Oliver King

Not to be confused with Olive King or King Oliver.

The Right Reverend Oliver King
Bishop of Bath and Wells
Bath Abbey at sunset
Church	Roman Catholic
Appointed	6 November 1495
Term ended	29 August 1503
Predecessor	Richard Foxe
Successor	Adriano de Castello
Orders
Consecration	3 February 1493
Personal details
Died	29 August 1503
Previous post	Bishop of Exeter

Oliver King (c. 1432 – 29 August 1503) was a Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Bath and Wells who restored Bath Abbey after 1500.

Early life

King was ducated at Eton, where he was a king's scholar, and King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated Master of Arts by 1456/57, was a Fellow of King's and served as junior proctor of the University in 1459–1460.^[1] He became a priest then studied civil law at the University of Orléans as well as at Cambridge, graduating as doctor of Civil Law.

Career

In 1466 King was appointed Rector of Broughton, Hampshire, and in 1473 Warden of St John's Hospital, Dorchester. Under the new regime of Edward IV of England he was appointed Clerk of the Signet in 1473, in 1475 was sent as ambassador to the Duke of Brittany.

On 18 March 1476, Oliver King Master of the seven liberal Arts and Licentate in Laws", became the king's 'first and principal Secretary' for the French tongue for life, and succeeded William Hatteclyffe as king's secretary in 1480.;^[2] and receiving the salary of £20 per annum.^[3] Supposedly being expert in "the French language" Dr King was effectively second secretary, dischargng the duties of the Signet in Hatteclyffe's absence. Under Edward IV the Secretary's office expanded the number of clerks to at least four, with a Gentleman and "writers of the King's Signet under him".

The Secretary and his clerks pay for their carriage of harness in court, except a little coffer to which the king's warrants and bills are signed, and other letters and remembrances be kept ...Thiis coffer is carried at the King's cost, whereas the Controller will sign. The Secretary has 3 Getlemen-in-waiting on him for all that office. The remnant of all other servants to be found at his livery in the country delivered by the Herberger...whe [sic] he is out, ehe has a yeoman to keep chamber, eating at Chamberlain's board in the hall: both he and his clerks take clothing off the King's Wardrobe.^[4]

During the early modern monarchy the Secretaries gradually assumed more importance, and standing at court, their office expanded and their salary improved to the same as the Clerk of the Council.^[5]

In 1480 he was appointed Canon of the eleventh stall at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, a position he held until 1503.^[6]

King was appointed Bishop of Exeter on 1 October 1492, consecrated on 3 February 1493.^[7] He was then translated to the see of Bath and Wells on 6 November 1495. He died on 29 August 1503.^[8]

Restoration of Bath Abbey

King organised the restoration of Bath Abbey after 1500. The story of the refounding is told on the front of the Abbey in carved Bath stone. King had a dream in which he saw a host of angels on a ladder, the Holy Trinity and an olive tree with a crown on it. He heard a voice:

'Let an Olive establish the crown, and let a King restore the Church.'

King believed this was a call for him to support the candidature of Henry Tudor as King, and to restore the Abbey. These images are carved on the West Front of the Abbey with coats of arms of the Montague Family (who paid for the carved wooden doors) and Henry VII's coat of arms. There are also statues of the twelve apostles, including a large statue of St Peter and one of Saint Paul.

Citations

↑ "King, Oliver (KN449O)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ S. J. Gunn, 'King, Oliver (d. 1503), bishop of Bath and Wells' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)
↑ Rymer's Foedera, vol.7, p.26; Rotuli Parliamentorum (1477), p.1 and (1478), p.1
↑ Rotuli Parliamentorum, vol.6, pp.220-1
↑ Foedera, vol.11, p.848
↑ Fasti Wyndesorienses, May 1950. S.L. Ollard. Published by the Dean and Canons of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 247
↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 228

References

Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
Tanner, Joseph Robson (1930). Joseph Robson Tanner, ed. Tudor Constitutional Documents: A, Parts 1485-1603. CUP Archive.

