DOVE, Thomas (1555/6-1630)

Dove was a Londoner, whose father, William, though not a freeman, may have been brother of the goldsmith John Dove, as the latter bequeathed a house in Brentford, Middlesex to a William Dove in his will of 1581.14 PROB 11/65, f. 150v. A contemporary of Lancelot Andrewes^*, Dove, like Andrewes, was educated at Merchant Taylors’ school and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he was the recipient of a scholarship recently endowed by Thomas Watts, archdeacon of Middlesex. In 1575 Dove was offered a scholarship at the newly-founded Jesus College, Oxford, but he remained at Pembroke as a junior fellow until 1580, when he was presented to the crown living of Saffron Walden, Essex.15 A. Attwater, Short Hist. Pemb. Coll. Camb. 49-50; Al. Cant.; Registrum Vagum of Anthony Harison, 193; CCEd. In 1584 he was instituted to the rectory of Framlingham, Suffolk, and from the following year he was included on the roster of Lent preachers at court, where the queen was said to have described him as ‘the dove with silver wings’. A fresh presentation to a crown living in Essex proved to be only short-lived, as by 1588 John Whitgift^†, archbishop of Canterbury, had selected him for promotion to a deanery. Installed the following year as dean of Norwich, he also became a royal chaplain.16 S. Gunton, Hist. of the Church of Peterburgh, 81; McCullough, (suppl. cal. 36-8, 40-2, 50); CSP Dom. 1581-90, p. 598; Fasti, vii. 42; B. Usher, Ld. Burghley and Episcopacy, 1577-1603, p. 98 and n. 100.

In July 1600 Dove was correctly rumoured to have been selected as successor to the recently deceased bishop of Peterborough, Richard Howland^†, but he did not take office for another nine months.17 Pprs. of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, IV: 1596-1602 ed. V. Morgan et al. (Norf. Rec. Soc. lxiv), 155, 163; CSP Dom. 1598-1601, p. 598. One reason for the delay may have been his attendance on Robert Devereux^†, 2nd earl of Essex, in the aftermath of the earl’s abortive rising of February 1601: on the orders of the Privy Council, he was one of the divines who attended Essex during his trial, and attempted to persuade him of the error of his ways.18 HMC Hatfield, x. 238; W. Barlow, A Sermon preached at Paules Crosse … Martii 1, 1600 (1601), sigs. C4v-7v. Another reason for the delay may have been the need to negotiate over the value of the living he was to inherit. Having been eroded by the early Elizabethan bishop, Edmund Scambler^†, the bishopric’s estates were worth around £400 p.a. in 1600, making the see one of the poorest in England. Dove was allowed to retain Framlingham in commendam, but eventually exchanged Saffron Walden for the rectory of Polebrook, Northamptonshire, which lay within his new diocese. However, the critical issue for Dove may have been provision for his sons, a problem which was informally resolved by allocating further resources from the diocesan revenues. Shortly after arriving at Peterborough, Dove granted a long lease of episcopal property to the crown, which was then assigned to the use of his eldest son, William, while in 1612 he appointed his younger son Thomas archdeacon of Northampton, an office worth £140 a year.19 W. Sheils, ‘Some Problems of Govt. in a New Diocese’, Continuity and Change ed. R. O’Day and F. Heal, 168-70; Trans. Congregational Hist. Soc. vi. 56; Fasti, viii. 123; CCEd.

Peterborough diocese represented a political challenge for the new incumbent, as it had been a centre of the Presbyterian movement in the 1580s. The subscription crisis of 1584-5 had been mishandled by Bishop Scambler, leaving a large number of puritan clergy who offered only nominal conformity to the church hierarchy. Like Andrewes, Dove was quietly critical of the ‘Calvinist consensus’ within the late Elizabethan Church – a consideration which probably influenced his selection – and consequently he appointed the like-minded John Buckeridge^* (later bishop of Ely) as archdeacon of Northampton in 1604, shortly before confronting the puritan clergy.20 W. Sheils, Puritans in the Dioc. of Peterborough, 1558-1610, pp. 48-66, 95-6; Fasti, viii. 123.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, rumours of a Parliament persuaded Dove to support Sir Edward Montagu^* (later 1st Lord Montagu) and Sir Robert Spencer^* (later 1st Lord Spencer) for the county seats. In January 1604 he attended the Hampton Court Conference, at which the bishops and moderate puritan clergy attempted to settle their differences. During a debate about baptism by non-clergymen – a sacramental question of little interest to most Calvinist predestinarians – Dove observed that the early Church Fathers had used sand where no water was available. However, this remark failed to impress King James, who retorted, ‘a turd for the argument’, a comment gleefully reported in several accounts of the proceedings.21 HMC Buccleuch, iii. 75; W. Barlow, Summe and Substance of the Conference (1604), sig. P1v; W.A. Shaw, Reconstruction of the Eng. Church, ii. 342; N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists, 10, 16.

