This is the first part of a long article on the fifteenth-century Archbishop of York, Thomas Rotherham, which I recently wrote for Blanc Sangliers, the quarterly journal of the Richard III Society Yorkshire Branch. jon rosling
Thomas Rotherham (1423-1500), Bishop of Lincoln (1471-1500), Second Founder of Lincoln College; Lincoln College, University of Oxford
Hanging above the high table of Lincoln College Hall in Oxford is a portrait of a man regarded as the second founder of the college[i], Thomas Rotherham, one-time Bishop of Lincoln and at the end of his life, Archbishop of York.
With its pious gaze and prayerful hands, the portrait has looked down on generations of Lincoln College students, overseeing their daily affairs in much the same way the Archbishop himself oversaw the running of England during his time as Lord Chancellor and confidante to the kings and queens of the late fifteenth century.
The precise origins of this particular painting are lost to history. For insurance purposes, the college archives date it to the nineteenth century, possibly a copy of the original which was gifted to the college by Robert Kilbye in the seventeenth century and originally painted by Robert Greenbury[ii].
While there can be no doubt of its veracity – its sitter is named in the small plaque on the frame of the painting – throughout the five and a-quarter centuries since his death there has been something of a question around the birth name of the medieval prelate.
Faber mezzotint based on the earlier portrait. Rotherham is named “alias Scott” here on thge right hand side of the (incorrect coat) of arms.
Labelled as “THOMAS ROTHERAM” on the Lincoln College portrait (we can ignore the archaic spelling of the surname) he later appears in a seventeenth-century mezzotint by John Faber Snr as “Thos de Rotherham alias Scot” and this designation reappears in subsequent years as “Rotherham alias Scott” but also, on occasion, “Scott alias Rotherham”.
And although Henry Leigh Bennett, Archbishop Rotherham’s biographer writing in 1901, rightly points out that the repeated occurrence of the name Scott is too common and in too many places of high providence to be a mistake or some clerical error in research, this does indeed seem to be the case that this is what has happened.
So where does the association with the name “Scott” originate? jonrosling
The first mention of the Scott name in association with Thomas Rotherham seems to be in Rotherham’s own will, written originally at Lincoln in 1478 and then revised and finalised on 24th August 1498, eighteen months or so before his death.
In February 1476/7 he acquired Barnes Hall in modern-day South Yorkshire and in his will he left this, along with other property, to a relative, John Scott of Ecclesfield.
Also, I Will that John Scott my cousin, who has an inheritance, although small, in the parish of Ecclesfield, successively descending in the same name and blood from a time beyond the memory of men, that it may be increased, I being bettered by the grad [of God], shall have for himself and the male heirs of his body lawfully begotten, my manor of Bernes, situated in the foresaid parish, which I bought of Robert Shatton for 140 pounds, and also my manor of Howsleys with the appurtenances, which I bought of Thomas Wortleye, Knight, for 120 pounds. And in default of such heirs, I Will that his brother Richard have the foresaid manors under the same law and condition. And in default of such heirs, I Will that the foresaid manors return to my right heirs. Also I Will that under the same law and condition the foresaid John and Richard have my tenement called Sugworth, in the parish of Bradfield with all the appurtenances.[iii]
But here the reference is to a family member, rather than Thomas Rotherham himself.
The earliest reference to the name Scott after this is in Tudor historian John Leland’s Itinerary, written sometime between 1535 and 1543, in which he describes the heir of Sir John Wenlock as being married to a kinsman of the archbishop, thus acquiring Wenlock’s lands in and around Luton.
Leland also names his brother, Sir John, as having the surname Scott in a separate entry.
This reference to Rotherham and Scott is much confused for Wenlock’s lands were forfeited to the Crown (Edward IV) who then redistributed them to Thomas Rotherham directly. The association with the name Scott can only have come from an entirely separate state of affairs for Wenlock had originally been left Oxburgh Hall in 1461 by Sir Thomas Tuddenham.
Still, Tuddenham changed his mind shortly before he lost his head and left it instead to his sister Margaret. Margaret at that time was married at the time to Sir Edmund Bedingfield. After she died in 1477, Bedingfield re-married Margaret Scott, daughter of Sir John Scott of Scotts Hall.
Other references to Thomas Rotherham alias Scott pepper the history books thereafter. jon rosling
Rotherham was a graduate and fellow at Kings College Cambridge and the register there, begun in 1555, lists him as “Thomas Scott alias Rotherham” too. The register itself was started by Thomas Hatcher, however, it was continued after Hatcher’s death in 1620 by John Scott.
It appears this John Scott completed Rotherham’s entry himself for both the registry entry and biography appear to be in his handwriting. It strikes me as no coincidence that the idea of Thomas Rotherham being called a Scott should begin to be cemented into the history books by someone also carrying the surname Scott[iv].
William Stubb’s The Lives of the Archbishops lists the name Scott also. The continuation author[v] remains hidden in history but it would indubitably have been a Tudor historian. Francis Godwin mentions the Scott name twice in association with the family in his De Praesilibius Angliae Commentarium of 1616 as does Bishop Wren’s manuscripts at Pembroke from the seventeenth century and Hunter’s Hallamshire in 1819.
The notion of Thomas Rotherham originally being called Thomas Scott has been reinforced more recently by Victorian historians researching, writing and debating the issue in the late nineteenth century[vi] most notably James Renat-Scott, writing in the mid-1870s.
Click here for part two.
Footnotes jon rosling
[i] The first founder was, of course, Bishop Richard Fleming who established Lincoln College in 1427. Archbishop Rotherham obtained a Charter for the college from Edward IV in 1478, making him its second founder.
[ii] Sometimes known as Richard. He was commissioned to paint the founder of Magdalene College, Oxford in 1638 and Rotherham’s portrait is stylistically very similar.
[iii] John Guest, Historic Notices of Rotherham, 1879. The translation here follows the text given by Canon Raine, which is taken from the Register of the Dean and Chapter at York.
[iv] This trend continues in the nineteenth century too – see later. jon rosling
[v] The original work runs to the year 1373 but was continued in successive years by other contemporary historians.
[vi] Notes & Queries contain a back-and-forth debate between historians on this very matter, much of which has been invaluable in research. The relevant editions are Fifth Series, vol 7, 8 and 9.
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