[A.D. 1539-1552.] John Skip. On Fox’s death, Edmund Bonner was elected Bishop of Hereford, but before his consecration to that see he was removed to London. Bishop Skip had been Archdeacon of Dorset. He was one of the “notable learned men” associated with Cranmer in drawing up the “Order of Communion,” (1548,) and was probably one of those who assisted in compiling the first Common Prayer-book of Edward VI.[56]
[A.D. 1553-1554.] John Harley, was compelled to resign on the accession of Mary because he was a “married priest,” and died a few months afterwards.
[A.D. 1554-1558.] Robert Parfew, or Wharton, was translated from St. Asaph.
[A.D. 1559-1585.] John Scory, translated from Chichester. As Bishop of Hereford, Bishop Scory alienated many of the best manors belonging to the see, but it is very doubtful whether it was in his power to resist effectually the rapacity of the courtiers. It has been proved (see Exeter Cathedral, Pt. II.—Bishop Veysey) that in many cases the bishops of this period have been blamed for alienations which they had done their best to resist.
[A.D. 1586-1602.] Herbert Westfaling, Prebendary of Christ Church, Oxford. Godwin, who knew him intimately, describes him as a bishop of unusual excellence, of great purity of life, of great honesty and integrity, and of such serious gravity that he was hardly ever seen to smile. Sir John Harrington relates, that while Bishop Westfaling was preaching in his cathedral, a mass of frozen snow fell from the tower upon the roof, and so frightened the congregation that they endeavoured to escape in all haste. But the Bishop remained unmoved in his pulpit, calmly exhorting them to sit still and fear no harm. All the revenues of his see were expended in works of piety and hospitality by Bishop Westfaling, who left nothing but his private inheritance to his family. He was buried in the north transept, where his effigy remains. (Pt. I. § 12.)
[A.D. 1603-1617.] Robert Bennett, Dean of Windsor. Bishop Bennett was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where, says Sir John Harrington, he was “an active man, who played well at tennis, and could toss an argument in the schools even better than a ball in the tennis court.” He was a vigorous defender of the privileges of his see against the corporation of Hereford, and both he and his predecessor Westfaling expended large sums in the restoration of the episcopal residences at Hereford and at Whitbourn. Bishop Bennett’s tomb with effigy remains on the north side of the choir. (Pt. I. § X.)
[A.D. 1617-1633.] Francis Godwin, translated to Hereford from Llandaff. Bishop Godwin was the compiler of the “Catalogue of the Bishops of England,” to which all succeeding writers on English Church history have been greatly indebted. He was the son of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and was born at Harsington in Northamptonshire. In the year 1601 he became Bishop of Llandaff, and in 1605 published the first edition, in English, of his “Catalogue.” It was again published in Latin, in 1616, and in 1743 this Latin version was edited, in a large folio volume, by Dr. Richardson, Canon of Lincoln, and Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Richardson made considerable additions to the book, besides correcting numerous errors; and it is his edition of the Commentary De Præsulibus Angliæ that is alone to be relied upon. “Bishop Godwin,” says Fuller, “was a good man, grave divine, skilful mathematician, pure Latinist, and incomparable historian. The Church of Llandaff was much beholding to him; yea, the whole Church of England; yea, the whole Church Militant; yea, many now in the Church Triumphant had had their memories utterly lost on earth, if not preserved by his painful endeavours. I am sorry to see that some have since made so bad use of his good labours, who have lighted their candles from his torch, thereby merely to discover the faults of our bishops, that their personal failing may be an argument against the prelatical function[57].” Bishop Godwin also wrote a life of Queen Mary, inserted in Kennet’s History of England, vol. ii.; and “Annals of England under Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary.” He was interred at Whitbourn, where the bishops of Hereford had a palace, April 29, 1633. A good portrait of Godwin, engraved by Vertue, is prefixed to Richardson’s folio.
[A.D. 1634, died in November of the same year.] Augustine Lindsell, translated from Peterborough.
[A.D. 1635, trans. to Norwich in the same year.] Matthew Wren. (See Norwich Cathedral, Pt. II.)
[A.D. 1635-1636.] Theophilus Field, had been Bishop successively of Llandaff and St. David’s.