Nicholas was born of religious parents. His father during a large portion of his life was a mariner, but was afterwards a member and master of Trinity House. He was descended from an ancient family in Suffolk of the same name.
FROM HIS MOTHER'S WILL:
Johan Andrewes, widow, of the Tower Hill. All Saints Barking, 19 February 1594, proved 14 January 1597:
To my son Launcelot Andrewes my best salt with the cover, being silver and gilt. To my son Nicholas one hundred pounds.
Nicholas Andrewes, baptised at All Hallows, Barking, 23 February 1566/7 (PR); bequeathed property in Essex by his father, 1593; named in his mother's will, 1594; grocer, of the parish of St Brides, Fleet Street, October 1598 (London Subsidy Rolls); residual beneficiary of his uncle Matthew Andrewes, 1599; appointed to the Registrarship of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey for life, 3 December 1602 ("Lancelot Andrewes", P. Welsby, London 1958); received assignation of a lease of tithes at Erbury and Chilton from Henry Isaacson, 1620 (Norfolk RO, GIL/1/333/717 x 4); late of St Saviour, Southwark, administration PCC 25 September 1626; married and left issue (NB his son and heir, William Andrewes (1602-1640), was Rector of Nuthurst, Sussex, and did not emigrate to America.
Nicholas's great-grandson, Thomas Andrews, emigrated to America in 1685. Lt. General Frank Maxwell Andrews, after whom Andrews Air Force base outside of Washington, D.C. is named, descends from Nicholas Andrews through Thomas, as well as does William Lafayette Andrews, Jr.
According to the "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833, book two of the parochial registries states that Mr. Nicholas Andrewes, "the Bishops Brother", was buried at what is now the Southwark Cathedral on August 12, 1626.
In the same book is the burial record for Lancelott Andrewes, "Lord Bishop of Winton" on November 11, 1626, also at the Southwark Cathedral. (Burial information from Lora Tatum)
Among tombs and monuments within the church is that of John Gower (c. 1330-1408), poet and friend of Chaucer, whose Canterbury Tales begin in Southwark. Across the nave is a memorial to William Shakespeare, who spent much of his life in Southwark (and is thought to have had as his mistress Emilia Bassano Lanier, into whose family Nicholas Andrews' descendants would marry), and above it, a stained glass window depicting scenes from his plays. Edmund Shakespeare, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger are all buried in the Cathedral. Lancelot Andrewes, who translated the first five books of the Bible into English, is buried by the High Altar. He is a founding father of the Church of England. In the grounds is buried Mahomet, Chief of the Mohegan Tribe from New England and a memorial to him can be found in the churchyard. In 1607 John Harvard, was born in the parish of St Saviour and on 29th November of that year was baptised in the church. These events and Harvard’s subsequent emigration to the new colonies in America and the founding of what we now know as Harvard University, began a strong link between the Cathedral and the people of the United States of America.
About Nicholas' brother Lancelot, from "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833:
He was born in London, A. D. 1555, in the parish of Allhallows Barking, of religious parents; his father during a large portion of his life was a mariner, but was afterwards a member and master of Trinity House. He was descended from an ancient family in Suffolk of the same name.
So great an aptitude did he evince, even in childhood, for learning, that his two first school masters, "Master Ward" and "Master Mulcaster," foreseeing the result, are said to have contended for the honour of his breeding. From Master Ward, master of the Coopers' Free School in Radcliffe, he was sent to Master Mulcaster, master of the Merchant Tailors' Free School, where he soon took the lead of all the other scholars, making such progress in the Greek and Hebrew languages, as recommended him to the notice of Thomas Wattes, D. D. prebend and residentiary of St. Pauls and arch deacon of Middlesex, who, having founded some scholarships at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, bestowed the first upon him.
Here we soon find him contending with Thomas Dove (afterwards Lord Bishop of Peterborough), who was also eminent for his talent, for a fellowship which he gained. In the meanwhile, Hugh Price having built Jesus College, in Oxford, hearing of his fame, named him in his foundation as one of its first fellows. It was his custom to spend one month annually, with his parents, but even this was devoted also to the attainment of the knowledge of some language or art which he had not yet learned. He preferred, as a recreation, studying alone (or with some selected companion), the sublime beauties of creation, to participating in the ordinary amusement of his day.
After he had been some time Master of Arts, he applied himself to the study of Divinity with such effect, that being chosen Catechist in the College, and purposing to read the ten commandments every Saturday and Sunday, at 3 o'Clock afternoon, that being the hour of catechising, divers persons, not only out of the other colleges, but from the country also, resorted thither as to a Public Divinity Lecture.
Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, hearing of his fame, sent for him, and thought himself much honoured by his accompanying him into the north, whereof he was president, and where his preaching converted many, recusants, priests, and others, to the protestant religion.
Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, also took especial notice of his abilities, and was the means of preferring him to the Vicarage of St. Giles' Without Cripplegate, London; he was afterwards (through the interest of Sir Francis) Prebendary and Residentiary of St. Pauls, and Prebend of the Collegiate Church of Southwell. His labours at this time were incessant, preaching at St. Giles', and reading at St. Pauls, he became so infirm that his friends despaired of his life.
He was afterwards elected master of Pembroke Hall, a place of much credit but little benefit, on which he spent more than he received by it.
He was Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, who was so much delighted with his piety and zeal, that she first made him Prebend and afterwards Dean of Westminster. Her successor, King James, selected him as his choicest advocate to vindicate his regality against his adversaries, and bestowed upon him the Bishopric of Chichester, which he held about four years, he also made him Lord Almoner, and soon after added the Parsonage of Cheam, in Surrey, to his commendam.
He was afterwards Bishop of Ely during nine years, in which time he was made Privy Counsellor, first of England, then of Scotland in his attendance upon the King thither. He was afterwards preferred to the Bishopric of Winchester and the Deanery of the King's Chapel, which preferments he held to his death, which happened about eight years after, in the reign of King Charles, with whom he was as great a favourite as with his father before him: all these honours having been conferred on him without any effort on his part for their attainment.
He was singularly pious and devout both in his private prayers and public services: so reverend and holy was his deportment, and that of his family, at the monthly communions held in his chapel, that those who were accidentally present at the service, often expressed a desire to end their days in the Bishop of Ely's Chapel.
He was eminently charitable during his life, clothing the poor, relieving the sick, and administering to the various wants of suffering humanity; and at his death, leaving by his will various sums for similar purposes. He left Four thousand pounds to purchase Two hundred pounds land per Ann., for ever, to be distributed by fifty pounds quarterly, as follows: — To aged poor men and decayed, especially seafaring men, fifty pounds; to poor widows, the wives of one husband, fifty pounds; to the binding of poor orphans apprentices, fifty pounds; and to the relief of poor prisoners, fifty pounds.
He also left Two hundred pounds to be distributed immediately after his decease, among maid-servants of honest report who had served one master or mistress seven years.
In all the offices which he filled, he evidently conducted himself as the steward of God, and as one who was to give an account of the important trust committed to him.
He was careful to keep in good repair the houses of all his spiritual preferments, and spent much money in that way.
He was exceedingly anxious that the ministerial offices should be filled by men eminent for piety and learning, and to effect this, sought for and patronized humble merit: such persons he would send for without their knowing why, entertain them at his house and confer the preferment upon them, defraying all the incidental charges for a dispensation, or a faculty, and even of their very journey: the same principle was also observed in the election of scholars who were to be sent from the Free Schools to the University, here disregarding all letters from great personages in favour of insufficient scholars, he was careful to select the possessors of merit.
As Almoner he was remarkable for his fidelity, keeping more exact account of this trust than of his own affairs.
He was grateful to all from whom he had received benefits, particularly to those who had the care of his early education.
That he was liberal is evident from the magnificent reception and entertainment which he gave to King James, when that Prince visited him at Farnham Castle, on which occasion he spent three thousand pounds in three days. He was also eminent for his hospitality to scholars and strangers, committing to his attendants the care of making liberal provision for such, and joining them at dinner with such amiable deportment, that his guests would often profess that they never came to any man's table where they received better satisfaction in all points, and that his Lordship kept Christmas all the year round.
He was through the various periods from childhood to old age, indefatigable in study, to which with the exception of two or three hours which he cheerfully spent with his guests after dinner, he devoted his time. By his industry he had attained to the knowledge of fifteen tongues if not more; it has been jocosely said in reference to his knowledge of languages, that had he lived at the time, he might almost have served as interpreter general at the confusion of tongues. Yet he was modest withal; let one instance of this suffice, when preferred by King James to the Bishopric of Chichester he pleaded his imperfections and insufficiency to undertake such a charge, and caused to be engraven about the seal of his Bishopric, those words of St. Paul, "et ad hcec quis idoneus?" (and who is sufficient for these things?)
He generally hated all vices, but three more especially, Usury, Simony, and Sacrilege. The Sanctity of his manners is said to have awed the mirth and levity of King James while in his presence.
Such was the character of this amiable prelate, that biographers appear to have exhausted the vocabulary for words to express his many virtues. As his life was exemplary so was his death; twelve months before that event he seemed conscious of its approach, and applied himself incessantly to prayer and humiliation before God whom he earnestly longed to see. Towards the close of his life the manuscript of his "Private Devotions" was scarcely ever out of his hands; it was found worn in pieces by his fingers and wet with his tears. He closed his useful life at Winchester House, on the 25th day of September 1626, in the 71st year of his age.
His remains were entombed in a splendid monument which stood in a little chapel eastward of the Lady Chapel, the entrance to which is shown in the interior view of the Lady Chapel; at his funeral, he having been a great benefactor to the Parish, the inhabitants honoured the solemnity by hanging the Church and Chancel with 165 yards of baize. The house mourners made an offering, and Mr. Archer one of the chaplains received £11. 17s. 7d., which he paid to the wardens as their due, but they handsomely returned it to him and Mr. Micklethwaite (the other chaplain). It is worthy of passing remark that his lordship's steward was also buried here on the same day, as appears by an entry in the parish registry.
