Hugh Latimer

The English Protestant bishop Hugh Latimer (ca. 1492-1555) was an influential preacher of the first generation of English reformers. For a time bishop of Worcester, he was martyred as an arch-heretic.

Hugh Latimer was born at Thurscaston in Leicestershire, the son of a prosperous farmer. Educated at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, and elected a fellow there before obtaining his master of arts degree in 1514, Latimer was ordained priest in July 1515. He remained active in the university and received the degree of bachelor of divinity in 1524.

Latimer, until 1524, had been a vigorous opponent of the young Lutheran scholars at Cambridge. However, he gradually came under their influence. Notable elements in his conversion were the rejection of the works of the Fathers and the Schoolmen, an acceptance of the Bible as the solely sufficient authority in matters of faith, and the agreement with Martin Luther's principle that men are justified by faith alone. By 1529 his campaign for an English Bible brought him an examination and a caution from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey himself. Undeterred, however, Latimer continued to preach at Cambridge, and fierce controversies arose over his assertions. In addition, Latimer worked hard and successfully to get a majority of opinion at the university to support the annulment of King Henry VIII's marriage with Catherine of Aragon. Royal favor followed in the shape of an invitation to preach before the King and of an appointment to the parish of West Kington in Wiltshire as rector. It culminated in his nomination to the bishopric of Worcester in 1535.

By 1539, however, the King was dissatisfied with the rapid development of reforming views and approved the conservative Act of Six Articles as fundamental expressions of Church doctrine; in consequence Thomas Cromwell prompted Latimer's resignation, the cessation of his preaching, and the restricting of his liberty.

During the subsequent reign of King Edward VI, who acceded to the throne in January 1547, Protestantism rose in favor. Latimer became the most famous preacher of the day, speaking not merely on theological subjects but also on social and economic reforms. His humorous and homely style ensured wide appreciation, and Latimer did much to spread the idea of the Reformation.

The accession of Mary I in 1553 reinstated Catholicism, and Latimer was discredited and arrested immediately. Throughout his imprisonment and heresy trial in 1554, the aged preacher stoutly maintained his Protestant convictions, even when he was about to be burned alive. Hugh Latimer died on Oct. 16, 1555, a martyr to his beliefs.

Further Reading

George E. Corrie edited The Works of Hugh Latimer (2 vols., 1844-1845). An attractive introduction to the work of the reforming bishop is provided in Allan G. Chester's edition of Selected Sermons of Hugh Latimer (1960). Two recent biographies are Harold S. Darby, Hugh Latimer (1953), and Allan G. Chester, Hugh Latimer: Apostle to the English (1954).

Additional Sources

Chester, Allan Griffith, Hugh Latimer, apostle to the English, New York: Octagon Books, 1978, 1954.

Stuart, Clara H., Latimer, apostle to the English, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Books, 1986.

Wood, Douglas C., Such a candle: the story of Hugh Latimer, Welwyn: Evangelical Press, 1980. □

LATIMER, HUGH

Bishop of Worcester and most influential preacher of the early English Reformation; b. Thurcaston, Leicestershire, date uncertain but perhaps 1492; d. Oxford, Oct. 16, 1555. He came of yeoman stock, and was educated at Cambridge, elected Fellow of Clare Hall (1510), and awarded the master of arts degree in 1514. The following year he was ordained. He remained at the university for more than 20 years and came to occupy a position of prominence and influence there, being appointed a university preacher and chaplain (1522). His disputation for the bachelor of divinity degree in 1524 was an attack on Melanchthon's teachings. Soon thereafter, however, he became a leader of the group of Cambridge reformers who had come under the influence of Erasmus and Martin Luther. He preached on behalf of an authorized English translation of the Bible and took a leading part in supporting Henry VIII against papal claims in the matter of the King's marriage. He likewise preached in defense of the royal supremacy.

In 1535 Latimer was made bishop of Worcester. As a Member of Parliament he voted for the suppression of the lesser monasteries. He also gave strong support to the government's destruction of the shrines. In 1539 he resigned his see, believing that this was the King's wish. In the changing religious scenes of this period, Latimer experienced varying fortunes. He had been charged with heresy in the reign of Henry VIII and had been forced to recant. He had served as the King's chaplain and shortly after had been imprisoned and forbidden to preach. In 1548 he formally rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation. As court preacher under Edward VI he exercised a great influence on the formation of Protestant thinking in England. When Queen Mary Tudor came to the throne he was charged with heresy, brought to trial, condemned, and burned at the stake with Nicholas ridley.

Bibliography: Works, ed. g. e. corrie, 2 v. (Cambridge, Eng. 1844–45). a. g. chester, Hugh Latimer, Apostle to the English (Philadelphia 1954). m. schmidt, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart ³ 4:238–239.

[d. j. gunderson]

Latimer, Hugh (c.1485–1555). Bishop. One of the ‘Oxford martyrs’, Latimer was also one of the most celebrated and effective preachers of the Tudor church in the early years of the Reformation. The son of a Leicestershire yeoman, he was educated at Cambridge, ordained priest, and in 1522 licensed as one of the university's preachers. Some time between then and 1525 he came under the influence of reforming ideas, reputedly through contact with Thomas Bilney. Inhibited from preaching by the bishop of Ely, Latimer regained his licence on appeal to Cardinal Wolsey. He briefly preached at court around 1530, then moved to a Wiltshire living, where his preaching was once again censured in 1532. In 1535, after the break with Rome, he was appointed bishop of Worcester. As bishop he demonstrated the concern for the poor and the skill in humorous invective for which he was later well known. He resigned his see in 1539 in protest against the Act of Six Articles and was twice imprisoned in the 1540s. On Edward VI's accession he was released, resuming his career of energetic and fashionable preaching. His sermon ‘Of the Plough’, preached at Paul's Cross in 1548, contains a classic combination of practical theology with social insights and concerns. On Mary I's accession he was summoned to London, declining opportunities to escape into exile. He confronted catholic spokesmen in the Oxford disputation of April 1554; after two examinations for heresy in 1555, in which he refused to submit to catholic teachings on the real presence and the sacrifice of the mass, he was burned at Oxford on 16 October 1555, alongside the former bishop of London, Nicholas Ridley. Less a theologian than a preacher and communicator, he did more than most to instil practical protestantism in the minds of those lay people who stood by it in the reign of Mary Tudor and thereafter.

Euan Cameron

Latimer, Hugh (c.1485–1555). Bishop of Worcester and Reformer. Ordained priest in 1524, he was influenced by the conversion of Thomas Bilney and gradually became a zealous exponent of the reformed faith. In 1535 he was made bishop of Worcester, but in 1539 his convinced Protestantism caused him to oppose Henry's Act of Six Articles. He was imprisoned in the Tower in 1546, but on the accession of Edward (1547) was released, becoming an increasingly popular preacher. Early in Mary's reign he was reimprisoned, excommunicated, and burnt along with Ridley on 16 Oct. 1555.

Latimer, Hugh (1485–1555) English clergyman and Protestant martyr. He defended King Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. In 1535 he was made Bishop of Worcester, but resigned his see in 1539 as a protest against the temporary reaction in favour of Catholicism. With the accession of Edward VI (1547), he resumed preaching. When the Roman Catholic Mary I came to the throne in 1553, he was charged with heresy and, refusing to recant, was burned at the stake.