BONNER, EDMUND

BONNER, EDMUND. — Bishop of London, whose origins are obscure and whose date of birth is uncertain (end of the fifteenth century), perhaps as a result of the slanders concerning the illegitimacy of his descent spread by his political enemies, which gained a certain credence. He received doctorates in civil and canon law and in theology at the University of Oxford, was ordained a priest in 1519, and subsequently entered the service of Cardinal Wolsey, who, appreciating his open intelligence and ability in affairs, entrusted him with various important assignments. After the cardinal’s death, he was appointed—probably on Cromwell’s recommendation—chaplain to Henry VIII, becoming his confidant and one of the most active negotiators in the matter of the divorce and in the reforms of the Anglican Church. He was entrusted with various missions to the courts of Rome, Vienna, Paris, and Copenhagen, as well as with the delicate mission to Pope Clement VII—passing through Marseille—to inform him that Henry VIII did not accept the papal judgment against his divorce and was appealing to a general Council (November 1533). B. was consecrated bishop of Hereford in 1538 and transferred to the see of London in 1540. He was one of the signatories of the celebrated declaration against the Pope and wrote a preface to Gardiner’s treatise De vera oboedientia, in which the thesis of the monarch’s spiritual supremacy over the English Church was defended. But when, during the minority of Edward VI, the radical reforms in a Protestant direction desired by Cranmer began, B., who, together with Gardiner, opposed them, was imprisoned and deprived of his see (10 October 1549). He was not released until 1553, by Queen Mary, and regained his see, accepting reunion with Rome. But when Elizabeth became queen (1558), he refused to submit to her religious reforms and was confined in prison, where he died in 1569. His principal writings are: Letters and papers (1536); Responsum et exortatio in laudem sacerdotii (1553); Visites (1554).