John Vesey - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from John Voysey) Bishop of Exeter from 1519 until 1554 For other people named John Vesey, see John Vesey (disambiguation).

The Right Reverend John Vesey
Bishop of Exeter
Church	Roman Catholic
Appointed	31 August 1519; 28 September 1553
Term ended	14 August 1551; 23 October 1554
Predecessor	Hugh Oldham; Myles Coverdale
Successor	Myles Coverdale; James Turberville
Orders
Consecration	6 November 1519 by William Warham
Personal details
Died	23 October 1554
Buried	Holy Trinity Church
Coat of arms

John Vesey or Veysey (c. 1462 – 23 October 1554) was Bishop of Exeter from 1519 until his death in 1554, having been briefly deposed 1551–3 by King Edward VI for his opposition to the Reformation.

Origins

He was born (as "John Harman"), probably in about 1462, the son of William Harman, Esquire, of Moor Hall in the manor of Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire, a minor member of the county gentry, who bore arms of: Argent, on a cross sable a buck's head cabossed couped between four doves of the field. He is believed to have adopted the surname "Vesey" in lieu of his patronymic after his tutor of that name. His mother was Joan Squier, daughter and heiress of Henry Squier of Handsworth in Staffordshire.

Career

He received his education at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a doctorate in canon and civil law. After ordination he was appointed Rector of St Mary's Church, Chester. In 1527 he founded a grammar school for boys in Sutton Coldfield, which survives today as Bishop Vesey's Grammar School.

Vesey became a friend of Thomas Wolsey who was also educated at Magdalen College. From some unknown date until 1508 Vesey served as Archdeacon of Barnstaple in North Devon. In 1509 Wolsey became a Canon of Windsor and Chaplain to King Henry VIII of England. Vesey was appointed a Canon of Exeter Cathedral in Devon. Vesey became the Bishop of Exeter in 1519 and the King awarded him the temporalities of the See of Exeter, worth about £1,500 a year. He was consecrated a bishop on 6 November 1519 by William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and Thomas Halsey, Suffragan Bishop of York and Bishop of Leighlin.

In 1527 he acquired a 40 acre plot of land close to his birthplace on which he built a grand house (as of 2013 named Moor Hall (after his father's home), where he occasionally lived, today the site of Moor Hall Hotel.

The town of his birth benefited greatly from his wealth. The township of Sutton Coldfield had fallen on hard times and Vesey took it on himself to restore the fortunes of the town and its inhabitants. He prevailed upon the King to grant a Royal Charter of incorporation for the town in 1528; this entrusted the government of the town to a warden and to 24 local inhabitants known together as the "Warden and Society of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield".

Vesey is credited by the historian James Norris Brewer with rebuilding the aisles of Holy Trinity Church, Sutton Coldfield, reviving the markets and building a marketplace, paving the town, building two stone bridges, founding and endowing a free grammar school (Bishop Vesey's Grammar School), and building 51 stone houses, at least four of which survive.

Vesey survived the fall of Wolsey in 1529 and prospered reasonably until 1551 at age 89, when his opposition to the Reformation caught up with him and he was deprived by King Edward VI of his bishopric and its temporalities in exchange for a pension of £485 a year. He was restored to the See of Exeter when the Roman Catholic Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553. His coat of arms as bishop was his paternal arms differenced by the addition of a chief, namely: Argent, on a cross sable a buck's head cabossed between four doves of the first on a chief azure a cross flory between two roses or.

Sutton Coldfield was granted the Royal Tudor Rose by King Henry VIII in thanks for being aided by a young woman who shot dead, with an arrow, a wild boar which was charging at the King in 1528. He asked for the person responsible to come forward and a young woman from Sutton Coldfield came out of the trees. Vesey, a close friend of the King, was present at the incident. They also returned dispossessed land to the young woman's family.

Death, burial & succession

He died on 23 October 1554 and was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Sutton Coldfield, in which survives his monument, comprising his recumbent effigy on a chest tomb. It is nowadays visited as part of an annual ceremony by the school he founded.

His heir was his nephew John Harman (fl.1557/9), the son of his brother Hugh Harman (d.1528) of Moor Hall, who appears to have sold Moor Hall to John Richardson (d.1584).

