Editing Thomas Tenison

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 1695 to 1715}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|size=100%|MRevd|&RHPC}}
| name = Thomas Tenison
| honorific-suffix = 
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| image = Simon Dubois (attrib.) - Portrait of Thomas Tenison.jpg
| imagesize = 
| alt = 
| caption = Portrait by [[Simon Dubois]]
| province = 
| diocese = [[Diocese of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
| church = [[Church of England]]
| see = 
| enthroned = 1695
| ended = 14 December 1715
| term = 1695–1715
| predecessor = [[John Tillotson]]
| successor = [[William Wake]]
| ordination = 
| consecration = 10 January 1692
| consecrated_by = [[John Tillotson]]
| other_post = 
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1636|9|29|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Cottenham]], Cambridgeshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1715|12|14|1636|9|29|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England
| buried = 
| nationality = English
| religion = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]]
| residence = 
| parents = John Tenison<br>Mercy Dowsing
| spouse = Anne Love
| children = 
| occupation = 
| profession = 
| alma_mater = [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]
| signature = 
| education = [[Norwich School]]
}}
[[File:Arms of Tenison.png|thumb|Arms of Tenison: ''Gules, three leopard's faces or jessant de lys azure overall a bend engrailed argent''.<ref>Burkes General Armory, 1884</ref> A [[Difference (heraldry)|difference]] of these arms was borne by Tennyson, the family of [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]] (1809–1892) ([[Baron Tennyson]]), the poet]]
[[File:ThomasTenison ArchbishopOfCanterbury Arms.jpg|thumb|Arms of Thomas Tenison showing arms of the See of Canterbury [[Impalement (heraldry)|impaling]] arms of Tenison (''Three leopard's faces [[jessant-de-lys]] overall a bend engrailed''), imprint on front cover of a [[Book of Common Prayer]], 1686, collection of University of Toronto]]
'''Thomas Tenison''' (29 September 1636{{snd}}14 December 1715) was an English church leader, [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs.

==Life==
He was born at [[Cottenham]], Cambridgeshire, the son and grandson of Anglican clergymen, who were both named John Tenison; his mother was Mercy Dowsing. He was educated at [[Norwich School]], going on to [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]], as a scholar on Archbishop [[Matthew Parker]]'s foundation. He graduated in 1657, and was chosen fellow in 1659.<ref>{{acad|id=TNY653T|name=Tenison, Thomas}}</ref> For a short time he studied medicine, but in 1659 was privately ordained. As curate of [[St Andrew the Great]], Cambridge from 1662, he set an example by his devoted attention to the sufferers from the [[Bubonic plague|plague]]. In 1667 he was presented to the living of [[Holywell, Cambridgeshire|Holywell]]-cum-[[Needingworth]], Huntingdonshire, by the [[Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester|Earl of Manchester]], to whose son he had been tutor, and in 1670 to that of [[St Peter Mancroft]], Norwich.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=617}}

In 1680 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and was presented by King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] to the important London church of [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]]. Tenison, according to [[Gilbert Burnet]], "endowed schools including [[Archbishop Tenison's Church of England School|Archbishop Tenison's School, Lambeth]], founded in 1685 and [[Archbishop Tenison's Church of England High School, Croydon|Archbishop Tenison's School, Croydon]], founded in 1714, set up a public library, and kept many curates to assist him in his indefatigable labours". Being a strenuous opponent of the Church of Rome, and "[[Whitehall]] lying within that parish, he stood as in the front of the battle all King James's reign". In 1678, in a ''Discourse of Idolatry'', he condemned the heathenish idolatry practised in the Church of Rome, and in a sermon which he published in 1681 on ''Discretion in Giving Alms'' was attacked by Andrew Poulton, head of the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] in the Savoy. Tenison's reputation as an enemy of Romanism led the [[James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth|Duke of Monmouth]] to send for him before his execution in 1685, when Bishops [[Thomas Ken]] and [[Francis Turner (bishop)|Francis Turner]] refused to administer [[Eucharist|holy communion]]; but, although Tenison spoke to him in "a softer and less peremptory manner" than the two bishops, he was, like them, not satisfied with the sufficiency of Monmouth's penitence.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=617}}

Under King [[William III of England|William III]], Tenison was in 1689 named a member of the ecclesiastical commission appointed to prepare matters towards a reconciliation of the Dissenters, the revision of the liturgy being specially entrusted to him. A sermon he preached on the commission was published the same year.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=617}}