His Funeral Sermon was preached in St. Saviour's Church, by the Right Rev. John, Lord Bishop of Ely, on Saturday the 11th of November, 1626, from Hebrews, 13th chapter and 16th verse: "To do good, and to distribute forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." This was six weeks after his death, and from an expression in the sermon we may collect that it was preached over the remains of the Bishop: it has already been stated that the coffin was found entombed in the monument, not buried; the time necessary for preparing the monument for the reception of the remains, may probably account for the unusual length of the intervening space between the time of his death, and the preaching of his funeral sermon*
The monument of the Bishop as it now appears is in fact but a part of the original erection; there was then a fair canopy supported by black marble pillars, and an elegant epitaph written by his lordship's domestic chaplain, these were destroyed by the falling in of the roof in 1676, when the chapel received considerable injury by a fire. The restoration of the canopy and original epitaph, whether we view it as a matter of taste, or as a mark of respect for the memory of this virtuous prelate, would be highly creditable to the parish. The epitaph was as follows:
"Reader, if thou art a Christian, stay; it will be worth thy tarrying, to know how great a man lies here. A member of the same Catholic Church with thyself, under the same hope of a happy resurrection, and in expectation of the same appearance of our Lord Jesus, the most holy Bishop Lancelot Andrewes; born at London, educated at Cambridge, at Pembroke Hall, one of the Scholars, Fellows, and Masters of that Society, and inferior to none: an infinite treasure, an amazing oracle of languages, arts and sciences, and every branch of human and divine learning: an incomparable bulwark of the Orthodox Church of Christ, by his conversation, writings, prayers and example."
"He was Chaplain in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth; Residentiary of St. Paul's, in London; Dean of St. Peter's, Westminster; Bishop, first of Chichester, then of Ely, and lastly of Winchester; Almoner to King James, Privy Counsellor of both kingdoms, and Dean of the Royal Chapel. He merits eternal admiration, for his indefatigable application to his studies, his consummate experience and skill in business, his constant piety towards God, his liberality and charity to the poor, his uncommon affability and humanity to those about him, and his unshaken integrity towards all. Full of years and reputation, to the regret of all good men, he died a bachelor, and exchanged this life for a crown of glory, in the second year of King Charles', the seventy-first of his age, and that of Christ, 1626. Reader farewell, and give glory to God."
In the hall of Pembroke College, Cambridge, there is a painting of Bishop Andrewes, with his armorial bearings: date 1618, and several portraits of him have been engraved; but by far the best is that which appeared as a frontispiece to his sermons, J. Payne Fecit, 1635, the others appear to be copies of this.
Before quitting this subject, I feel it a duty to contradict a statement which appears in "Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Winchester," and also in a modern edition of "Bishop Andrewes' Meditations, &c." it is as follows, "Not many years ago, his (the Bishop's) bones were dispersed to make room for some corpse: and the hair of his beard and a silken cap were found, undecayed, in the remains of the coffin." That remains were discovered as above described, is very probable, but certainly, they were not the remains of Bishop Andrewes, whose coffin was found undisturbed when the tomb was removed and has been very properly replaced without molestation, in its little cell as before. In this Chapel stand the two Stone Coffins* engraved on the plate of "Priory Remains, SfC." They appear to be of considerable antiquity, but as the lids are wanting, it is difficult to form an opinion as to their age, the shallowness of them would suggest the idea that the lids were hollow, so that they were probably of the prismatic form, which would carry them back to a very early period. We have no account of the discovery of them, but they were probably found when the church was paved, as they were seldom placed at any great depth. Stone coffins occur as early as the year 695, and were not quite obsolete before the reign of Henry VIII.
"Memento mori," said Antiquarius, (whose attention was arrested by the cadaverous figure represented on the plate of Sepulchral Remains) "now were we not in the church, I would venture a wager that you have some marvellous legend concerning this grim personage." -
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF LANCELOT ANDREWS, LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER - Page 526
By Arthur Tozer Russell
"Bishop Andrewes was buried on Saturday, November 11. The funeral procession went from Winchester House, Southwark, where he had died 26th Septamber... Neile, Bishop of Durham, chief mourner, assister by Dr. Roger Andrewes, the Bishop's brother, Mr. Burrell, the husband of his sister Mary, Mr. Salmon, the husband of his sister Martha, Mr. Roger Andrewes, the son of his brother Thomas, and Mr. Rooke, the husband of his niece Mary, daughter of Mary Burrell. The great banner was borne by Mr. William Andrewes, the son of his brother Nicholas; the four bannerols by Mr. Prinseps, the son of his sister Martha Salmon by her first husband; Mr. Samuel Burrell, third son of his sister Mary Burrell; Mr. Peter Salmon, eldest son of Martha by her second husband; and Mr. Thomas Andrewes, the eldest son of his brother Thomas.
NICHOLAS' BROTHER LANCELOT ANDREWS:
When Jesus College, Oxford, was founded, young Andrewes was invited to be one of its foundation fellows, and in 1580 he took holy orders. In 1611 he was on the committee of scholars that produced the King James Translation of the Bible, and is thought to have contributed more to it than anyone else. Those who value the catholicity of the Church and the beauty of holiness in worship, offer a big thank you on the day of his death, as he safeguarded the Catholic heritage in the English Church in its formative years of the Reformation period under Elizabeth I. After the death of his brother Thomas Andrews, whom he loved dearly, he began to reckon of his own, which he said would be in the end of summer or the beginning of winter. And when his brother Nicholas Andrews died, he took that as a certain warning of his own death; and from that time till the hour of his dissolution, he spent all his time in prayer. He died at Winchester House in Southwark, in 1626, and was buried in St. Mary Overy's (Southwark Cathedral), in a demolished chapel east of the Lady Chapel (to where his monument has since been moved).
Britannia Biographies states that Lancelot Andrewes was by far the most distinguished prelate who has occupied the See of Winchester since the Reformation.... He was one of Queen Elizabeth's chaplains by whom, and by her successor James I, the preaching and abilities of Andrewes were held in the highest estimation. (With King James, Dr. Andrews stood in still higher favor than he had done with Elizabeth. He was a patron of learning, being Master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, besides fifteen modern languages. It is recorded of him that the king had such a veneration for him he refrained from levity in his presence.)
On the accession of James, the See of Rome pronounced a censure on those of the English Catholics who took the oath of allegiance. Controversy ensued when King James himself wrote his "Apology for the Oath." Cardinal Bellarmine replied with great vehemence and bitterness, under the name of Matthew Tortus; and the task of defending the royal author was assigned to Andrewes, who gave to his reply the quaint title of Tortura Torti… His Oriental learning was considerable and, in King James's Bible, he undertook the revision and translation of the historical books from Joshua to the First Book of Chronicles. In patristic theology, he was far more learned than any of the Elizabethan bishops or perhaps than any of his English contemporaries except Usher.
MARIANNE DORMAN expresses that Andrewes began his ministry (a ministry that was to last fifty years) c.1578, a time when the Puritans were trying their hardest, especially through pamphlets and parliaments, to model the English Church on the Genevan. This would have meant discarding the episcopal and apostolic ministry, the Prayer Book, downplaying the sacraments and dismantling the structure of cathedrals. However their demands were always thwarted by Queen Elizabeth. She and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Whitgift) both appointed Andrewes as one of their chaplains, and prevailed on his skills as a preacher and theologian to address many of the issues raised by Puritans in the late 16th Century. So his preaching and lecturing, and later on when a bishop his Visitation Articles always stressed amongst other things the observance of Prayer Book services to be taken by a properly ordained minister, the Eucharist to be celebrated reverently, infants to be baptised, the Daily Offices to be said, and spiritual counselling to be given where needed.
One cannot read Andrewes' sermons or use his prayers without being aware of the centrality of the Eucharist in his life and teaching. It had been the heart of worship in the early Church when the local bishop and people came together constantly to celebrate Christ's glorious death, and partake of His most blessed Body and Blood. That partaking fell into disuse in the mediæval church and was replaced instead by adoration of the Host at the elevation during the Canon. For Andrewes the Eucharist was the meeting place for the infinite and finite, the divine and human, heaven and earth. "The blessed mysteries ... are from above; the 'Bread that came down from Heaven,' the Blood that hath been carried 'into the holy place.' And I add, ubi Corpus, ubi sanguis Christi, ibi Christus". We here "on earth ... are never so near Him, nor He us, as then and there." Thus it is to the altar we must come for "that blessed union [which] is the highest perfection we can in this life aspire unto." Unlike his contemporary Puritans it was not the pulpit but the altar, glittering with its candles and plate, with incense wafting to God, that was the focal point for worship in Andrewes' chapel.
The reason that Andrewes placed so much importance on reverence in worship came from his conviction that when we worship God it is with our entire being, that is, both bodily and spiritually. At a time when little emphasis was placed on the old outward forms of piety Andrewes maintained, "if He hath framed that body of yours and every member of it, let Him have the honour both of head and knee, and every member else."
During those fifty years, Andrewes ministry touched all walks of life. He was chaplain to reigning monarchs for forty years; constant preacher at Court especially for James I; vicar of an important London parish, St. Giles, Cripplegate; and a prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral for fifteen years. He was also Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge for a similar period; a prebendary and then Dean of Westminster Abbey for a total of eight years; Almoner and Dean of the Royal Chapel and finally a bishop for twenty-two years.
So it is not surprising that for many in the seventeenth century Andrewes was considered the authority on worship, and so what he practised in his beautiful chapel, designed for Catholic worship, became their standard for the celebration of the Liturgy. As Andrewes was steeped in the teachings of the Fathers and the liturgies of both Eastern and Western churches it meant that in intention and form he followed the 1549 Prayer Book more than the 1559. His practice shaped the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637 (adopted by the American Episcopal Church in the 1789), and the reshaping of the Liturgy in the English Church in 1662.
As a preacher Andrewes was highly esteemed by contemporaries and later generations. In modern times T.S. Eliot referred to Andrewes as "the first great preacher of the English Catholic Church" who always spoke as "a man who had a formed visible Church behind him, who speaks with the old authority and the new culture, whilst his sermons "rank with the finest English prose of their time, of any time." As well as teaching the Catholic faith according to the Fathers his sermons also reflected an appreciation of beauty as well as knowledge of commerce, trade, art, theatre, navigation, husbandry, science, astronomy, cosmography, fishing, nature, shipping, and even the new discoveries of the world.
There is no doubt therefore that Andrewes saw himself as standing in that long line of Christian tradition embedded in antiquity, and a part of the wonder and loveliness of creation.
There are some notable descendants of Lancelot Andrews living today, including the Parker Bowles children of HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, and the families of General Frank Maxwell Andrews, descendants of Lancelot's brother Nicholas.