Shortly after the conference, the first Jacobean Parliament met. Dove is recorded as having been present in the Lords on all but one day of the 1604 session, but left little trace on the House’s business. Ordered to attend a conference with the Commons about the possibility of offering to compound with the crown for purveyance for the royal household, he was also included on two committees for the witchcraft bill, and half a dozen scrutinizing private bills.22 LJ, ii. 269a-b, 275a, 280a, 290b, 292b, 311a, 324b. After the prorogation he contributed £50 towards the privy seal loan that was raised because the Commons declined to vote subsidies, but he rated his clergy to pay no more than £360 towards this loan (the yield of half a clerical subsidy), of which only £90 was actually received – a most disappointing performance.23 HMC Laing, i. 97-8; CUL, Ff.ii.28, ff. 159v-62v, 171v.

The day of reckoning for the clergy of Peterborough diocese arrived on 16 Jan. 1605, when 15 of them were deprived for failing to subscribe to the 1604 Canons; two more were removed subsequently, making this the most comprehensive of all the diocesan purges.24 Sheils, Puritans, 79-84; S.B. Babbage, Puritanism and Richard Bancroft, 206-11, corrected by K. Fincham, Prelate as Pastor, 325-6; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 17. Dove may have been spurred into action by the proximity of the king, then staying at Hinchingbrooke, Huntingdonshire, but his rigorous enforcement of subscription proved unpopular with the Northamptonshire gentry, who petitioned James to avert ‘so lamentable a divorce from our faithful pastors’. Dove retorted that ‘my diocese has been from time to time the nest and nursery of factious ministers. Here they have held their classes, hither have repaired from other parts the most fiery and disorderly preachers of the whole kingdom’. He insisted that he had taken considerable pains to argue the case for subscription with all those who were refractory, for not only had he spent two day in disputation with them in his cathedral, he had also asked the neighbouring preachers to take care of the vacant benefices until replacements could be instituted.25 Letters of Sir Francis Hastings ed. C. Cross (Som. Rec. Soc. lxix), 88-9, with sigs. in the original, SP14/12/69; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 46-7, 58-9; B.W. Quintrell, ‘Royal Hunt and the Puritans, 1604-5’, Jnl. Eccl. Hist. xxxi. 51-3. Dove’s robust defence of his actions satisfied the king, but the affront caused by the Northamptonshire petition led the Privy Council to deliver a sharp rebuke to its chief organizer, Sir Francis Hastings^‡, who was removed from local office.

For all the furore over the Northamptonshire petition, the king was persuaded to moderate his subscription policy, while Dove took steps to mitigate the local impact of his deprivations: Robert Catelin, vicar of All Saints’ Northampton was reinstated (only to be deprived again in 1613); Thomas Gibson was replaced at Ridlington, Rutland by his son; Robert Travell was removed at Weston Favell, Northamptonshire, but then presented to the vacancy by his father-in-law; Sampson Wood served as curate to his successor at Fawsley, Northamptonshire; and Jonas Chaloner, Thomas Greenwood and Robert Milward found preferment in other dioceses.26 Letters of Sir Francis Hastings, 90-2; HP Commons, 1604-29, iv. 577-8; Quintrell, 53-5; Northants. and Rutland Clergy ed. H.I. Longden, iii. 59, 75; v. 221; vi. 57; ix. 233; xiv. 11-12; xv. 167-9.

Dove was an active diocesan, participating in almost all of his triennial visitations, and appearing regularly in his diocesan courts, at least until 1615, when he appointed an energetic subordinate, Sir John Lambe – scourge of the local puritans – as his chancellor. After 1605, Dove was disinclined to challenge either puritans or Catholics within his jurisdiction, unless pressed by his superiors: in 1611, prompted by George Abbot^*, the new archbishop of Canterbury, he made a flurry of enquiries about the wearing of the surplice, which ultimately led to Catelin’s deprivation; while at the same time he assured the Privy Council he was being assiduous in his attempts to enforce the oath of allegiance upon Catholics.27 Fincham, 322; J. Fielding, ‘Conformists, Puritans and the Church courts: the Dioc. of Peterborough, 1603-1642’ (Univ. of Birmingham Ph.D. thesis, 1989), 57-69; CSP Dom. 1611-18, pp. 81, 92, 254. Dove clearly made little attempt to examine the theological opinions of those who sought ordination at his hands: a disproportionate number of the nonconformists ejected in 1662 were ordained by him at Peterborough.28 Fincham, 180-1.

In August 1605 Dove preached before the king and queen on their progress, which was perhaps a sign that James did not hold him responsible for the troubles of his diocese. He continued to be assiduous in his attendance in Parliament, but played little significant part in its proceedings. During the 1605-6 session he was named to committees for bills to attaint Henry Brooke^†, 11th Lord Cobham of high treason, to drain the great fens, and to settle the Northamptonshire estates of Sir Christopher Hatton^‡.29 HMC De L’Isle and Dudley, iii. 188; LJ, ii. 379a, 386a, 395b, 403a, 436a. He played no part in the Union debates which dominated the 1606-7 session, but was named to the committee on the bill concerning the estate of the late Sir Francis Gawdy^‡, whom he had known during his time at Norwich. He was also appointed to consider a bill to ratify the tenure of those who had compounded with the crown for defective titles, another to confirm the rights of copyholders on crown estates, and a third for an exchange of lands between the crown and the archbishopric of Canterbury.30 LJ, ii. 456b, 471b, 494a, 504a, 524b.