He strongly supported, at least in public, the [[Glorious Revolution]], though not without some private misgivings, especially concerning the ejection of Archbishop [[William Sancroft]] and the other "non-juring" bishops. [[Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon]] in his diary records some frank remarks made by Tenison on this subject at a dinner party in 1691:

<blockquote>That there had been irregularities in our settlement; that it was wished that things had been otherwise, but that we were now to make the best of it, and support this government as it was, for fear of a worse.</blockquote>

He preached a [[funeral sermon]] for [[Nell Gwyn]] in 1687, in which he represented her as truly penitent &ndash; a charitable judgment that did not meet with universal approval. The general liberality of Tenison's religious views won him royal favour, and, after being made [[Bishop of Lincoln]] in 1691, he was promoted to Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1694.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=617}}

[[File:Lord Justices of England.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Archbishop Tenison was one of seven Lord Justices whom [[William III of England|King William]] appointed to administer the kingdom whilst he was on campaign in Europe.]]

==Archbishop of Canterbury==

He attended Queen [[Mary II of England|Mary]] during her last illness and preached her funeral sermon in [[Westminster Abbey]]. In 1695, when William went to take command of the army in the Netherlands, Tenison was appointed one of the seven lords justices to whom his authority was delegated.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=617}} After Mary's death, Tenison was one of those who persuaded the King that his long and bitter quarrel with her sister Anne must be ended, as it had weakened the authority of the Crown.<ref>Gregg, Edward ''Queen Anne'' Yale University Press 1980 p.102</ref> He was sworn in as a member of the [[Privy Council of England]] in 1695 upon his appointment as [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. This gave him the [[Honorific|Honorific Title]] "[[The Right Honourable]]" for Life.

==Under Queen Anne==

Along with [[Gilbert Burnet]], he attended King  William on his deathbed. He crowned William's successor, [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], but during her reign was in very little favour at court:<ref>Gregg p.206</ref> the Queen thought that he inclined too much to the Low Church, and clashed repeatedly with him over her sole right to appoint bishops. She entirely ignored his wishes when she appointed [[Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet]], as [[Bishop of Winchester]]: when he tried to remonstrate, the Queen cut him short with the cold remark that  "the matter was decided." Only with great difficulty did he persuade her to appoint his nominee [[William Wake]], as [[Bishop of Lincoln]].<ref>Somerset, Anne ''Queen Anne'' Harper Press 2012 p.224</ref>

Increasingly he lost influence to [[John Sharp (bishop)|John Sharp]], [[Archbishop of York]], whom the Queen found far more congenial.<ref>Gregg p.146</ref> He was a commissioner for the [[Union with Scotland]] in 1706; but in the last years of the Queen's reign he was very much a secondary political figure, and from September 1710, though he was still nominally a member of the Cabinet, ceased to attend its meetings.<ref>Gregg p.141</ref> A strong supporter of the Hanoverian succession, who shocked many by referring to Anne's death as a blessing,<ref>Somerset p.540</ref> he was one of three officers of state to whom, on the death of Anne, was entrusted the duty of appointing a regent till the arrival of [[George I of Great Britain|George I]], whom he crowned on 20 October 1714.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=617}} For the last time at the [[coronation]] of an English monarch, the Archbishop asked if the people accepted their new King: the witty [[Catherine Sedley]], former mistress of [[James II of England|James II]], remarked: "Does the old fool think we will say no?". Tenison died in London a year later. He was instrumental in the last years of his life in the literary executorship of [[Sir Thomas Browne]]'s manuscript writings known as ''[[Christian Morals]]''.

==Other works==
Besides the sermons and tracts above mentioned, and various others on the "Popish" controversy, Tenison was the author of ''The Creed of Mr Hobbes Examined'' (1670) and ''Baconia, or Certain Genuine Remains of Lord Bacon'' (1679). He was one of the founders of the [[United Society Partners in the Gospel|Society for the Propagation of the Gospel]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=617–618}}

==Family==
He married Anne, daughter of [[Richard Love]]; but died without issue.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Tenison, Thomas}}</ref> [[Edward Tenison]] (1673–1735) LL.B (Cantab.), his cousin, became [[Bishop of Ossory]] (Ireland) (1730/1731-1735).<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Tenison, Edward}}</ref><ref>George Stanhope, A Letter from the Prolocutor to the Reverend Dr. Edward Tenison, Archdeacon of Carmarthen, 1718</ref> Another relative, [[Richard Tennison]] (1642–1705), became [[Bishop of Meath]]. Thomas is said to have advanced Richard in his career: in his [[will (law)|will]] he left legacies to all of Richard's five sons.