In Literature

Vesey's life was the subject of various works by Alderman John Willmott: the play Pageant in 1928 (written for the 400th anniversary of Sutton Coldfield's royal charter), Vesey in 1935 (written for the silver jubilee of George V and starring Wilmott himself as Vesey), and a 1948 historical fiction book called Tales of a Bishop and a Royal Town (published by Green & Welburn Ltd of Birmingham in 1948). Wilmott served as a governor of Bishop Vesey Grammar School and, like Vesey, would also have a secondary school in the town named after him.

References

Doves, per George Oliver, Lives of the Bishops of Exeter
Burke's General Armory, 1884, re Harman
"John Harman", possibly in Latinised form "Iohannes Harman"
"Esquire", i.e. a gentleman, per George Oliver, Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, p.120
Doves, per George Oliver, Lives of the Bishops of Exeter
Burke's general Armory, 1884; 'The borough of Sutton Coldfield', in A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4, Hemlingford Hundred, ed. L F Salzman (London, 1947), pp. 230-245
confirmed by Dethick, Garter King of Arms, Heraldic Visitation 1619, per Burke, 1884
Burke's General Armory, 1884, re Harman
Oliver
Pedigree of Harman see Fetherston, J., ed. (1877). The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the year 1619, taken by William Camden, Clarencieux King of Arms. Harleian Society, 1st ser. 12. London., p.105
Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Haak-Harman
Perceval, Arthur Philip. An Apology for the Doctrine of Apostolical Succession: With an Appendix, on the English Orders. second edition (London: Rivington, 1841) p. 188.
'The borough of Sutton Coldfield', in A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4, Hemlingford Hundred, ed. L F Salzman (London, 1947), pp. 230-245
Brewer, James Norris (1820). A topographical and historical description of the county of Warwick. pp. 296–299.
de3 Thoyras, Rapin (1747). An abridgement of the history of England: being a summary of Mr. Rapin's history and Mr. Tindal's continuation : From the landing of Julius Caesar to the death of king George I.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Doves, per George Oliver, Lives of the Bishops of Exeter
Burke's General Armory, 1884, re Harman
Weir, Alison (2011). Henry VIII: King and Court. Random House. p. 287. ISBN 9781446449233.
"The Past – Sutton Coldfield's History". Sutton Coldfield. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
Birmingham.gov.uk: Bishop Vesey's Monument Archived 10 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
'The borough of Sutton Coldfield', in A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4, Hemlingford Hundred, ed. L F Salzman (London, 1947), pp. 230-245
"John Willmott (1869-1958) & Arthur Terry (1875-1967): Two Stalwarts of Sutton Coldfield Town Council". Retrieved 22 September 2022.

Sources

George Oliver, The Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, 1861.
Fryer, Geoffrey R.D. (1997), John Veysey and His World: A Biography of Bishop Veysey (c.1465–1554) of Sutton Coldfield: published by the author. ISBN 0-9682625-0-3.

External links

Birmingham city Tourism page

Religious titles
Preceded byHugh Oldham	Bishop of Exeter 1519–1551	Succeeded byMyles Coverdale
Preceded byMyles Coverdale	Bishop of Exeter 1553–1554	Succeeded byJames Turberville

v t e Deans of Exeter
High Medieval	Serlo Roger de Wynkleigh William de Stanwey Roger de Toriz John Noble John Pycot Andrew de Kilkenny
Late Medieval	Henry de Somerset Thomas de Lechlade Bartholomew de Sancto Laurentio Richard de Coleton Richard de Braylegh Reginald de Bugwell Robert Sumpter Thomas Walkyngton Ralph Tregrision Stephen Payn John Cobethorn John Hals Henry Webber Peter Courtenay Lionel Woodville John Arundel
Early modern	Edward Willoughby Thomas Hobbes John Vesey Richard Pace Reginald Pole Simon Haynes James Haddon Thomas Reynolds Gregory Dodds George Carew Stephen Townesend Matthew Sutcliffe William Peterson Seth Ward Edward Young George Cary Richard Annesley William Wake Lancelot Blackburne Edward Trelawney John Gilbert Alured Clarke William Holmes Charles Lyttleton Jeremiah Milles William Buller Charles Harward
Late modern	Charles Talbot George Gordon John Garnett Whittington Landon Thomas Lowe Charles Ellicott The Viscount Midleton Archibald Boyd Benjamin Cowie Alfred Earle Henry Gamble Walter Matthews Spencer Carpenter Alexander Wallace Marcus Knight Clifford Chapman Richard Eyre Keith Jones Jonathan Meyrick Jonathan Draper