FROM HIS MOTHER'S WILL:
Johan Andrewes, widow, of the Tower Hill. All Saints Barking, 19 February 1594, proved 14 January 1597:
To my son Launcelot Andrewes my best salt with the cover, being silver and gilt. To my son Nicholas one hundred pounds.
Nicholas Andrewes, baptised at All Hallows, Barking, 23 February 1566/7 (PR); bequeathed property in Essex by his father, 1593; named in his mother's will, 1594; grocer, of the parish of St Brides, Fleet Street, October 1598 (London Subsidy Rolls); residual beneficiary of his uncle Matthew Andrewes, 1599; appointed to the Registrarship of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey for life, 3 December 1602 ("Lancelot Andrewes", P. Welsby, London 1958); received assignation of a lease of tithes at Erbury and Chilton from Henry Isaacson, 1620 (Norfolk RO, GIL/1/333/717 x 4); late of St Saviour, Southwark, administration PCC 25 September 1626; married and left issue (NB his son and heir, William Andrewes (1602-1640), was Rector of Nuthurst, Sussex, and did not emigrate to America.
Nicholas's great-grandson, Thomas Andrews, emigrated to America in 1685. Lt. General Frank Maxwell Andrews, after whom Andrews Air Force base outside of Washington, D.C. is named, descends from Nicholas Andrews through Thomas, as well as does William Lafayette Andrews, Jr.
According to the "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833, book two of the parochial registries states that Mr. Nicholas Andrewes, "the Bishops Brother", was buried at what is now the Southwark Cathedral on August 12, 1626.
In the same book is the burial record for Lancelott Andrewes, "Lord Bishop of Winton" on November 11, 1626, also at the Southwark Cathedral. (Burial information from Lora Tatum)
Among tombs and monuments within the church is that of John Gower (c. 1330-1408), poet and friend of Chaucer, whose Canterbury Tales begin in Southwark. Across the nave is a memorial to William Shakespeare, who spent much of his life in Southwark (and is thought to have had as his mistress Emilia Bassano Lanier, into whose family Nicholas Andrews' descendants would marry), and above it, a stained glass window depicting scenes from his plays. Edmund Shakespeare, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger are all buried in the Cathedral. Lancelot Andrewes, who translated the first five books of the Bible into English, is buried by the High Altar. He is a founding father of the Church of England. In the grounds is buried Mahomet, Chief of the Mohegan Tribe from New England and a memorial to him can be found in the churchyard. In 1607 John Harvard, was born in the parish of St Saviour and on 29th November of that year was baptised in the church. These events and Harvard’s subsequent emigration to the new colonies in America and the founding of what we now know as Harvard University, began a strong link between the Cathedral and the people of the United States of America.
About Nicholas' brother Lancelot, from "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833:
He was born in London, A. D. 1555, in the parish of Allhallows Barking, of religious parents; his father during a large portion of his life was a mariner, but was afterwards a member and master of Trinity House. He was descended from an ancient family in Suffolk of the same name.
So great an aptitude did he evince, even in childhood, for learning, that his two first school masters, "Master Ward" and "Master Mulcaster," foreseeing the result, are said to have contended for the honour of his breeding. From Master Ward, master of the Coopers' Free School in Radcliffe, he was sent to Master Mulcaster, master of the Merchant Tailors' Free School, where he soon took the lead of all the other scholars, making such progress in the Greek and Hebrew languages, as recommended him to the notice of Thomas Wattes, D. D. prebend and residentiary of St. Pauls and arch deacon of Middlesex, who, having founded some scholarships at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, bestowed the first upon him.
Here we soon find him contending with Thomas Dove (afterwards Lord Bishop of Peterborough), who was also eminent for his talent, for a fellowship which he gained. In the meanwhile, Hugh Price having built Jesus College, in Oxford, hearing of his fame, named him in his foundation as one of its first fellows. It was his custom to spend one month annually, with his parents, but even this was devoted also to the attainment of the knowledge of some language or art which he had not yet learned. He preferred, as a recreation, studying alone (or with some selected companion), the sublime beauties of creation, to participating in the ordinary amusement of his day.
After he had been some time Master of Arts, he applied himself to the study of Divinity with such effect, that being chosen Catechist in the College, and purposing to read the ten commandments every Saturday and Sunday, at 3 o'Clock afternoon, that being the hour of catechising, divers persons, not only out of the other colleges, but from the country also, resorted thither as to a Public Divinity Lecture.
Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, hearing of his fame, sent for him, and thought himself much honoured by his accompanying him into the north, whereof he was president, and where his preaching converted many, recusants, priests, and others, to the protestant religion.
Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, also took especial notice of his abilities, and was the means of preferring him to the Vicarage of St. Giles' Without Cripplegate, London; he was afterwards (through the interest of Sir Francis) Prebendary and Residentiary of St. Pauls, and Prebend of the Collegiate Church of Southwell. His labours at this time were incessant, preaching at St. Giles', and reading at St. Pauls, he became so infirm that his friends despaired of his life.
He was afterwards elected master of Pembroke Hall, a place of much credit but little benefit, on which he spent more than he received by it.
He was Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, who was so much delighted with his piety and zeal, that she first made him Prebend and afterwards Dean of Westminster. Her successor, King James, selected him as his choicest advocate to vindicate his regality against his adversaries, and bestowed upon him the Bishopric of Chichester, which he held about four years, he also made him Lord Almoner, and soon after added the Parsonage of Cheam, in Surrey, to his commendam.
He was afterwards Bishop of Ely during nine years, in which time he was made Privy Counsellor, first of England, then of Scotland in his attendance upon the King thither. He was afterwards preferred to the Bishopric of Winchester and the Deanery of the King's Chapel, which preferments he held to his death, which happened about eight years after, in the reign of King Charles, with whom he was as great a favourite as with his father before him: all these honours having been conferred on him without any effort on his part for their attainment.
He was singularly pious and devout both in his private prayers and public services: so reverend and holy was his deportment, and that of his family, at the monthly communions held in his chapel, that those who were accidentally present at the service, often expressed a desire to end their days in the Bishop of Ely's Chapel.
He was eminently charitable during his life, clothing the poor, relieving the sick, and administering to the various wants of suffering humanity; and at his death, leaving by his will various sums for similar purposes. He left Four thousand pounds to purchase Two hundred pounds land per Ann., for ever, to be distributed by fifty pounds quarterly, as follows: — To aged poor men and decayed, especially seafaring men, fifty pounds; to poor widows, the wives of one husband, fifty pounds; to the binding of poor orphans apprentices, fifty pounds; and to the relief of poor prisoners, fifty pounds.
He also left Two hundred pounds to be distributed immediately after his decease, among maid-servants of honest report who had served one master or mistress seven years.
In all the offices which he filled, he evidently conducted himself as the steward of God, and as one who was to give an account of the important trust committed to him.
He was careful to keep in good repair the houses of all his spiritual preferments, and spent much money in that way.
He was exceedingly anxious that the ministerial offices should be filled by men eminent for piety and learning, and to effect this, sought for and patronized humble merit: such persons he would send for without their knowing why, entertain them at his house and confer the preferment upon them, defraying all the incidental charges for a dispensation, or a faculty, and even of their very journey: the same principle was also observed in the election of scholars who were to be sent from the Free Schools to the University, here disregarding all letters from great personages in favour of insufficient scholars, he was careful to select the possessors of merit.
As Almoner he was remarkable for his fidelity, keeping more exact account of this trust than of his own affairs.
He was grateful to all from whom he had received benefits, particularly to those who had the care of his early education.
That he was liberal is evident from the magnificent reception and entertainment which he gave to King James, when that Prince visited him at Farnham Castle, on which occasion he spent three thousand pounds in three days. He was also eminent for his hospitality to scholars and strangers, committing to his attendants the care of making liberal provision for such, and joining them at dinner with such amiable deportment, that his guests would often profess that they never came to any man's table where they received better satisfaction in all points, and that his Lordship kept Christmas all the year round.
He was through the various periods from childhood to old age, indefatigable in study, to which with the exception of two or three hours which he cheerfully spent with his guests after dinner, he devoted his time. By his industry he had attained to the knowledge of fifteen tongues if not more; it has been jocosely said in reference to his knowledge of languages, that had he lived at the time, he might almost have served as interpreter general at the confusion of tongues. Yet he was modest withal; let one instance of this suffice, when preferred by King James to the Bishopric of Chichester he pleaded his imperfections and insufficiency to undertake such a charge, and caused to be engraven about the seal of his Bishopric, those words of St. Paul, "et ad hcec quis idoneus?" (and who is sufficient for these things?)
He generally hated all vices, but three more especially, Usury, Simony, and Sacrilege. The Sanctity of his manners is said to have awed the mirth and levity of King James while in his presence.
Such was the character of this amiable prelate, that biographers appear to have exhausted the vocabulary for words to express his many virtues. As his life was exemplary so was his death; twelve months before that event he seemed conscious of its approach, and applied himself incessantly to prayer and humiliation before God whom he earnestly longed to see. Towards the close of his life the manuscript of his "Private Devotions" was scarcely ever out of his hands; it was found worn in pieces by his fingers and wet with his tears. He closed his useful life at Winchester House, on the 25th day of September 1626, in the 71st year of his age.
His remains were entombed in a splendid monument which stood in a little chapel eastward of the Lady Chapel, the entrance to which is shown in the interior view of the Lady Chapel; at his funeral, he having been a great benefactor to the Parish, the inhabitants honoured the solemnity by hanging the Church and Chancel with 165 yards of baize. The house mourners made an offering, and Mr. Archer one of the chaplains received £11. 17s. 7d., which he paid to the wardens as their due, but they handsomely returned it to him and Mr. Micklethwaite (the other chaplain). It is worthy of passing remark that his lordship's steward was also buried here on the same day, as appears by an entry in the parish registry.
