Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Saturday 18 November 2023

Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall


Today is the anniversary of the death in 1559 of the eighty five year old Cuthbert Tunstall, formerly Bishop of London and then of Durham. One of the great survivors of the age the Wikipedia biography of him can be found at Cuthbert Tunstall

The reason I am writing about him is that a few weeks ago a friend shared with me a short video which combines photographs and modern cartoon imagery to tell the story of Bishop Tunstall’s life and which has been produced under the aegis of Durham University. It can be viewed at Tunstall and The Tudors: The Calculating Bishop

At times it may be too ‘busy’ but it does include some interesting things about his life and times, including a view of his chapel in Durham Castle. There are also several portraits of the Bishop included in it, and I suspect these are not very well known.


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