Political offices
Preceded by William Hatteclyff	Secretary of State (England) 1480-1483	Succeeded by John Kendal
Preceded by	Clerk of the Signet	Succeeded by
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Richard Foxe	Bishop of Exeter 1492–1495	Succeeded by Richard Redman
Preceded by Richard Foxe	Bishop of Bath and Wells 1495–1503	Succeeded by Adriano de Castello

Deans of Hereford

High Medieval	Ralph Geoffrey Richard Hugh de Breusa Hugh de Mapenor Henry Thomas de Bosebir Ralph de Maidstone Stephen Thorne Ancelin/Anselm Giles de Avenbury John de Aqua-Blanca

Late Medieval	Stephen de Ledebury Thomas Trilleck William de Feriby William Bermingham John de Middleton John Harold John Prophet Thomas Felde John Bagshaw John Stanwey Henry Shelford John Berew Richard Pede Thomas Chaundler Oliver King John Hervey

Early modern	Reginald West Thomas Wolsey Edmund Frowcester Gamaliel Clifton Hugh Curwen Edmund Daniel John Ellis John Watkins Charles Langford Edward Doughtie Richard Montagu Oliver Lloyd Silvanus Griffiths Daniel Price John Richardson Jonathan Brown Herbert Croft Thomas Hodges George Benson John Tyler Robert Clavering John Harris Edward Cresset Edmund Castle John Egerton Francis Webber Nathan Wetherell

Late modern	William Leigh George Grelton Robert Carr Edward Mellish Edward Grey John Merewether Richard Dawes George Herbert Wentworth Leigh Reginald Waterfield Hedley Burrows Robert Price Norman Rathbone Peter Haynes Robert Willis Michael Tavinor

Bishops of Bath and Wells

Medieval	see renamed from Bath Roger of Salisbury (previously Bishop of Bath) William of Bitton Walter Giffard William of Bitton (nephew) Robert Burnell William of March Walter Haselshaw John Droxford Ralph of Shrewsbury John Barnet John Harewell Walter Skirlaw Ralph Ergham Richard Clifford Henry Bowet Nicholas Bubwith John Stafford Thomas Beckington Robert Stillington Richard Foxe Oliver King

Early modern	Cardinal Adriano Castellesi Cardinal Thomas Wolsey John Clerk William Knight William Barlow Gilbert Bourne Gilbert Berkeley Thomas Godwin John Still James Montague Arthur Lake William Laud Leonard Mawe Walter Curle William Piers Robert Creighton Peter Mews Thomas Ken Richard Kidder George Hooper John Wynne Edward Willes Charles Moss

Late modern	Richard Beadon George Law Hon Richard Bagot The Lord Auckland Lord Arthur Hervey George Kennion Wynne Willson Francis Underhill William Wand Harold Bradfield Edward Henderson John Bickersteth George Carey Jim Thompson Peter Price Peter Maurice, Bishop suffragan of Taunton (acting diocesan) Peter Hancock

Bishops of Exeter

High Medieval	see removed from Crediton Leofric Osbern FitzOsbern William Warelwast Robert Warelwast Robert of Chichester Bartholomew Iscanus John the Chanter Henry Marshal Simon of Apulia William Briwere Richard Blund Walter Branscombe Peter Quinel Thomas Bitton

Late Medieval	Walter de Stapledon James Berkeley John Godeley John Grandisson Thomas de Brantingham Edmund Stafford John Catterick Edmund Lacey John Hales George Neville John Booth Peter Courtenay Richard Foxe Oliver King Richard Redman

Early modern	John Arundel Hugh Oldham John Vesey Myles Coverdale John Vesey James Turberville William Alley William Bradbridge John Woolton Gervase Babington William Cotton Valentine Cary Joseph Hall Ralph Brownrigg John Gauden Seth Ward Anthony Sparrow Thomas Lamplugh Sir Jonathan Trelawney Bt Ofspring Blackall Lancelot Blackburne Stephen Weston Nicholas Clagett George Lavington Frederick Keppel John Ross William Buller Reginald Courtenay

Late modern	John Fisher George Pelham William Carey Christopher Bethell Henry Phillpotts Frederick Temple Edward Bickersteth Herbert Edward Ryle Archibald Robertson Lord William Cecil Charles Curzon Robert Mortimer Eric Mercer Hewlett Thompson Michael Langrish John Ford (acting) Nick McKinnel (acting) Robert Atwell

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