His Funeral Sermon was preached in St. Saviour's Church, by the Right Rev. John, Lord Bishop of Ely, on Saturday the 11th of November, 1626, from Hebrews, 13th chapter and 16th verse: "To do good, and to distribute forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." This was six weeks after his death, and from an expression in the sermon we may collect that it was preached over the remains of the Bishop: it has already been stated that the coffin was found entombed in the monument, not buried; the time necessary for preparing the monument for the reception of the remains, may probably account for the unusual length of the intervening space between the time of his death, and the preaching of his funeral sermon*
The monument of the Bishop as it now appears is in fact but a part of the original erection; there was then a fair canopy supported by black marble pillars, and an elegant epitaph written by his lordship's domestic chaplain, these were destroyed by the falling in of the roof in 1676, when the chapel received considerable injury by a fire. The restoration of the canopy and original epitaph, whether we view it as a matter of taste, or as a mark of respect for the memory of this virtuous prelate, would be highly creditable to the parish. The epitaph was as follows:
"Reader, if thou art a Christian, stay; it will be worth thy tarrying, to know how great a man lies here. A member of the same Catholic Church with thyself, under the same hope of a happy resurrection, and in expectation of the same appearance of our Lord Jesus, the most holy Bishop Lancelot Andrewes; born at London, educated at Cambridge, at Pembroke Hall, one of the Scholars, Fellows, and Masters of that Society, and inferior to none: an infinite treasure, an amazing oracle of languages, arts and sciences, and every branch of human and divine learning: an incomparable bulwark of the Orthodox Church of Christ, by his conversation, writings, prayers and example."
"He was Chaplain in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth; Residentiary of St. Paul's, in London; Dean of St. Peter's, Westminster; Bishop, first of Chichester, then of Ely, and lastly of Winchester; Almoner to King James, Privy Counsellor of both kingdoms, and Dean of the Royal Chapel. He merits eternal admiration, for his indefatigable application to his studies, his consummate experience and skill in business, his constant piety towards God, his liberality and charity to the poor, his uncommon affability and humanity to those about him, and his unshaken integrity towards all. Full of years and reputation, to the regret of all good men, he died a bachelor, and exchanged this life for a crown of glory, in the second year of King Charles', the seventy-first of his age, and that of Christ, 1626. Reader farewell, and give glory to God."
In the hall of Pembroke College, Cambridge, there is a painting of Bishop Andrewes, with his armorial bearings: date 1618, and several portraits of him have been engraved; but by far the best is that which appeared as a frontispiece to his sermons, J. Payne Fecit, 1635, the others appear to be copies of this.
Before quitting this subject, I feel it a duty to contradict a statement which appears in "Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Winchester," and also in a modern edition of "Bishop Andrewes' Meditations, &c." it is as follows, "Not many years ago, his (the Bishop's) bones were dispersed to make room for some corpse: and the hair of his beard and a silken cap were found, undecayed, in the remains of the coffin." That remains were discovered as above described, is very probable, but certainly, they were not the remains of Bishop Andrewes, whose coffin was found undisturbed when the tomb was removed and has been very properly replaced without molestation, in its little cell as before. In this Chapel stand the two Stone Coffins* engraved on the plate of "Priory Remains, SfC." They appear to be of considerable antiquity, but as the lids are wanting, it is difficult to form an opinion as to their age, the shallowness of them would suggest the idea that the lids were hollow, so that they were probably of the prismatic form, which would carry them back to a very early period. We have no account of the discovery of them, but they were probably found when the church was paved, as they were seldom placed at any great depth. Stone coffins occur as early as the year 695, and were not quite obsolete before the reign of Henry VIII.
"Memento mori," said Antiquarius, (whose attention was arrested by the cadaverous figure represented on the plate of Sepulchral Remains) "now were we not in the church, I would venture a wager that you have some marvellous legend concerning this grim personage." -
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF LANCELOT ANDREWS, LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER - Page 526
By Arthur Tozer Russell
"Bishop Andrewes was buried on Saturday, November 11. The funeral procession went from Winchester House, Southwark, where he had died 26th Septamber... Neile, Bishop of Durham, chief mourner, assister by Dr. Roger Andrewes, the Bishop's brother, Mr. Burrell, the husband of his sister Mary, Mr. Salmon, the husband of his sister Martha, Mr. Roger Andrewes, the son of his brother Thomas, and Mr. Rooke, the husband of his niece Mary, daughter of Mary Burrell. The great banner was borne by Mr. William Andrewes, the son of his brother Nicholas; the four bannerols by Mr. Prinseps, the son of his sister Martha Salmon by her first husband; Mr. Samuel Burrell, third son of his sister Mary Burrell; Mr. Peter Salmon, eldest son of Martha by her second husband; and Mr. Thomas Andrewes, the eldest son of his brother Thomas.
NICHOLAS' BROTHER LANCELOT ANDREWS:
When Jesus College, Oxford, was founded, young Andrewes was invited to be one of its foundation fellows, and in 1580 he took holy orders. In 1611 he was on the committee of scholars that produced the King James Translation of the Bible, and is thought to have contributed more to it than anyone else. Those who value the catholicity of the Church and the beauty of holiness in worship, offer a big thank you on the day of his death, as he safeguarded the Catholic heritage in the English Church in its formative years of the Reformation period under Elizabeth I. After the death of his brother Thomas Andrews, whom he loved dearly, he began to reckon of his own, which he said would be in the end of summer or the beginning of winter. And when his brother Nicholas Andrews died, he took that as a certain warning of his own death; and from that time till the hour of his dissolution, he spent all his time in prayer. He died at Winchester House in Southwark, in 1626, and was buried in St. Mary Overy's (Southwark Cathedral), in a demolished chapel east of the Lady Chapel (to where his monument has since been moved).
Britannia Biographies states that Lancelot Andrewes was by far the most distinguished prelate who has occupied the See of Winchester since the Reformation.... He was one of Queen Elizabeth's chaplains by whom, and by her successor James I, the preaching and abilities of Andrewes were held in the highest estimation. (With King James, Dr. Andrews stood in still higher favor than he had done with Elizabeth. He was a patron of learning, being Master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, besides fifteen modern languages. It is recorded of him that the king had such a veneration for him he refrained from levity in his presence.)
On the accession of James, the See of Rome pronounced a censure on those of the English Catholics who took the oath of allegiance. Controversy ensued when King James himself wrote his "Apology for the Oath." Cardinal Bellarmine replied with great vehemence and bitterness, under the name of Matthew Tortus; and the task of defending the royal author was assigned to Andrewes, who gave to his reply the quaint title of Tortura Torti… His Oriental learning was considerable and, in King James's Bible, he undertook the revision and translation of the historical books from Joshua to the First Book of Chronicles. In patristic theology, he was far more learned than any of the Elizabethan bishops or perhaps than any of his English contemporaries except Usher.
MARIANNE DORMAN expresses that Andrewes began his ministry (a ministry that was to last fifty years) c.1578, a time when the Puritans were trying their hardest, especially through pamphlets and parliaments, to model the English Church on the Genevan. This would have meant discarding the episcopal and apostolic ministry, the Prayer Book, downplaying the sacraments and dismantling the structure of cathedrals. However their demands were always thwarted by Queen Elizabeth. She and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Whitgift) both appointed Andrewes as one of their chaplains, and prevailed on his skills as a preacher and theologian to address many of the issues raised by Puritans in the late 16th Century. So his preaching and lecturing, and later on when a bishop his Visitation Articles always stressed amongst other things the observance of Prayer Book services to be taken by a properly ordained minister, the Eucharist to be celebrated reverently, infants to be baptised, the Daily Offices to be said, and spiritual counselling to be given where needed.
One cannot read Andrewes' sermons or use his prayers without being aware of the centrality of the Eucharist in his life and teaching. It had been the heart of worship in the early Church when the local bishop and people came together constantly to celebrate Christ's glorious death, and partake of His most blessed Body and Blood. That partaking fell into disuse in the mediæval church and was replaced instead by adoration of the Host at the elevation during the Canon. For Andrewes the Eucharist was the meeting place for the infinite and finite, the divine and human, heaven and earth. "The blessed mysteries ... are from above; the 'Bread that came down from Heaven,' the Blood that hath been carried 'into the holy place.' And I add, ubi Corpus, ubi sanguis Christi, ibi Christus". We here "on earth ... are never so near Him, nor He us, as then and there." Thus it is to the altar we must come for "that blessed union [which] is the highest perfection we can in this life aspire unto." Unlike his contemporary Puritans it was not the pulpit but the altar, glittering with its candles and plate, with incense wafting to God, that was the focal point for worship in Andrewes' chapel.
The reason that Andrewes placed so much importance on reverence in worship came from his conviction that when we worship God it is with our entire being, that is, both bodily and spiritually. At a time when little emphasis was placed on the old outward forms of piety Andrewes maintained, "if He hath framed that body of yours and every member of it, let Him have the honour both of head and knee, and every member else."
During those fifty years, Andrewes ministry touched all walks of life. He was chaplain to reigning monarchs for forty years; constant preacher at Court especially for James I; vicar of an important London parish, St. Giles, Cripplegate; and a prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral for fifteen years. He was also Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge for a similar period; a prebendary and then Dean of Westminster Abbey for a total of eight years; Almoner and Dean of the Royal Chapel and finally a bishop for twenty-two years.
So it is not surprising that for many in the seventeenth century Andrewes was considered the authority on worship, and so what he practised in his beautiful chapel, designed for Catholic worship, became their standard for the celebration of the Liturgy. As Andrewes was steeped in the teachings of the Fathers and the liturgies of both Eastern and Western churches it meant that in intention and form he followed the 1549 Prayer Book more than the 1559. His practice shaped the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637 (adopted by the American Episcopal Church in the 1789), and the reshaping of the Liturgy in the English Church in 1662.
As a preacher Andrewes was highly esteemed by contemporaries and later generations. In modern times T.S. Eliot referred to Andrewes as "the first great preacher of the English Catholic Church" who always spoke as "a man who had a formed visible Church behind him, who speaks with the old authority and the new culture, whilst his sermons "rank with the finest English prose of their time, of any time." As well as teaching the Catholic faith according to the Fathers his sermons also reflected an appreciation of beauty as well as knowledge of commerce, trade, art, theatre, navigation, husbandry, science, astronomy, cosmography, fishing, nature, shipping, and even the new discoveries of the world.
There is no doubt therefore that Andrewes saw himself as standing in that long line of Christian tradition embedded in antiquity, and a part of the wonder and loveliness of creation.
There are some notable descendants of Lancelot Andrews living today, including the Parker Bowles children of HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, and the families of General Frank Maxwell Andrews, descendants of Lancelot's brother Nicholas.
Nicholas was born of religious parents. His father during a large portion of his life was a mariner, but was afterwards a member and master of Trinity House. He was descended from an ancient family in Suffolk of the same name.
FROM HIS MOTHER'S WILL:
Johan Andrewes, widow, of the Tower Hill. All Saints Barking, 19 February 1594, proved 14 January 1597:
To my son Launcelot Andrewes my best salt with the cover, being silver and gilt. To my son Nicholas one hundred pounds.
