The Last Abbot of Glastonbury

This is the story of Richard Whiting, a faithful steward of Glastonbury Abbey, chosen by Henry VIII's most faithful servant (Cardinal Wolsey), who agreed that Henry was the head of the Church of England, and who believed that his abbey was safe from Henry's intention to close down all monasteries.

In September 1539, Glastonbury was the last abbey in southwest England. In September, Thomas Cromwell (Lord of the Privy Seal) sent a small delegation whose purpose seemed to be to find reasons to close the place down.

One of the purposes of shutting down monasteries was so the king could assume their property. Glastonbury was a wealthy abbey, and the delegation expected to find treasure, but it was not readily apparent. They then made a more determined search and found money and valuable items hidden away in vaults, and assumed there might have been other valuables sent to other locations to hide them from the king.

Whiting was sent to the Tower of London to be examined by Cromwell himself, who wrote:

Item, Certayn persons to be sent to the Tower for the further examenacyon of the Abbot, of Glaston... Item. The Abbot, of Glaston to (be) tryed at Glaston and also executyd there with his complycys... Item. Councillors to give evidence against the Abbot of Glaston, Rich. Pollard, Lewis Forstew (Forstell), Thos. Moyle.

From Whiting's entry in the online Catholic Encyclopedia we can learn that the French ambassador at the time wrote:

The Abbot of Glastonbury. . . has lately, been put in the Tower, because, in taking the Abbey treasures, valued at 200,000 crowns, they found a written book of arguments in behalf of Queen Katherine. [link]

Whiting was sent from the Tower to Wells where he was tried and convicted of robbing Glastonbury. He and his treasurer and sacristan were taken to Glastonbury on the following day, dragged by horses to the top of Glastonbury Tor, then hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Whiting is considered a martyr for the Church and was beatified in 1895 (immortalized in the stained glass window above).

There was an earlier abbot of Glastonbury who also fell afoul of a king, which was even more interesting because the king was his brother. I'll tell you about him next time.

Richard Whiting

Richard Whiting (1461 - 15 November 1539) was educated as a young man at Glastonbury Abbey, then furthered his education in Cambridge at the Monk's Hostel. (Monk's Hostel was founded as a Benedictine hostel for those studying at Cambridge, it was later named Buckingham College and eventually refounded as St. Mary Magdalen).

Whiting earned his MA at Cambridge and was ordained a deacon in 1500 and a priest in 1501, then returned to Cambridge to study for a doctorate in 1505. Once back at Glastonbury he was put in charge of the physical plant essentially as a chamberlain, managing dormitories, lavatories, and the wardrobe.

In 1525, when Whiting was 64 years old, Abbot Richard Beere died. (Beere may have been Whiting's uncle.) The monks of Glastonbury asked Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (by this time Lord High Chancellor under King Henry VIII) to choose their new abbot. Wolsey, with Henry's permission, chose Richard Whiting. Whiting was abbot for a decade, and was well-liked according to contemporary accounts.

When the Act of Supremacy came about, appointing the rulers of England as the heads of the Church of England, Whiting signed it in 1534.

Not everyone was willing to submit to this Act. History has made much of the executions of Thomas More and Bishop of Rochester St. John Fisher (also a Cambridge graduate) for denying the king this title. Was Whiting truly accepting of the king's new title as head of the church, or was he being politic in an attempt to keep the king's favor? Either way, his position was precarious. Richard Layton, a churchman and diplomat under Henry and Wolsey, came to Glastonbury to examine its administration, giving Whiting some injunctions for changes to be made, and removing the abbot's jurisdiction over the town of Glastonbury.

In 1535, the Suppression of Religious Houses Act dissolved several smaller monasteries, but Whiting was always told that Glastonbury was safe. By the beginning of 1539, Glastonbury was the only abbey left in Somerset.

One of the effects of the Dissolution was that the king assumed control of property and material goods, of which Glastonbury had much. In September of 1539, a delegation from London arrived to "take stock" of Glastonbury's possessions. This is where things went very poorly for Richard Whiting, as I'll explain tomorrow.