v t e Deans of Windsor
Late Medieval	William Mugge Walter Almaly Thomas Butler Richard Kingston John Arundel Thomas Manning John Faux William Morland William Dudley Peter Courtenay Richard Beauchamp Thomas Danett William Bealey John Morgan Christopher Urswick
Early modern	Christopher Bainbridge Thomas Hobbs Nicholas West John Vesey John Clerk Richard Sampson William Franklyn Owen Oglethorpe Hugh Weston John Boxall George Carew William Day Robert Bennet Giles Thomson Anthony Maxey Marco Antonio de Dominis Henry Beaumont Matthew Wren Christopher Wren Edward Hyde Bruno Ryves John Durell Francis Turner Gregory Hascard Thomas Manningham John Robinson The Lord Willoughby de Broke Peniston Booth Frederick Keppel John Harley John Douglas James Cornwallis Charles Manners-Sutton
Late modern	Edward Legge Henry Hobart George Neville-Grenville Gerald Wellesley George Connor Randall Davidson Philip Eliot Albert Baillie Eric Hamilton Robin Woods Launcelot Fleming Michael Mann Patrick Mitchell David Conner Christopher Cocksworth

v t e Bishops of Exeter
Bishops of Crediton	Werstan (bishop at Tawton) Putta (bishop at Tawton) Eadwulf Æthelgar Ælfwold I Sideman Ælfric Ælfwold II Ælfwold III Eadnoth Lyfing of Winchester Leofric see translated to Exeter
High Medieval	Leofric Osbern FitzOsbern William Warelwast Robert Warelwast Robert of Chichester Bartholomew Iscanus John the Chanter Henry Marshal Simon of Apulia William Briwere Richard Blund Walter Branscombe Peter Quinel Thomas Bitton
Late Medieval	Walter de Stapledon James Berkeley John Godeley John Grandisson Thomas de Brantingham Edmund Stafford John Catterick Edmund Lacey John Hales George Neville John Booth Peter Courtenay Richard Foxe Oliver King Richard Redman
Early modern	John Arundel Hugh Oldham John Vesey Myles Coverdale John Vesey James Turberville William Alley William Bradbridge John Woolton Gervase Babington William Cotton Valentine Cary Joseph Hall Ralph Brownrigg Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) John Gauden Seth Ward Anthony Sparrow Thomas Lamplugh Sir Jonathan Trelawney Bt Ofspring Blackall Lancelot Blackburne Stephen Weston Nicholas Clagett George Lavington Frederick Keppel John Ross William Buller Reginald Courtenay
Late modern	John Fisher George Pelham William Carey Christopher Bethell Henry Phillpotts Frederick Temple Edward Bickersteth Herbert Edward Ryle Archibald Robertson Lord William Cecil Charles Curzon Robert Mortimer Eric Mercer Hewlett Thompson Michael Langrish John Ford (acting) Nick McKinnel (acting) Robert Atwell Mike Harrison

v t e Deans of the Chapel Royal
Late Medieval	John de Wodeford John de Leek Thomas de Lynton John Boor Richard Kyngeston Richard Prentys Edmund Lacy Robert Gilbert Richard Praty John Croucher Robert Ayscogh William Say William Dudley John Gunthorpe William Chauntre Richard Hill Thomas Jane Richard Nikke Geoffrey Simeon
Early modern	William Atwater John Vesey Richard Sampson Thomas Thirlby George Carew James Montague Lancelot Andrewes William Laud Richard Steward Gilbert Sheldon George Morley Herbert Croft Walter Blandford Henry Compton Nathaniel Crew Henry Compton (again) John Robinson William Talbot Edmund Gibson

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