Nicholas Andrewes, baptised at All Hallows, Barking, 23 February 1566/7 (PR); bequeathed property in Essex by his father, 1593; named in his mother's will, 1594; grocer, of the parish of St Brides, Fleet Street, October 1598 (London Subsidy Rolls); residual beneficiary of his uncle Matthew Andrewes, 1599; appointed to the Registrarship of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey for life, 3 December 1602 ("Lancelot Andrewes", P. Welsby, London 1958); received assignation of a lease of tithes at Erbury and Chilton from Henry Isaacson, 1620 (Norfolk RO, GIL/1/333/717 x 4); late of St Saviour, Southwark, administration PCC 25 September 1626; married and left issue (NB his son and heir, William Andrewes (1602-1640), was Rector of Nuthurst, Sussex, and did not emigrate to America.
Nicholas's great-grandson, Thomas Andrews, emigrated to America in 1685. Lt. General Frank Maxwell Andrews, after whom Andrews Air Force base outside of Washington, D.C. is named, descends from Nicholas Andrews through Thomas, as well as does William Lafayette Andrews, Jr.
According to the "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833, book two of the parochial registries states that Mr. Nicholas Andrewes, "the Bishops Brother", was buried at what is now the Southwark Cathedral on August 12, 1626.
In the same book is the burial record for Lancelott Andrewes, "Lord Bishop of Winton" on November 11, 1626, also at the Southwark Cathedral. (Burial information from Lora Tatum)
Among tombs and monuments within the church is that of John Gower (c. 1330-1408), poet and friend of Chaucer, whose Canterbury Tales begin in Southwark. Across the nave is a memorial to William Shakespeare, who spent much of his life in Southwark (and is thought to have had as his mistress Emilia Bassano Lanier, into whose family Nicholas Andrews' descendants would marry), and above it, a stained glass window depicting scenes from his plays. Edmund Shakespeare, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger are all buried in the Cathedral. Lancelot Andrewes, who translated the first five books of the Bible into English, is buried by the High Altar. He is a founding father of the Church of England. In the grounds is buried Mahomet, Chief of the Mohegan Tribe from New England and a memorial to him can be found in the churchyard. In 1607 John Harvard, was born in the parish of St Saviour and on 29th November of that year was baptised in the church. These events and Harvard’s subsequent emigration to the new colonies in America and the founding of what we now know as Harvard University, began a strong link between the Cathedral and the people of the United States of America.
About Nicholas' brother Lancelot, from "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833:
He was born in London, A. D. 1555, in the parish of Allhallows Barking, of religious parents; his father during a large portion of his life was a mariner, but was afterwards a member and master of Trinity House. He was descended from an ancient family in Suffolk of the same name.
So great an aptitude did he evince, even in childhood, for learning, that his two first school masters, "Master Ward" and "Master Mulcaster," foreseeing the result, are said to have contended for the honour of his breeding. From Master Ward, master of the Coopers' Free School in Radcliffe, he was sent to Master Mulcaster, master of the Merchant Tailors' Free School, where he soon took the lead of all the other scholars, making such progress in the Greek and Hebrew languages, as recommended him to the notice of Thomas Wattes, D. D. prebend and residentiary of St. Pauls and arch deacon of Middlesex, who, having founded some scholarships at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, bestowed the first upon him.
Here we soon find him contending with Thomas Dove (afterwards Lord Bishop of Peterborough), who was also eminent for his talent, for a fellowship which he gained. In the meanwhile, Hugh Price having built Jesus College, in Oxford, hearing of his fame, named him in his foundation as one of its first fellows. It was his custom to spend one month annually, with his parents, but even this was devoted also to the attainment of the knowledge of some language or art which he had not yet learned. He preferred, as a recreation, studying alone (or with some selected companion), the sublime beauties of creation, to participating in the ordinary amusement of his day.
After he had been some time Master of Arts, he applied himself to the study of Divinity with such effect, that being chosen Catechist in the College, and purposing to read the ten commandments every Saturday and Sunday, at 3 o'Clock afternoon, that being the hour of catechising, divers persons, not only out of the other colleges, but from the country also, resorted thither as to a Public Divinity Lecture.
Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, hearing of his fame, sent for him, and thought himself much honoured by his accompanying him into the north, whereof he was president, and where his preaching converted many, recusants, priests, and others, to the protestant religion.
Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, also took especial notice of his abilities, and was the means of preferring him to the Vicarage of St. Giles' Without Cripplegate, London; he was afterwards (through the interest of Sir Francis) Prebendary and Residentiary of St. Pauls, and Prebend of the Collegiate Church of Southwell. His labours at this time were incessant, preaching at St. Giles', and reading at St. Pauls, he became so infirm that his friends despaired of his life.
He was afterwards elected master of Pembroke Hall, a place of much credit but little benefit, on which he spent more than he received by it.
He was Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, who was so much delighted with his piety and zeal, that she first made him Prebend and afterwards Dean of Westminster. Her successor, King James, selected him as his choicest advocate to vindicate his regality against his adversaries, and bestowed upon him the Bishopric of Chichester, which he held about four years, he also made him Lord Almoner, and soon after added the Parsonage of Cheam, in Surrey, to his commendam.
He was afterwards Bishop of Ely during nine years, in which time he was made Privy Counsellor, first of England, then of Scotland in his attendance upon the King thither. He was afterwards preferred to the Bishopric of Winchester and the Deanery of the King's Chapel, which preferments he held to his death, which happened about eight years after, in the reign of King Charles, with whom he was as great a favourite as with his father before him: all these honours having been conferred on him without any effort on his part for their attainment.
He was singularly pious and devout both in his private prayers and public services: so reverend and holy was his deportment, and that of his family, at the monthly communions held in his chapel, that those who were accidentally present at the service, often expressed a desire to end their days in the Bishop of Ely's Chapel.
He was eminently charitable during his life, clothing the poor, relieving the sick, and administering to the various wants of suffering humanity; and at his death, leaving by his will various sums for similar purposes. He left Four thousand pounds to purchase Two hundred pounds land per Ann., for ever, to be distributed by fifty pounds quarterly, as follows: — To aged poor men and decayed, especially seafaring men, fifty pounds; to poor widows, the wives of one husband, fifty pounds; to the binding of poor orphans apprentices, fifty pounds; and to the relief of poor prisoners, fifty pounds.
He also left Two hundred pounds to be distributed immediately after his decease, among maid-servants of honest report who had served one master or mistress seven years.
In all the offices which he filled, he evidently conducted himself as the steward of God, and as one who was to give an account of the important trust committed to him.
He was careful to keep in good repair the houses of all his spiritual preferments, and spent much money in that way.
He was exceedingly anxious that the ministerial offices should be filled by men eminent for piety and learning, and to effect this, sought for and patronized humble merit: such persons he would send for without their knowing why, entertain them at his house and confer the preferment upon them, defraying all the incidental charges for a dispensation, or a faculty, and even of their very journey: the same principle was also observed in the election of scholars who were to be sent from the Free Schools to the University, here disregarding all letters from great personages in favour of insufficient scholars, he was careful to select the possessors of merit.
As Almoner he was remarkable for his fidelity, keeping more exact account of this trust than of his own affairs.
He was grateful to all from whom he had received benefits, particularly to those who had the care of his early education.
That he was liberal is evident from the magnificent reception and entertainment which he gave to King James, when that Prince visited him at Farnham Castle, on which occasion he spent three thousand pounds in three days. He was also eminent for his hospitality to scholars and strangers, committing to his attendants the care of making liberal provision for such, and joining them at dinner with such amiable deportment, that his guests would often profess that they never came to any man's table where they received better satisfaction in all points, and that his Lordship kept Christmas all the year round.
He was through the various periods from childhood to old age, indefatigable in study, to which with the exception of two or three hours which he cheerfully spent with his guests after dinner, he devoted his time. By his industry he had attained to the knowledge of fifteen tongues if not more; it has been jocosely said in reference to his knowledge of languages, that had he lived at the time, he might almost have served as interpreter general at the confusion of tongues. Yet he was modest withal; let one instance of this suffice, when preferred by King James to the Bishopric of Chichester he pleaded his imperfections and insufficiency to undertake such a charge, and caused to be engraven about the seal of his Bishopric, those words of St. Paul, "et ad hcec quis idoneus?" (and who is sufficient for these things?)
He generally hated all vices, but three more especially, Usury, Simony, and Sacrilege. The Sanctity of his manners is said to have awed the mirth and levity of King James while in his presence.
Such was the character of this amiable prelate, that biographers appear to have exhausted the vocabulary for words to express his many virtues. As his life was exemplary so was his death; twelve months before that event he seemed conscious of its approach, and applied himself incessantly to prayer and humiliation before God whom he earnestly longed to see. Towards the close of his life the manuscript of his "Private Devotions" was scarcely ever out of his hands; it was found worn in pieces by his fingers and wet with his tears. He closed his useful life at Winchester House, on the 25th day of September 1626, in the 71st year of his age.
His remains were entombed in a splendid monument which stood in a little chapel eastward of the Lady Chapel, the entrance to which is shown in the interior view of the Lady Chapel; at his funeral, he having been a great benefactor to the Parish, the inhabitants honoured the solemnity by hanging the Church and Chancel with 165 yards of baize. The house mourners made an offering, and Mr. Archer one of the chaplains received £11. 17s. 7d., which he paid to the wardens as their due, but they handsomely returned it to him and Mr. Micklethwaite (the other chaplain). It is worthy of passing remark that his lordship's steward was also buried here on the same day, as appears by an entry in the parish registry.
