Goldwell, James
GOLDWELL, JAMES
English canonist, civil servant; b. Great Chart, Kent; d. Feb. 15, 1499. Son of the lord of the manor, he became a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, in 1441, and doctor of Canon and civil law by 1461. Goldwell was commissary general of John kemp when Kemp was archbishop of Canterbury (1452–54) and subsequently enjoyed the patronage of his nephew Thomas kemp, Bishop of London. In 1460 Goldwell appears to have been appointed secretary to King henry vi by the King's "Yorkist" captors. He afterward served King Edward IV as registrar of the Order of the Garter, master of requests, clerk of the council, and diplomat to several European monarchs. He was the King's orator at the Roman Curia in 1468–69 and 1471–72, and was consecrated there as bishop of Norwich, England, in 1472. Thereafter he was occasionally a councilor of Edward IV and King henry vii. Goldwell was a munificent benefactor to Norwich Cathedral, Leeds Priory, Great Chart Church, and All Souls College library (MSS listed in Emden 2:785).
Bibliography: The Dictionary of National Biography From the Earliest Times to 1900 8:96–97. a. b. emden A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A. D. 1500 2:783–786. j. r. lander, "Council Administration and Councillors, 1461 to 1485," Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 32 (1959) 138–180.
[r. l. storey]