Among the 700 year-long list of the rectors of St John’s Barnack is one who, in terms of his time in the post, barely troubled the scorers. And yet in his time he was a mighty man. We might look back on Richard Fletcher as a supporting actor in many great events in the English Reformation. A kind of Barnack “Blackadder”.
He was born around 1545, towards the end of Henry VIII’s reign. His father was vicar of Bishops Stortford, Herts. Under Bloody Mary’s reign his father lost his job (you couldn’t be a married vicar when Mary was queen). During that time of terror, Richard and his father saw the burning of the Protestant martyr, Christopher Wade. You can only imagine the impact this sight had on a ten year old boy. And possibly also on his younger brother Giles, who among other jobs in later life spent some time torturing Catholic priests for Queen Elizabeth I.
When Elizabeth took the throne, Fletcher Sr became vicar of Cranbrook in Kent. Young Richard went up to Cambridge, where he successively was awarded BA, MA, then DD (Doctor of Divinity). His first incumbency was at Rye in Sussex in 1574, where he and his wife Elizabeth had their first four children. Dr Fletcher was introduced to Queen Elizabeth, who was evidently struck by his handsome manner, preaching, and courtesy.
It was a time when people could rise and fall very quickly in England. And nobody’s rise was more pronounced than William Cecil of Burghley. His son Thomas Cecil was patron of Barnack. Having become Dean of Peterborough Cathedral in 1583, Richard Fletcher additionally became Rector of Barnack in 1586.
In the following year, he kind of clod-hopped his way into history through his involvement in the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringhay. He was chaplain at her execution.
Before she was executed, he tried to preach a sermon. These days we might find that in bad taste, but apparently it was just the done thing to try and get last-minute repentance out of the victim. But he managed to be so hesitant and annoying that both Mary, and the earls representing Queen Elizabeth, told him to put a sock in it. He then launched into his prayers – to which Mary responded by praying over him, in Latin. After her death, he cried out “so perish all the Queen’s enemies.”
He must have been fairly busy between his two parishes (he also had one in Lincolnshire), being a Dean, and hanging round the important people of state. So he had a curate, John Greening, who I reckon did most of the work around here!
Given Elizabeth’s liking for him, promotion came surely. Within two years of Mary’s execution, he was made Bishop of Bristol. In the next few years, he became Bishop of Worcester, then – through the help of Lord Burghley – Bishop of London. He was popular at court. He was an important man.
And then it all went wrong.
RIchard’s wife had died in childbirth in Chelsea during his time as bishop of Bristol (he preferred to live in “Town”). After his appointment to London, he married a rich widow, Mary Baker. Elizabeth disapproved of bishops marrying. She disapproved of him marrying so quickly after his first wife’s death. And she disapproved of him marrying this particular widow, who seems to have had a bit of a “reputation”. And Elizabeth had told him not to marry her.
It all got very “Blackadder”.
Within a month of becoming Bishop of London, Fletcher was banned from court, and suspended from his job. He wrote to Lord Burghley begging for help, and was restored to his role as bishop after 6 months. But after 20 years of hanging round the court, being excluded from Elizabeth’s presence seems to have broken him.
On 15 June 1596, he was smoking a pipe of the newly-discovered tobacco, to which he was much addicted. He said to his servant, “Boy, I die.” And promptly did. The historian William Camden put it down to his smoking habit. But more likely he suffered from the stress of his fall from grace, and the debts he owed. Although you could make a lot of money from church roles in those days, you had to put lot in up front. And like many of Elizabeth’s favourites, he ended up owing more than he had.
He left a penniless widow, and eight children. He was buried without a memorial, at St Paul’s Cathedral. His son, John, was a famous playwright, and co-wrote the play Henry VIII with William Shakespeare.
Sources
Dictionary of National Biography and also via https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Fletcher,_Richard_(d.1596)
The Clergy Database https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/
The Queen of Scots: True Life of Mary Stuart John Guy https://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/hm051/2003067592.html
History of Parliament online Giles Fletcher : https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/fletcher-giles-1546-1611
St John’s Cambridge: Precedings Against Mary Queen of Scots https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/manuscripts/post_medieval/pmmi30