His Funeral Sermon was preached in St. Saviour's Church, by the Right Rev. John, Lord Bishop of Ely, on Saturday the 11th of November, 1626, from Hebrews, 13th chapter and 16th verse: "To do good, and to distribute forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." This was six weeks after his death, and from an expression in the sermon we may collect that it was preached over the remains of the Bishop: it has already been stated that the coffin was found entombed in the monument, not buried; the time necessary for preparing the monument for the reception of the remains, may probably account for the unusual length of the intervening space between the time of his death, and the preaching of his funeral sermon*
The monument of the Bishop as it now appears is in fact but a part of the original erection; there was then a fair canopy supported by black marble pillars, and an elegant epitaph written by his lordship's domestic chaplain, these were destroyed by the falling in of the roof in 1676, when the chapel received considerable injury by a fire. The restoration of the canopy and original epitaph, whether we view it as a matter of taste, or as a mark of respect for the memory of this virtuous prelate, would be highly creditable to the parish. The epitaph was as follows:
"Reader, if thou art a Christian, stay; it will be worth thy tarrying, to know how great a man lies here. A member of the same Catholic Church with thyself, under the same hope of a happy resurrection, and in expectation of the same appearance of our Lord Jesus, the most holy Bishop Lancelot Andrewes; born at London, educated at Cambridge, at Pembroke Hall, one of the Scholars, Fellows, and Masters of that Society, and inferior to none: an infinite treasure, an amazing oracle of languages, arts and sciences, and every branch of human and divine learning: an incomparable bulwark of the Orthodox Church of Christ, by his conversation, writings, prayers and example."
"He was Chaplain in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth; Residentiary of St. Paul's, in London; Dean of St. Peter's, Westminster; Bishop, first of Chichester, then of Ely, and lastly of Winchester; Almoner to King James, Privy Counsellor of both kingdoms, and Dean of the Royal Chapel. He merits eternal admiration, for his indefatigable application to his studies, his consummate experience and skill in business, his constant piety towards God, his liberality and charity to the poor, his uncommon affability and humanity to those about him, and his unshaken integrity towards all. Full of years and reputation, to the regret of all good men, he died a bachelor, and exchanged this life for a crown of glory, in the second year of King Charles', the seventy-first of his age, and that of Christ, 1626. Reader farewell, and give glory to God."
In the hall of Pembroke College, Cambridge, there is a painting of Bishop Andrewes, with his armorial bearings: date 1618, and several portraits of him have been engraved; but by far the best is that which appeared as a frontispiece to his sermons, J. Payne Fecit, 1635, the others appear to be copies of this.
Before quitting this subject, I feel it a duty to contradict a statement which appears in "Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Winchester," and also in a modern edition of "Bishop Andrewes' Meditations, &c." it is as follows, "Not many years ago, his (the Bishop's) bones were dispersed to make room for some corpse: and the hair of his beard and a silken cap were found, undecayed, in the remains of the coffin." That remains were discovered as above described, is very probable, but certainly, they were not the remains of Bishop Andrewes, whose coffin was found undisturbed when the tomb was removed and has been very properly replaced without molestation, in its little cell as before. In this Chapel stand the two Stone Coffins* engraved on the plate of "Priory Remains, SfC." They appear to be of considerable antiquity, but as the lids are wanting, it is difficult to form an opinion as to their age, the shallowness of them would suggest the idea that the lids were hollow, so that they were probably of the prismatic form, which would carry them back to a very early period. We have no account of the discovery of them, but they were probably found when the church was paved, as they were seldom placed at any great depth. Stone coffins occur as early as the year 695, and were not quite obsolete before the reign of Henry VIII.
"Memento mori," said Antiquarius, (whose attention was arrested by the cadaverous figure represented on the plate of Sepulchral Remains) "now were we not in the church, I would venture a wager that you have some marvellous legend concerning this grim personage." -
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF LANCELOT ANDREWS, LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER - Page 526
By Arthur Tozer Russell
"Bishop Andrewes was buried on Saturday, November 11. The funeral procession went from Winchester House, Southwark, where he had died 26th Septamber... Neile, Bishop of Durham, chief mourner, assister by Dr. Roger Andrewes, the Bishop's brother, Mr. Burrell, the husband of his sister Mary, Mr. Salmon, the husband of his sister Martha, Mr. Roger Andrewes, the son of his brother Thomas, and Mr. Rooke, the husband of his niece Mary, daughter of Mary Burrell. The great banner was borne by Mr. William Andrewes, the son of his brother Nicholas; the four bannerols by Mr. Prinseps, the son of his sister Martha Salmon by her first husband; Mr. Samuel Burrell, third son of his sister Mary Burrell; Mr. Peter Salmon, eldest son of Martha by her second husband; and Mr. Thomas Andrewes, the eldest son of his brother Thomas.
NICHOLAS' BROTHER LANCELOT ANDREWS:
When Jesus College, Oxford, was founded, young Andrewes was invited to be one of its foundation fellows, and in 1580 he took holy orders. In 1611 he was on the committee of scholars that produced the King James Translation of the Bible, and is thought to have contributed more to it than anyone else. Those who value the catholicity of the Church and the beauty of holiness in worship, offer a big thank you on the day of his death, as he safeguarded the Catholic heritage in the English Church in its formative years of the Reformation period under Elizabeth I. After the death of his brother Thomas Andrews, whom he loved dearly, he began to reckon of his own, which he said would be in the end of summer or the beginning of winter. And when his brother Nicholas Andrews died, he took that as a certain warning of his own death; and from that time till the hour of his dissolution, he spent all his time in prayer. He died at Winchester House in Southwark, in 1626, and was buried in St. Mary Overy's (Southwark Cathedral), in a demolished chapel east of the Lady Chapel (to where his monument has since been moved).
Britannia Biographies states that Lancelot Andrewes was by far the most distinguished prelate who has occupied the See of Winchester since the Reformation.... He was one of Queen Elizabeth's chaplains by whom, and by her successor James I, the preaching and abilities of Andrewes were held in the highest estimation. (With King James, Dr. Andrews stood in still higher favor than he had done with Elizabeth. He was a patron of learning, being Master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, besides fifteen modern languages. It is recorded of him that the king had such a veneration for him he refrained from levity in his presence.)
On the accession of James, the See of Rome pronounced a censure on those of the English Catholics who took the oath of allegiance. Controversy ensued when King James himself wrote his "Apology for the Oath." Cardinal Bellarmine replied with great vehemence and bitterness, under the name of Matthew Tortus; and the task of defending the royal author was assigned to Andrewes, who gave to his reply the quaint title of Tortura Torti… His Oriental learning was considerable and, in King James's Bible, he undertook the revision and translation of the historical books from Joshua to the First Book of Chronicles. In patristic theology, he was far more learned than any of the Elizabethan bishops or perhaps than any of his English contemporaries except Usher.
MARIANNE DORMAN expresses that Andrewes began his ministry (a ministry that was to last fifty years) c.1578, a time when the Puritans were trying their hardest, especially through pamphlets and parliaments, to model the English Church on the Genevan. This would have meant discarding the episcopal and apostolic ministry, the Prayer Book, downplaying the sacraments and dismantling the structure of cathedrals. However their demands were always thwarted by Queen Elizabeth. She and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Whitgift) both appointed Andrewes as one of their chaplains, and prevailed on his skills as a preacher and theologian to address many of the issues raised by Puritans in the late 16th Century. So his preaching and lecturing, and later on when a bishop his Visitation Articles always stressed amongst other things the observance of Prayer Book services to be taken by a properly ordained minister, the Eucharist to be celebrated reverently, infants to be baptised, the Daily Offices to be said, and spiritual counselling to be given where needed.
One cannot read Andrewes' sermons or use his prayers without being aware of the centrality of the Eucharist in his life and teaching. It had been the heart of worship in the early Church when the local bishop and people came together constantly to celebrate Christ's glorious death, and partake of His most blessed Body and Blood. That partaking fell into disuse in the mediæval church and was replaced instead by adoration of the Host at the elevation during the Canon. For Andrewes the Eucharist was the meeting place for the infinite and finite, the divine and human, heaven and earth. "The blessed mysteries ... are from above; the 'Bread that came down from Heaven,' the Blood that hath been carried 'into the holy place.' And I add, ubi Corpus, ubi sanguis Christi, ibi Christus". We here "on earth ... are never so near Him, nor He us, as then and there." Thus it is to the altar we must come for "that blessed union [which] is the highest perfection we can in this life aspire unto." Unlike his contemporary Puritans it was not the pulpit but the altar, glittering with its candles and plate, with incense wafting to God, that was the focal point for worship in Andrewes' chapel.
The reason that Andrewes placed so much importance on reverence in worship came from his conviction that when we worship God it is with our entire being, that is, both bodily and spiritually. At a time when little emphasis was placed on the old outward forms of piety Andrewes maintained, "if He hath framed that body of yours and every member of it, let Him have the honour both of head and knee, and every member else."
During those fifty years, Andrewes ministry touched all walks of life. He was chaplain to reigning monarchs for forty years; constant preacher at Court especially for James I; vicar of an important London parish, St. Giles, Cripplegate; and a prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral for fifteen years. He was also Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge for a similar period; a prebendary and then Dean of Westminster Abbey for a total of eight years; Almoner and Dean of the Royal Chapel and finally a bishop for twenty-two years.
So it is not surprising that for many in the seventeenth century Andrewes was considered the authority on worship, and so what he practised in his beautiful chapel, designed for Catholic worship, became their standard for the celebration of the Liturgy. As Andrewes was steeped in the teachings of the Fathers and the liturgies of both Eastern and Western churches it meant that in intention and form he followed the 1549 Prayer Book more than the 1559. His practice shaped the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637 (adopted by the American Episcopal Church in the 1789), and the reshaping of the Liturgy in the English Church in 1662.
As a preacher Andrewes was highly esteemed by contemporaries and later generations. In modern times T.S. Eliot referred to Andrewes as "the first great preacher of the English Catholic Church" who always spoke as "a man who had a formed visible Church behind him, who speaks with the old authority and the new culture, whilst his sermons "rank with the finest English prose of their time, of any time." As well as teaching the Catholic faith according to the Fathers his sermons also reflected an appreciation of beauty as well as knowledge of commerce, trade, art, theatre, navigation, husbandry, science, astronomy, cosmography, fishing, nature, shipping, and even the new discoveries of the world.
There is no doubt therefore that Andrewes saw himself as standing in that long line of Christian tradition embedded in antiquity, and a part of the wonder and loveliness of creation.
There are some notable descendants of Lancelot Andrews living today, including the Parker Bowles children of HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, and the families of General Frank Maxwell Andrews, descendants of Lancelot's brother Nicholas.
FROM HIS MOTHER'S WILL:
Johan Andrewes, widow, of the Tower Hill. All Saints Barking, 19 February 1594, proved 14 January 1597:
To my son Launcelot Andrewes my best salt with the cover, being silver and gilt. To my son Nicholas one hundred pounds.
