

5 For some account of these schemes and of King's part in urging them see I.H.S., ii. 280-302.

6 This was comparatively unimportant; the only bishop who was deprived was Sheridan of Kilmore. Henry Dodwell to Bp King, 7 Dec. 1700, in H.M.C. rep 2, pp. 240–1 ; same to same, 10 June 1702 (T.C.D.); Bp King to Sir Robert Hamilton, 14 Apr. 1702 (T.C.D.) ; Bp Sheridan to Bp King, 31 Jan. 1701–2 (T.C.D.).

1 C. S. King, op. cit., pp. 40–1 (note).

2 Bp King to Southwell, 19 July 1697 (T.C.D., MS N.3.1., p. 79).

3 B.M., Add MS 4815 (quoted by C. S. King, op. cit., p. 275).