In appearance, he was described as a large, brawny, "hulking" figure, very strong when young but afflicted with [[gout]] in later life.<ref>Somerset p.224</ref>

He was a relative of [[Julian Tenison-Woods]].

==Armorials==
The personal [[coat of arms]] of Archbishop Tenison consists of the arms of the [[see of Canterbury]] [[Impalement (heraldry)|impaled]] with the Tenison family arms. The former, placed on the [[Dexter and sinister|dexter]] side of honour, are [[blazon]]ed as: ''[[Tincture (heraldry)|Azure]], an archiepiscopal cross in pale [[Tincture (heraldry)|or]] surmounted by a [[Pall (heraldry)|pall]] proper charged with four [[Cross (heraldry)|crosses patee fitchee]] [[Tincture (heraldry)|sable]]''. The arms of Tenison, placed on the [[Dexter and sinister|sinister]] side of the [[escutcheon (heraldry)|escutcheon]] are blazoned as: ''[[Gules]], a bend engrailed argent voided azure, between three [[Leopard (heraldry)|leopard]]'s faces or [[jessant-de-lys]] azure''. In standard English: a red field bearing a white (or silver) diagonal band with scalloped edges, and a narrower blue band running down its centre. This lies between three gold [[Leopard (heraldry)|heraldic lion's]] faces, each of which is pierced by a [[fleur-de-lys]] entering through the mouth.

These arms are a [[Difference (heraldry)|difference]], or variant, of the mediaeval arms of the family of Denys of [[Siston]], Gloucestershire, and may have been adopted by the Tenison family because its name signifies "Denys's or Denis's son". The arms were originally those of the Norman de Cantilupe family, whose feudal tenants the Denys family probably were in connection with [[Candleston Castle]] in [[Glamorgan]]. [[Thomas de Cantilupe|St Thomas Cantilupe]] (died 1282), bishop of Hereford, gave a reversed (i.e. upside down) version of the Cantilupe arms to the [[see of Hereford]], which uses them to this day. A version of the Denys arms was also adopted by the family of the [[poet laureate]] [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], not known to have been a descendant of Archbishop Thomas Tenison.

==Suspected discovery of his coffin==
[[File:Thomas Lenison Memorial.jpg|alt=Here lyeth the body of Thomas Tenison, late Archbishop of Canterbury, who departed this life in peace on the XIV day of December MDCCXV (14/12/1715)|thumb|Memorial in the floor of the deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth, which is next to the entrance of Lambeth Palace, London]]
In 2016, during the refurbishment of the [[Garden Museum]],<ref>[http://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/page/support-us Museum web-site]</ref> which is housed at the medieval church of St Mary-at-Lambeth,<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol23/pp104-117 Church of St Mary, Lambeth] British History on-line</ref> 30 lead coffins were found; one with an archbishop's red and gold mitre on top of it.<ref>[https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/builders-discover-archbishops-tombs-under-church-floor-bjddcdjnh Times on-line]</ref> Two archbishops were identified from nameplates on their coffins; with church records revealing that a further three archbishops, including Tenison, were likely to be buried in the vault.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39613462 |title=Remains of five 'lost' Archbishops of Canterbury found |date=16 April 2017 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Archbishop Tenison's C of E High School, Croydon|Archbishop Tenison's School, Croydon]]
*[[Archbishop Tenison's School|Archbishop Tenison's School, Lambeth]]
*[[List of Archbishops of Canterbury]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle= Tenison, Thomas|volume=26|pages=617–618}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Tenison, Thomas|volume=56|first= William Holden |last=Hutton}}
*{{cite ODNB|first=William|last= Marshall|title=Tenison, Thomas (1636–1715)|id=27130}}

==Further reading==
*[[Edward Carpenter (priest)|Edward Carpenter]], ''Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury: His Life and Times'' (SPCK, 1948).

==External links==
*[http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=tenison Archbishop Tenison's papers at Lambeth Palace Library]

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{{succession box | before=[[Thomas Barlow (bishop)|Thomas Barlow]] | title=[[Bishop of Lincoln]] | after=[[James Gardiner (bishop)|James Gardiner]] | years=1691&ndash;1695}}
{{succession box | before=[[John Tillotson]] | title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]] | after=[[William Wake]] | years=1695&ndash;1715}}
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{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{College of William & Mary chancellors}}

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[[Category:18th-century Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]
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[[Category:People educated at Norwich School]]
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