Nicholas Andrewes, baptised at All Hallows, Barking, 23 February 1566/7 (PR); bequeathed property in Essex by his father, 1593; named in his mother's will, 1594; grocer, of the parish of St Brides, Fleet Street, October 1598 (London Subsidy Rolls); residual beneficiary of his uncle Matthew Andrewes, 1599; appointed to the Registrarship of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey for life, 3 December 1602 ("Lancelot Andrewes", P. Welsby, London 1958); received assignation of a lease of tithes at Erbury and Chilton from Henry Isaacson, 1620 (Norfolk RO, GIL/1/333/717 x 4); late of St Saviour, Southwark, administration PCC 25 September 1626; married and left issue (NB his son and heir, William Andrewes (1602-1640), was Rector of Nuthurst, Sussex, and did not emigrate to America.
Nicholas's great-grandson, Thomas Andrews, emigrated to America in 1685. Lt. General Frank Maxwell Andrews, after whom Andrews Air Force base outside of Washington, D.C. is named, descends from Nicholas Andrews through Thomas, as well as does William Lafayette Andrews, Jr.
According to the "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833, book two of the parochial registries states that Mr. Nicholas Andrewes, "the Bishops Brother", was buried at what is now the Southwark Cathedral on August 12, 1626.
In the same book is the burial record for Lancelott Andrewes, "Lord Bishop of Winton" on November 11, 1626, also at the Southwark Cathedral. (Burial information from Lora Tatum)
Among tombs and monuments within the church is that of John Gower (c. 1330-1408), poet and friend of Chaucer, whose Canterbury Tales begin in Southwark. Across the nave is a memorial to William Shakespeare, who spent much of his life in Southwark (and is thought to have had as his mistress Emilia Bassano Lanier, into whose family Nicholas Andrews' descendants would marry), and above it, a stained glass window depicting scenes from his plays. Edmund Shakespeare, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger are all buried in the Cathedral. Lancelot Andrewes, who translated the first five books of the Bible into English, is buried by the High Altar. He is a founding father of the Church of England. In the grounds is buried Mahomet, Chief of the Mohegan Tribe from New England and a memorial to him can be found in the churchyard. In 1607 John Harvard, was born in the parish of St Saviour and on 29th November of that year was baptised in the church. These events and Harvard’s subsequent emigration to the new colonies in America and the founding of what we now know as Harvard University, began a strong link between the Cathedral and the people of the United States of America.
About Nicholas' brother Lancelot, from "Annals of Saint Mary Overy" written by William Taylor in 1833:
He was born in London, A. D. 1555, in the parish of Allhallows Barking, of religious parents; his father during a large portion of his life was a mariner, but was afterwards a member and master of Trinity House. He was descended from an ancient family in Suffolk of the same name.
So great an aptitude did he evince, even in childhood, for learning, that his two first school masters, "Master Ward" and "Master Mulcaster," foreseeing the result, are said to have contended for the honour of his breeding. From Master Ward, master of the Coopers' Free School in Radcliffe, he was sent to Master Mulcaster, master of the Merchant Tailors' Free School, where he soon took the lead of all the other scholars, making such progress in the Greek and Hebrew languages, as recommended him to the notice of Thomas Wattes, D. D. prebend and residentiary of St. Pauls and arch deacon of Middlesex, who, having founded some scholarships at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, bestowed the first upon him.
Here we soon find him contending with Thomas Dove (afterwards Lord Bishop of Peterborough), who was also eminent for his talent, for a fellowship which he gained. In the meanwhile, Hugh Price having built Jesus College, in Oxford, hearing of his fame, named him in his foundation as one of its first fellows. It was his custom to spend one month annually, with his parents, but even this was devoted also to the attainment of the knowledge of some language or art which he had not yet learned. He preferred, as a recreation, studying alone (or with some selected companion), the sublime beauties of creation, to participating in the ordinary amusement of his day.
After he had been some time Master of Arts, he applied himself to the study of Divinity with such effect, that being chosen Catechist in the College, and purposing to read the ten commandments every Saturday and Sunday, at 3 o'Clock afternoon, that being the hour of catechising, divers persons, not only out of the other colleges, but from the country also, resorted thither as to a Public Divinity Lecture.
Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, hearing of his fame, sent for him, and thought himself much honoured by his accompanying him into the north, whereof he was president, and where his preaching converted many, recusants, priests, and others, to the protestant religion.
Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, also took especial notice of his abilities, and was the means of preferring him to the Vicarage of St. Giles' Without Cripplegate, London; he was afterwards (through the interest of Sir Francis) Prebendary and Residentiary of St. Pauls, and Prebend of the Collegiate Church of Southwell. His labours at this time were incessant, preaching at St. Giles', and reading at St. Pauls, he became so infirm that his friends despaired of his life.
He was afterwards elected master of Pembroke Hall, a place of much credit but little benefit, on which he spent more than he received by it.
He was Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, who was so much delighted with his piety and zeal, that she first made him Prebend and afterwards Dean of Westminster. Her successor, King James, selected him as his choicest advocate to vindicate his regality against his adversaries, and bestowed upon him the Bishopric of Chichester, which he held about four years, he also made him Lord Almoner, and soon after added the Parsonage of Cheam, in Surrey, to his commendam.
He was afterwards Bishop of Ely during nine years, in which time he was made Privy Counsellor, first of England, then of Scotland in his attendance upon the King thither. He was afterwards preferred to the Bishopric of Winchester and the Deanery of the King's Chapel, which preferments he held to his death, which happened about eight years after, in the reign of King Charles, with whom he was as great a favourite as with his father before him: all these honours having been conferred on him without any effort on his part for their attainment.
He was singularly pious and devout both in his private prayers and public services: so reverend and holy was his deportment, and that of his family, at the monthly communions held in his chapel, that those who were accidentally present at the service, often expressed a desire to end their days in the Bishop of Ely's Chapel.
He was eminently charitable during his life, clothing the poor, relieving the sick, and administering to the various wants of suffering humanity; and at his death, leaving by his will various sums for similar purposes. He left Four thousand pounds to purchase Two hundred pounds land per Ann., for ever, to be distributed by fifty pounds quarterly, as follows: — To aged poor men and decayed, especially seafaring men, fifty pounds; to poor widows, the wives of one husband, fifty pounds; to the binding of poor orphans apprentices, fifty pounds; and to the relief of poor prisoners, fifty pounds.
He also left Two hundred pounds to be distributed immediately after his decease, among maid-servants of honest report who had served one master or mistress seven years.
In all the offices which he filled, he evidently conducted himself as the steward of God, and as one who was to give an account of the important trust committed to him.
He was careful to keep in good repair the houses of all his spiritual preferments, and spent much money in that way.
He was exceedingly anxious that the ministerial offices should be filled by men eminent for piety and learning, and to effect this, sought for and patronized humble merit: such persons he would send for without their knowing why, entertain them at his house and confer the preferment upon them, defraying all the incidental charges for a dispensation, or a faculty, and even of their very journey: the same principle was also observed in the election of scholars who were to be sent from the Free Schools to the University, here disregarding all letters from great personages in favour of insufficient scholars, he was careful to select the possessors of merit.
As Almoner he was remarkable for his fidelity, keeping more exact account of this trust than of his own affairs.
He was grateful to all from whom he had received benefits, particularly to those who had the care of his early education.
That he was liberal is evident from the magnificent reception and entertainment which he gave to King James, when that Prince visited him at Farnham Castle, on which occasion he spent three thousand pounds in three days. He was also eminent for his hospitality to scholars and strangers, committing to his attendants the care of making liberal provision for such, and joining them at dinner with such amiable deportment, that his guests would often profess that they never came to any man's table where they received better satisfaction in all points, and that his Lordship kept Christmas all the year round.
He was through the various periods from childhood to old age, indefatigable in study, to which with the exception of two or three hours which he cheerfully spent with his guests after dinner, he devoted his time. By his industry he had attained to the knowledge of fifteen tongues if not more; it has been jocosely said in reference to his knowledge of languages, that had he lived at the time, he might almost have served as interpreter general at the confusion of tongues. Yet he was modest withal; let one instance of this suffice, when preferred by King James to the Bishopric of Chichester he pleaded his imperfections and insufficiency to undertake such a charge, and caused to be engraven about the seal of his Bishopric, those words of St. Paul, "et ad hcec quis idoneus?" (and who is sufficient for these things?)
He generally hated all vices, but three more especially, Usury, Simony, and Sacrilege. The Sanctity of his manners is said to have awed the mirth and levity of King James while in his presence.
Such was the character of this amiable prelate, that biographers appear to have exhausted the vocabulary for words to express his many virtues. As his life was exemplary so was his death; twelve months before that event he seemed conscious of its approach, and applied himself incessantly to prayer and humiliation before God whom he earnestly longed to see. Towards the close of his life the manuscript of his "Private Devotions" was scarcely ever out of his hands; it was found worn in pieces by his fingers and wet with his tears. He closed his useful life at Winchester House, on the 25th day of September 1626, in the 71st year of his age.
His remains were entombed in a splendid monument which stood in a little chapel eastward of the Lady Chapel, the entrance to which is shown in the interior view of the Lady Chapel; at his funeral, he having been a great benefactor to the Parish, the inhabitants honoured the solemnity by hanging the Church and Chancel with 165 yards of baize. The house mourners made an offering, and Mr. Archer one of the chaplains received £11. 17s. 7d., which he paid to the wardens as their due, but they handsomely returned it to him and Mr. Micklethwaite (the other chaplain). It is worthy of passing remark that his lordship's steward was also buried here on the same day, as appears by an entry in the parish registry.
His Funeral Sermon was preached in St. Saviour's Church, by the Right Rev. John, Lord Bishop of Ely, on Saturday the 11th of November, 1626, from Hebrews, 13th chapter and 16th verse: "To do good, and to distribute forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." This was six weeks after his death, and from an expression in the sermon we may collect that it was preached over the remains of the Bishop: it has already been stated that the coffin was found entombed in the monument, not buried; the time necessary for preparing the monument for the reception of the remains, may probably account for the unusual length of the intervening space between the time of his death, and the preaching of his funeral sermon*
The monument of the Bishop as it now appears is in fact but a part of the original erection; there was then a fair canopy supported by black marble pillars, and an elegant epitaph written by his lordship's domestic chaplain, these were destroyed by the falling in of the roof in 1676, when the chapel received considerable injury by a fire. The restoration of the canopy and original epitaph, whether we view it as a matter of taste, or as a mark of respect for the memory of this virtuous prelate, would be highly creditable to the parish. The epitaph was as follows:
"Reader, if thou art a Christian, stay; it will be worth thy tarrying, to know how great a man lies here. A member of the same Catholic Church with thyself, under the same hope of a happy resurrection, and in expectation of the same appearance of our Lord Jesus, the most holy Bishop Lancelot Andrewes; born at London, educated at Cambridge, at Pembroke Hall, one of the Scholars, Fellows, and Masters of that Society, and inferior to none: an infinite treasure, an amazing oracle of languages, arts and sciences, and every branch of human and divine learning: an incomparable bulwark of the Orthodox Church of Christ, by his conversation, writings, prayers and example."
