Parker, Matthe^w, an eminent English prelate, noted especially for his connection with the Nag's-Head Consecration, is so closely related to the history of his own times that the period of his activity is regarded as a chapter in Church history, or, as some have it, " arch- bishop Parker's history is that of the Church of Eng- land." He was born at Norwich Aug. G, 1504, and was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. AVhile at the university he was a distinguished student, es- pecially of the Scriptures and of the history of the Church, even to antiquarian minuteness; yet, in spite of his strong leaning to the past, he was from an early period favorably disposed towards the doctrines of the Keformation. 1!( was l!rst created Bible-clerk, or schol- ar, and afterwards fellow of his college. He was so conspicuous for learning that he was among other em- inent scholars invited by cardinal Wolsey to Oxford, to furnish and adorn his new magnificent foundation. This invitation Parker did not choose to accept; but, re- siding in his own college, he pursued his studies with the greatest application for five or six years ; and, in this pe- riod having read over the fathers and councils, acquired a thorough knowledge of divinity. He was ordained a priest in 1527, and lived in close intimacy with some of the more ardent Reformers. In 1533 he was appointed chaplain to queen Anne Boloyn, who thought very higlily of him, and not long before her death exhorted her daughter Elizabeth to avail herself of Parker's wise and pious counsel. In 1535 he obtained the deanery of the monastic college of Stoke-Clare. in Suffolk — Roinan Catholicism, it must not be forgotten, being still the pro- fessed religion of the land, as Henry had not yet for- mally broken with the pope. Here the studious clerk continued his pursuit of classical and ecclesiastical lit- erature, and at the satrie tiine set himself to correct the prevailing decay of morals and learning in the Church by founding a school in the locality for the purpose of instructing the youth in the study of grammar and hu- manity. Here, too, he appears for the first time to have definitely sided with the reforming part}- in the Church and State; the sermons which he then preached con- tain bold attacks on various Romish tenets and prac- tices. In 1537, after the queen's death, Parker was made one of the king's chaplains, and contiiuicd in the bold and uncompromising course notwithstanding that complaint was entered against him to lord-chancellor Audley. In 1538 Parker took the doctorate in divin- ity; in 1541 he was installed prebend iu the cathedral of Ely ; in 1542 he was presented with the rcctorate of Ashen, in Essex, conveniently situated both for Cam- bridge and Stoke; and when, in 1544, he resigned this living, he was presented with the rectorate f)f Birming- ham, in Norfolk. In this year he also received further expression of royal favor by being made master of Cor- pus Christi, or IJeuet College, his alma mater at Cara- bridc;e. In the vear following his college elevated him
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to the vice-cliaiicellorsliip, ami presented him with the rectory of Landbeach, in Cambridgeshire. In 1547 he renounced the obligations of priestly celibacy and mar- ried a daughter of a Norfolk gentleman. As this step caused much agitation, he drew up his defence, entitled De ConjiKjio ,S(icerdotum. By Echvard VI he was nom- inated to the deanery of Lincoln in 1552 ; and under this prince, as under king Henry, he lived in great reputa- tion and affluence. But in queen Mary's reign he was deprived of all his preferments, because he was married, as it was pretended; but the real cause was liis zeal for the Reformation. Parker was so disliked by the papists that he was even obliged to hide himself, though it does not appear that the Komish emissaries cared to find him in his concealment. His low circumstances he endured with a cheerful and contented mind; and during his retirement turned the book of Psalms into English verse, and rewrote and considerably enlarged his De Conjiif/io Siux-rdotii m.
The death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth called Parker from his learned retirement. Sir Nicholas JJacon, now lord-keeper of the great, seal, and SirWilliam Cecil, secretary of state, both old Cambridge friends, heartilj' recommended Parker for the archbishopric of Canterbury, and the queen, approving of their choice, caused his consecration in Lambeth chapel, Dec. 17, 1559, by Barlow, bishop of Chichester; Scory, bishop of Hereford; Coverdale, bishop of Exeter; and Hodg- kin, suffragan -bishop of Bedford. We mention this circumstance so minutely because the Romanists in- vented a tale afterwards that he had been consecrated at the Nag's-Head inn or tavern in Cheapside. But this notorious and improbable falsehood has been fully confuted by Mason (^Vindication of the. Church of Eng- land conceniing the Consecration and Ordination of Bishops [1633, fol.]), by Bramhall {Consecration of Protestant Bishops Vindicated), and by Courayer {De- fence of the Validity of English Ordinations [1728, 3 vols. 8vo]), and withal is disproved by many Catholics, so that to believe it nowadays requires more than even popish credulity. The period nov/ opening up is one of the most remarkable in English history. Parker held the archbishop/ic for more than fifteen years. These were years of changes in the State and in the Church. Eirst of all there was the restoration of the Church Establishment to the condition which it had enjoyed previous to the accession of bloody iNIary (q. v."). And this of itself was no easy matter in the unsettled state of ecclesiastical affairs. The hierarchy was dis- solved, and the current of religious opinions directed into strange and untravelled channels. A strong spirit of dissension had developed within the very heart of the establishment — the germs of Puritanism had begun to spring up. There can be no doubt that all this was at- tributable to the caprices of the new monarch herself. She had pledged licrself to a restoration of Protestant principles, and yet was so much addicted to various popish practices, such as the idolatrous use of images, and was so strongly, we might say violently, in favor of the celibacy of the English clergy, that several parties developed within the Church, some favoring her, others opposing her; some approving her notions, others insist- ing upon a less or a more decided radical departure. Possibly all the factions might by wise and considerate action have been harmonized. But then came the great ditHculty of satisfying also those who, having been abroad while the papists controlled, now, on tlieir return home, desired the adoption of the Swiss or Continental doctrines and practices in toto. Parker himself, being rather of a conservative turn of mind, had been chosen for the archbishopric, just as the primates of England are generally chosen for their willingness to be passive instruments of the government. The dignity of their office has, in their judgment, culminated in obedience to the policy and the passions of the sovereign. Cranmer's chief work had been to celebrate and then to undo royal marriages, to carry out the law of the six articles, to