KITCHIN
,
ANTHONY
(
alias
Dunstan
before his consecration),
1477
-
1563
;
bishop of Llandaff
,
1545-63
,
was a
Benedictine monk
who studied at
Gloucester (now Worcester) College
,
Oxford
;
B.D.
1525
,
D.D.
1538
. He became
prior of his college
in
1526
, leaving in
1530
to become
abbot
of
Eynsham
. He surrendered his abbey in
1539
, receiving a pension of £133 6s. 8d. and soon became a
royal chaplain
and in
1545
,
bishop
of
Llandaff
. He resided in, and organised his diocese from, the episcopal
palace at
Mathern
. He held the bishopric under four
Tudors
,
Henry
VIII
to
Elizabeth
, and thereby, and through a further charge of spoliation, had acquired an odious reputation. Confused by the ecclesiastic wranglings of his day, he adopted a
cui bono
policy and allowed the same latitude to other men. He strove hard and patiently to save
Rawlins
White
(q.v.)
, the
Cardiff
fisherman
, from a martyr's death. He was not a persecutor as one eminent cleric has alleged. He was the only Marian
bishop
who refused to apply to the
pope
for absolution from schism.
Kitchin
has been accused of despoiling the
see of Llandaff
. The earliest charge, by
Rice
Merrick
(q.v.)
, in
1578
, merely convicted him of leasing ‘at the accustomed Rent only.’
Bishop
Godwin
,
1603
, went further, condemning him for selling episcopal farms and leasing others for ‘extremely small payments.’ He took one lease to
London
and lost it. Lack of business capacity rather than greed seems to have been his failing. He was surrounded by men hungry for land, while some of his officials gave rise to suspicion. The confiscation of the chantries (
1548
) and of church goods (
1552-3
) was the work of the laymen on the royal commission, and devastated the diocese. His organisation and knowledge of his diocese seem to have been thorough — he was able to make a detailed return of parishes and clergy, etc., to
archbishop
Parker
in less than three weeks. His returns made in
1561
and
1563
to
Parker
indicate an improvement taking place in the diocese — an increase in the number of parochial clergy; clerical non-residence was on the decline and pluralist incumbents employed
curates
. He d.
31 Oct. 1563
and was buried at
Mathern
.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
Lawrence Thomas
,
The Reformation in the Old Diocese of
Llandaff
, 1930
;
-
Cardiff Records
, 1898–1911
;
-
W. de Gray Birch
,
Memorials of the see and cathedral of
Llandaff derived from the Liber landavensis, original
documents in the British museum, H. M. record office, the
Margam muniments
, Neath, 1912
.
Author:
Archdeacon Lawrence Thomas, D.D., (1889-1960), Aberafan