"He was Chaplain in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth; Residentiary of St. Paul's, in London; Dean of St. Peter's, Westminster; Bishop, first of Chichester, then of Ely, and lastly of Winchester; Almoner to King James, Privy Counsellor of both kingdoms, and Dean of the Royal Chapel. He merits eternal admiration, for his indefatigable application to his studies, his consummate experience and skill in business, his constant piety towards God, his liberality and charity to the poor, his uncommon affability and humanity to those about him, and his unshaken integrity towards all. Full of years and reputation, to the regret of all good men, he died a bachelor, and exchanged this life for a crown of glory, in the second year of King Charles', the seventy-first of his age, and that of Christ, 1626. Reader farewell, and give glory to God."
In the hall of Pembroke College, Cambridge, there is a painting of Bishop Andrewes, with his armorial bearings: date 1618, and several portraits of him have been engraved; but by far the best is that which appeared as a frontispiece to his sermons, J. Payne Fecit, 1635, the others appear to be copies of this.
Before quitting this subject, I feel it a duty to contradict a statement which appears in "Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Winchester," and also in a modern edition of "Bishop Andrewes' Meditations, &c." it is as follows, "Not many years ago, his (the Bishop's) bones were dispersed to make room for some corpse: and the hair of his beard and a silken cap were found, undecayed, in the remains of the coffin." That remains were discovered as above described, is very probable, but certainly, they were not the remains of Bishop Andrewes, whose coffin was found undisturbed when the tomb was removed and has been very properly replaced without molestation, in its little cell as before. In this Chapel stand the two Stone Coffins* engraved on the plate of "Priory Remains, SfC." They appear to be of considerable antiquity, but as the lids are wanting, it is difficult to form an opinion as to their age, the shallowness of them would suggest the idea that the lids were hollow, so that they were probably of the prismatic form, which would carry them back to a very early period. We have no account of the discovery of them, but they were probably found when the church was paved, as they were seldom placed at any great depth. Stone coffins occur as early as the year 695, and were not quite obsolete before the reign of Henry VIII.
"Memento mori," said Antiquarius, (whose attention was arrested by the cadaverous figure represented on the plate of Sepulchral Remains) "now were we not in the church, I would venture a wager that you have some marvellous legend concerning this grim personage." -
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF LANCELOT ANDREWS, LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER - Page 526
By Arthur Tozer Russell
"Bishop Andrewes was buried on Saturday, November 11. The funeral procession went from Winchester House, Southwark, where he had died 26th Septamber... Neile, Bishop of Durham, chief mourner, assister by Dr. Roger Andrewes, the Bishop's brother, Mr. Burrell, the husband of his sister Mary, Mr. Salmon, the husband of his sister Martha, Mr. Roger Andrewes, the son of his brother Thomas, and Mr. Rooke, the husband of his niece Mary, daughter of Mary Burrell. The great banner was borne by Mr. William Andrewes, the son of his brother Nicholas; the four bannerols by Mr. Prinseps, the son of his sister Martha Salmon by her first husband; Mr. Samuel Burrell, third son of his sister Mary Burrell; Mr. Peter Salmon, eldest son of Martha by her second husband; and Mr. Thomas Andrewes, the eldest son of his brother Thomas.
NICHOLAS' BROTHER LANCELOT ANDREWS:
When Jesus College, Oxford, was founded, young Andrewes was invited to be one of its foundation fellows, and in 1580 he took holy orders. In 1611 he was on the committee of scholars that produced the King James Translation of the Bible, and is thought to have contributed more to it than anyone else. Those who value the catholicity of the Church and the beauty of holiness in worship, offer a big thank you on the day of his death, as he safeguarded the Catholic heritage in the English Church in its formative years of the Reformation period under Elizabeth I. After the death of his brother Thomas Andrews, whom he loved dearly, he began to reckon of his own, which he said would be in the end of summer or the beginning of winter. And when his brother Nicholas Andrews died, he took that as a certain warning of his own death; and from that time till the hour of his dissolution, he spent all his time in prayer. He died at Winchester House in Southwark, in 1626, and was buried in St. Mary Overy's (Southwark Cathedral), in a demolished chapel east of the Lady Chapel (to where his monument has since been moved).
Britannia Biographies states that Lancelot Andrewes was by far the most distinguished prelate who has occupied the See of Winchester since the Reformation.... He was one of Queen Elizabeth's chaplains by whom, and by her successor James I, the preaching and abilities of Andrewes were held in the highest estimation. (With King James, Dr. Andrews stood in still higher favor than he had done with Elizabeth. He was a patron of learning, being Master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, besides fifteen modern languages. It is recorded of him that the king had such a veneration for him he refrained from levity in his presence.)
On the accession of James, the See of Rome pronounced a censure on those of the English Catholics who took the oath of allegiance. Controversy ensued when King James himself wrote his "Apology for the Oath." Cardinal Bellarmine replied with great vehemence and bitterness, under the name of Matthew Tortus; and the task of defending the royal author was assigned to Andrewes, who gave to his reply the quaint title of Tortura Torti… His Oriental learning was considerable and, in King James's Bible, he undertook the revision and translation of the historical books from Joshua to the First Book of Chronicles. In patristic theology, he was far more learned than any of the Elizabethan bishops or perhaps than any of his English contemporaries except Usher.
MARIANNE DORMAN expresses that Andrewes began his ministry (a ministry that was to last fifty years) c.1578, a time when the Puritans were trying their hardest, especially through pamphlets and parliaments, to model the English Church on the Genevan. This would have meant discarding the episcopal and apostolic ministry, the Prayer Book, downplaying the sacraments and dismantling the structure of cathedrals. However their demands were always thwarted by Queen Elizabeth. She and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Whitgift) both appointed Andrewes as one of their chaplains, and prevailed on his skills as a preacher and theologian to address many of the issues raised by Puritans in the late 16th Century. So his preaching and lecturing, and later on when a bishop his Visitation Articles always stressed amongst other things the observance of Prayer Book services to be taken by a properly ordained minister, the Eucharist to be celebrated reverently, infants to be baptised, the Daily Offices to be said, and spiritual counselling to be given where needed.
One cannot read Andrewes' sermons or use his prayers without being aware of the centrality of the Eucharist in his life and teaching. It had been the heart of worship in the early Church when the local bishop and people came together constantly to celebrate Christ's glorious death, and partake of His most blessed Body and Blood. That partaking fell into disuse in the mediæval church and was replaced instead by adoration of the Host at the elevation during the Canon. For Andrewes the Eucharist was the meeting place for the infinite and finite, the divine and human, heaven and earth. "The blessed mysteries ... are from above; the 'Bread that came down from Heaven,' the Blood that hath been carried 'into the holy place.' And I add, ubi Corpus, ubi sanguis Christi, ibi Christus". We here "on earth ... are never so near Him, nor He us, as then and there." Thus it is to the altar we must come for "that blessed union [which] is the highest perfection we can in this life aspire unto." Unlike his contemporary Puritans it was not the pulpit but the altar, glittering with its candles and plate, with incense wafting to God, that was the focal point for worship in Andrewes' chapel.
The reason that Andrewes placed so much importance on reverence in worship came from his conviction that when we worship God it is with our entire being, that is, both bodily and spiritually. At a time when little emphasis was placed on the old outward forms of piety Andrewes maintained, "if He hath framed that body of yours and every member of it, let Him have the honour both of head and knee, and every member else."
During those fifty years, Andrewes ministry touched all walks of life. He was chaplain to reigning monarchs for forty years; constant preacher at Court especially for James I; vicar of an important London parish, St. Giles, Cripplegate; and a prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral for fifteen years. He was also Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge for a similar period; a prebendary and then Dean of Westminster Abbey for a total of eight years; Almoner and Dean of the Royal Chapel and finally a bishop for twenty-two years.
So it is not surprising that for many in the seventeenth century Andrewes was considered the authority on worship, and so what he practised in his beautiful chapel, designed for Catholic worship, became their standard for the celebration of the Liturgy. As Andrewes was steeped in the teachings of the Fathers and the liturgies of both Eastern and Western churches it meant that in intention and form he followed the 1549 Prayer Book more than the 1559. His practice shaped the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637 (adopted by the American Episcopal Church in the 1789), and the reshaping of the Liturgy in the English Church in 1662.
As a preacher Andrewes was highly esteemed by contemporaries and later generations. In modern times T.S. Eliot referred to Andrewes as "the first great preacher of the English Catholic Church" who always spoke as "a man who had a formed visible Church behind him, who speaks with the old authority and the new culture, whilst his sermons "rank with the finest English prose of their time, of any time." As well as teaching the Catholic faith according to the Fathers his sermons also reflected an appreciation of beauty as well as knowledge of commerce, trade, art, theatre, navigation, husbandry, science, astronomy, cosmography, fishing, nature, shipping, and even the new discoveries of the world.
There is no doubt therefore that Andrewes saw himself as standing in that long line of Christian tradition embedded in antiquity, and a part of the wonder and loveliness of creation.
There are some notable descendants of Lancelot Andrews living today, including the Parker Bowles children of HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, and the families of General Frank Maxwell Andrews, descendants of Lancelot's brother Nicholas.
Family Members
Spouse
Siblings
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Lancelot Andrewes
1555–1626
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Mary Andrews Burrell
1555 – unknown
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Judith Andrews
1557–1559
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William Andrews
1559 – unknown
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Agnes Andrews
1561–1571
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George Andrews
1563–1571
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Sarah Andrews
1564 – unknown
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Sarah Andrews
1571–1579
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John Andrews
1574–1575
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Roger Andrews
1575–1635
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Martha Andrews Salmon
1576–1653
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Thomas Andrews
unknown–1626
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Ann Andrews
unknown–1613
Children
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