Bonner, EDMUND

Bonner, EDMUND, Bishop of London, was born about 1500, of obscure and doubtful parentage. The reputation he gained at Oxford by his knowledge of canon law recommended him to the notice of Wolsey, who made him his chaplain, and promoted him to several benefices. His zeal in King Henry's service, after Wolsey's fall, earned him due promotion; and in 1533 he was deputed to appear before the pope at Marseilles, to appeal for the excommunicated monarch to a general council. His language on this occasion is said to have suggested to his holiness the fitness of having him burned alive, or thrown into a caldron of molten lead, so that Bonner judged it prudent to leave Marseilles without notice. In 1540 he was made Bishop of London, and as such pronounced sentence on several Protestant martyrs, though it is certain he did his best to befriend Anne Askew. After Edward VI.'s accession, he gave proofs of his lukewarmness in the cause of reformation, and at length, in 1549, was committed to the Marshalsea, and deprived of his bishopric. The accession of Queen Mary (1553) restored him to office; and by his part in that bloody persecution which has made her reign infamous, he rendered himself thoroughly unpopular. On Elizabeth's accession (1558), Bonner accompanied his episcopal brethren to salute her at Highgate, but was excepted from the honour of kissing her hand. In May 1559 he was summoned before the Privy-council, and refused, with a consistency worthy of respect, to take the oath of supremacy. He was accordingly deposed from his bishopric, and again imprisoned in the Marshalsea, where he died in 1569. The utmost allowance for Fox's exaggerations cannot free Bonner from the charge of persecution; though it seems that he did no more than his official position demanded, and that with such reluctance as to bring down on him the censure of the Privy-council (see Blunt, The Reformation, vol. ii.). And one should not forget that he was strict in castigating the lax morality of his clergy, that he remained steadfast to his principles, and that he bore his final misfortunes with manly resignation.