JOHN OF FECKENHAM

Alias Howman, Marian abbot of Westminster; b. Feckenham, Worcestershire, c. 1512; d. Wisbech Castle, Cambridgeshire, c. October 1584. Of a yeoman family, he was educated probably at the almonry school at the Benedictine abbey of Evesham; he was professed there, taking—as was then usual—the name of his hometown. Sent to the Benedictine Oxford college, Gloucester Hall, Feckenham graduated Bachelor of Divinity in 1539. His monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII in January of 1540 after which he became, in succession, chaplain to the two religiously conservative bishops, Bell of Worcester and Bonner of London. Like them he accepted the royal supremacy, but rejected Protestantism and for this he was imprisoned (1551–53). At the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary he was released, reconciled to the Church, and made dean of St. Paul's, London, in January of 1554. He played a minor part in the restoration of Catholicism. By November 1556 Westminster Abbey was restored as a monastery to a group of some 20 former monks, mostly former colleagues at Gloucester Hall, and Feckenham was elected abbot. Cardinal Reginald Pole intended to introduce there the reformed observance of the Cassinese Congregation and to make Westminster the seedbed for the gradual restoration of reformed Benedictines, Cistercians, and Augustinian Canons throughout England. But very little of this program had been achieved when Pole and Queen Mary died in November of 1558. Feckenham spoke in the House of Lords against the Elizabethan Bills of Supremacy, First Fruits, and Uniformity. By June of 1559 the Westminster community was dispersed by royal orders, and on May 20, 1560 Feckenham was sent to the Tower for opposing Elizabethan policies. He remained in custody for the rest of his life. Although he was accused of wavering in his Catholicism, the truth seems to be that he was always eager to attend Protestant sermons so as to debate afterward with the preachers and that he was willing (the royal ecclesiastical supremacy apart) to accept Elizabeth as the rightful queen, all papal bulls to the contrary notwithstanding. He is important as the only Marian prelate to have left any body of theological writings.

Bibliography: h. aveling, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et. al. (Paris 1912—)d. knowles, The Religious Orders in England, 3 v. (Cambridge, Eng 1948–60) 3:421–443.

[h. aveling]