In February 1610, Dove was one of the large number of peers named to hear the lord treasurer, Robert Cecil^*, 1st earl of Salisbury, outline the crown’s financial problems, but he did not play any role in the negotiations over the Great Contract until 19 June, when he was one of a delegation ordered to convey the Commons’ latest terms to the king. He was included on the committee for the bill to permit modified subscription to the 1604 Canons – a measure the bishops managed to frustrate – another for the bill requiring all those naturalized or restored in blood to take the oath of allegiance, and others for bills against non-resident clerics, and against scandalous ministers, both of which were strongly opposed by many of the bishops.31 Ibid. 550b, 587a, 606b, 611a, 618a, 641b. He was named to five committees for private bills relating to lands in Norwich diocese, and another to confirm an exchange of lands between Lord Treasurer Salisbury and the bishopric of Durham.32 Ibid. 553b, 569b, 571a, 600a, 616a, 639a. Enthusiasm for the Great Contract had waned by the time Parliament reconvened in the autumn. Dove was ordered to attend the conference at which the Commons were pressed to state whether they wished to proceed with the bargain, and after they finally declined, he was included on the Lords’ delegation sent to urge MPs to offer some alternative form of supply.33 Ibid. 671a, 678a.

Dove returned to Westminster for the Addled Parliament but, apart from attending a conference about the bill to clarify the succession rights of Princess Elizabeth’s children, he was named to only two bills committees, on preserving timber and to confirm a Chancery decree. He was present in the House for the key debate of 23/24 May, on whether to hold a conference with the Commons about impositions, and was one of 16 bishops who joined with the privy councillors to vote the motion down.34 Ibid. 692b, 706b-7a; Chamberlain Letters, i. 533. Following the collapse of the session, Archbishop Abbot promoted a benevolence which raised just over two-thirds of a clerical subsidy from the ministry. Dove made a personal contribution of £40 and raised a further £304 from the clergy of his diocese, slightly less than the average yield.35 E351/1950; SP14/133/13.

In the 1621 Parliament it was Dove who tabled the bill to confirm the grant of clerical subsidies offered by Convocation (17 Mar.), but he did not return to Westminster after the Easter recess, granting his proxy to John Thornborough^*, bishop of Worcester and Richard Parry^*, bishop of St Asaph.36 LJ, ii. 692b, 697b, 700b; iii. 3b, 50a. During this session, the Commons received complaints about Chancellor Lambe, who had instigated a campaign against the Northampton puritans, while his efforts to enforce the Jacobean Book of Sports infuriated the local gentry. Perhaps because of this confrontation, neither Dove nor his officials made any attempt to enforce the king’s 1622 instructions against controversial preaching.37 Fincham, 170; Fielding, 69-81, 84-6; SP16/245/37. The session ended with an abrupt dissolution, whereupon a fresh benevolence was raised to help fund the beleaguered Protestant garrisons in the Rhineland; on this occasion Dove raised £299 from his diocese, rather less than the yield achieved in 1614.38 SP14/133/13; Kent Hist. and Lib. Cent., U269/1/OE1409.

An old man by the mid-1620s, Dove never attended Parliament again, granting his proxy to his former chaplain John Bridgeman^*, bishop of Chester in 1624, and to William Laud^*, bishop of Bath and Wells (later archbishop of Canterbury) during the sessions of 1628 and 1629.39 LJ, iii. 212a; iv. 3a; Lords Procs. 1628, p. 25; C58/8. Dove omitted to enter any proxy in 1625 or 1626: Procs. 1625, p. 45; Procs. 1626, i. 256. However, he remained active in Northamptonshire, searching the house of the recusant Edward Vaux^*, 4th Lord Vaux for arms in 1625, and appearing at a sewer commission as late as the autumn of 1629.40 SP16/12/63; CSP Dom. 1629-31, p. 111. He died at Peterborough on 30 Aug. or 1 Sept. 1630, and was buried in his cathedral in an impressive marble tomb, which was destroyed by parliamentarian troops in June 1643.41 Northants. in Early Eighteenth Century, 182; C142/478/44; Gunton, 82-3. In his will of 1 Aug. 1626 he left £300, his books and his organ to his younger son, archdeacon Dove (who ultimately predeceased him), and copyhold lands and £500 in cash to five grandchildren. His main estates, consisting of 600 acres in the vicinity of Peterborough, and smaller properties in Cambridgeshire and Saffron Walden, went to his heir, William.42 PROB 11/158, f. 236r-v; C142/478/44.